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The relationship between per capita municipal water use (PCMWU) and per capita gross domestic product (PCGDP) (purchasing power parity, constant 2011 US $) is statistically analysed for each country in the world. The results indicate that PCMWU will increase with the rising PCGDP at the beginning, which will then decrease when PCGDP reaches a certain level. This trend follows the rules of the Water Use Kuznets Curve, an inverted U-shape curve that describes the relationship between water use and gross domestic product (GDP). The unbalanced panel data analysis of world 183 countries and 22 developed countries revealed that the PCGDP at the peak point of the Municipal Water Use Kuznets Curve (MWUKC) is approximately US$ 33,000. The specific reason for the MWUKC is the saturation of municipal water demand. At the same time, the driving forces include technological advancements, growth in water prices, effective environmental regulations and policies, and water-saving consciousness. Most of these mechanisms benefit from economic development. The experiences of developed countries provide guidance and positive indicators for developing countries or countries with increasing PCMWU. Due to the accelerated economic growth in developing countries, these countries could reach a turning point more rapidly.

We examine how future changes in water yield and demand will affect the likelihood of water shortages and the efficacy of some of the most common methods for dealing with water shortages and meeting municipal demands, including improvements in water use efficiency and transfers of water between sectors of the economy. We find that more than 45.8 million people, primarily in the Southwest, central Great Plains, and southern California, would already be experiencing regular water shortages in the absence of groundwater mining. By 2060, that number would grow to over 136.2 million people. Among the reasons we find for increased likelihood of water shortages, reduced water yield is the most prevalent, affecting 80% of water basins in the US In the American West, nearly half of the water basins are projected to see an increase in shortages. We estimate future water withdrawals in the industrial and commercial and thermoelectric sectors will remain fairly steady, but withdrawals in the domestic and public sector are expected to rise. The Colorado River and Rio Grande regions see the largest percentage increases in projected domestic and public water use as well as the greatest percentage decreases in projected water yield. To cover new municipal demands, transfers from agriculture may be needed, in which case, significant impacts to agriculture will occur in northern New Mexico, parts of Utah, Nevada, and Washington where municipal demands are projected to grow to 25%-50% of agricultural water use. The situation is more extreme in northern Arizona and eastern Texas, where additional municipal demands are projected to be six times the amount used by agriculture.

For decades the municipal water industry has emphasized that water is undervalued. That is an easy thing to do when you think broadly about the past and