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\"Finally today’ ; s coffee drinkers can use their favourite brew to reveal the future ! At last oracle reading is not limited to the old-fashioned cuppas; cappuccinos, flat whites and even espressos can be read. Stacey Demarco's handy guide to coffee reading is based on the wisdom of her Greek aunts who taught her to read a traditional cup as a young girl, and she has since expanded this medium to include the modern café culture. This book lists hundreds of common symbols that can be found in the foam, the crème or bottom of your cup. There are a variety of photos demonstrating the appearance of symbols, and the importance of their position. It's an easy and fun reference book that can be enjoyed during the ritual of your morning coffee or whenever you need guidance. This book will take coffee drinking to another level and will be a great conversation starter amongst friends and work colleagues!\"--Publisher's description.

Exploitation of groundwater has greatly increased since the 1970s to meet the increased water demand due to fast economic development in China. Correspondingly, the regional groundwater level has declined substantially in many areas of China. Water sources are scarce in northern and northwestern China, and the anthropogenic pollution of groundwater has worsened the situation. Groundwater containing high concentrations of geogenic arsenic, fluoride, iodine, and salinity is widely distributed across China, which has negatively affected safe supply of water for drinking and other purposes. In addition to anthropogenic contamination, the interactions between surface water and groundwater, including seawater intrusion, have caused deterioration of groundwater quality. The ecosystem and geo-environment have been severely affected by the depletion of groundwater resources. Land subsidence due to excessive groundwater withdrawal has been observed in more than 50 cities in China, with a maximum accumulated subsidence of 2–3 m. Groundwater-dependent ecosystems are being degraded due to changes in the water table or poor groundwater quality. This paper reviews these changes in China, which have occurred under the impact of rapid economic development. The effects of economic growth on groundwater systems should be monitored, understood and predicted to better protect and manage groundwater resources for the future.

Population growth, economic development, and dietary changes have drastically increased the demand for food and water. The resulting expansion of irrigated agriculture into semi-arid areas with limited precipitation and surface water has greatly increased the dependence of irrigated crops on groundwater withdrawal. Also, the increasing number of people living in mega-cities without access to clean surface water or piped drinking water has drastically increased urban groundwater use. The result of these trends has been the steady increase of the use of non-renewable groundwater resources and associated high rates of aquifer depletion around the globe. We present a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art in research on non-renewable groundwater use and groundwater depletion. We start with a section defining the concepts of non-renewable groundwater, fossil groundwater and groundwater depletion and place these concepts in a hydrogeological perspective. We pay particular attention to the interaction between groundwater withdrawal, recharge and surface water which is critical to understanding sustainable groundwater withdrawal. We provide an overview of methods that have been used to estimate groundwater depletion, followed by an extensive review of global and regional depletion estimates, the adverse impacts of groundwater depletion and the hydroeconomics of groundwater use. We end this review with an outlook for future research based on main research gaps and challenges identified. This review shows that both the estimates of current depletion rates and the future availability of non-renewable groundwater are highly uncertain and that considerable data and research challenges need to be overcome if we hope to reduce this uncertainty in the near future.

\"James Mollison's photo projects are defined by smart, original concepts applied to serious social and environmental themes. For his latest book, Playground, Mollison photographs children at play in their school playgrounds, inspired by memories of his own childhood and interested in how we all learn to negotiate relationships and our place in the world through play. For each picture, Mollison sets up his camera during school break time, making multiple frames and then composing each final photograph from several scenes, in which he finds revealing \"play\" narratives. With photographs from rich and poor schools, in countries including Argentina, Bhutan, Bolivia, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Norway, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., Mollison also provides access for readers of all ages to issues of global diversity and inequality.\" -- publisher's website.

Groundwater resources are vital to ecosystems and livelihoods. Excessive groundwater withdrawals can cause groundwater levels to decline 1 – 10 , resulting in seawater intrusion 11 , land subsidence 12 , 13 , streamflow depletion 14 – 16 and wells running dry 17 . However, the global pace and prevalence of local groundwater declines are poorly constrained, because in situ groundwater levels have not been synthesized at the global scale. Here we analyse in situ groundwater-level trends for 170,000 monitoring wells and 1,693 aquifer systems in countries that encompass approximately 75% of global groundwater withdrawals 18 . We show that rapid groundwater-level declines (>0.5 m year −1 ) are widespread in the twenty-first century, especially in dry regions with extensive croplands. Critically, we also show that groundwater-level declines have accelerated over the past four decades in 30% of the world’s regional aquifers. This widespread acceleration in groundwater-level deepening highlights an urgent need for more effective measures to address groundwater depletion. Our analysis also reveals specific cases in which depletion trends have reversed following policy changes, managed aquifer recharge and surface-water diversions, demonstrating the potential for depleted aquifer systems to recover. Analysis of about 170,000 monitoring wells and 1,693 aquifer systems worldwide shows that extensive and often accelerating groundwater declines are widespread in the twenty-first century, but that groundwater levels are recovering in some cases.

\"It's a busy morning in the park. All along the boulevard, families are picnicking and people are napping, playing checkers and reading on the grass. But Owen and his dad are hard at work, raking and mowing the grass. And today, Owen gets to do the best job all on his own. With his dad's encouragement, Owen gathers his courage and goes around to everyone in the park. He tells the families, the checkers players and the readers what he has to do, and they rush off. Finally, when the park is empty, it is the moment Owen has been waiting for. He turns the tap for the sprinkler system, and water cascades over the trees and flower beds. In creating this book, Scot Ritchie was inspired by his trip to the beautiful Tiergarten park in Berlin. Owen at the Park is a sweet story illuminating the small pleasures in everyday life and the excitement of a child taking on new responsibilities.\"-- Provided by publisher.

Groundwater pumping from wells, together with water uses such as agricultural irrigation have been converting formerly open groundwater basins into closed systems that accumulate total dissolved solids (TDS). This process of anthropogenic basin closure and salinization (ABCSal) would appear to pose a threat to groundwater sustainability that is at least as formidable as groundwater overdraft and contamination from the surface, yet has been little explored. Models of groundwater flow and solute transport herein show that groundwater basin openness itself should be considered a primary determinant of sustainability. Results show that groundwater basin closure is a threshold condition that sets the aquifer system on a path of increasing salinity that can only be halted by opening the basin. Further, the magnitude of groundwater pumping and degree of basin closure significantly influence the spatial distribution of salinity. In open basins, salinity approaches dynamic equilibrium over long‐term conditions. Stratification of higher‐TDS groundwater overlying lower‐TDS groundwater occurs below farmlands whose irrigation‐supplying wells are impacted by irrigation return flow from upstream farmlands, and act to redistribute relatively saline groundwater to the land surface. More intensive pumping leads to groundwater basin closure and more vertically‐oriented groundwater flow toward pumping wells. TDS retainment in the basin and repeated well capture, re‐distribution as irrigation water, and evapoconcentration lead to progressive salinization. Regardless of basin closure status, fresh recharge protects nearby downstream portions of the basin from salinization, indicating that managing or limiting the spread of contaminated groundwater may be achieved via managed aquifer recharge of good quality water. Plain Language Summary This paper presents hydrologic basin openness, the degree to which inflow of groundwater is balanced by non‐evaporative outflow, as a new criteria for groundwater sustainability. Water use practices such as irrigation and groundwater pumping have in many cases been reducing groundwater basin openness, promoting accumulation of dissolved intrabasin salts. State‐of‐the‐art but simple groundwater models demonstrate the spatiotemporal dynamics of this Anthropogenic Basin Closure and groundwater Salinization (ABCSal) process. Simulations show that significant salinization with total dissolved solids concentration exceeding 1,000 to 6,000 mg/L can occur in large portions of a basin within two to six centuries. Strength of pumping and the degree of basin closure significantly influence spatial extent and organization of zones with different salinities. Structured salinization zones and relatively low salinity levels downstream of fresh recharge areas indicate viable water management strategies (e.g., managed aquifer recharge of good quality water) for coping with ABCSal consequences. However, maintaining sufficient groundwater basin openness is required to avoid ABCSal, necessitating a different paradigm of integrated water resources management with much greater emphasis on subsurface storage of water and more modern and intensive monitoring of the groundwater system state to ensure a sustainable evolution trajectory of both groundwater quantity and quality. Key Points Groundwater pumping and irrigation cause progressive groundwater salinization that can be halted only by maintaining enough basin openness Groundwater development strength influences groundwater flow pattern and salt load, and ultimately, the salinization pattern and intensity Distinct zones of different salinity levels establish under open and closed basin status

\"Covering the entire sixty-plus-year history of this remote desert outpost with personal vignettes and realistic illustrations, 'Area 51' is the perfect introduction to the significant history made-- and still being made-- at this secret military base\"--Page 4 or cover.

Effective assessment of any region's groundwater resources depends greatly on the levels of the sub-surface water. Since groundwater resources are being overused, the availability of groundwater is in a critical scenario. Quality of the groundwater is deteriorating in numerous regions as a result of the worrisome rate of groundwater table depletion. Depending on how frequently the aquifer under the earth surface is recharged by surface water supplies, groundwater can be kept underground for days, weeks, months, years, centuries, or even millennia. Currently, the utility is increased as compared to availability. The current water demand exceeds the surface water supply. As a result, for the effective management and usage of the priceless natural resources, groundwater potential zones’ systematic evaluation is now essential. The understanding about monitoring and a suitable sustainable development strategy for water resources is provided by groundwater potential zoning. The delineation of groundwater potential zoning is influenced by various factors, including rainfall, land-use cover, geological formations, geomorphology, drainage features, slope, etc. To ensure the sustainable groundwater management in the basin, it is essential to locate groundwater potential zones, so that series of recharge structures may be built there to manage aquifer recharge. Remote sensing and GIS are recent techniques that become very crucial tools in accessing, monitoring, and conserving groundwater resources because of their advantages of spatial, spectral, and temporal availability and interpolation of data covering big and inaccessible areas in short amount of time.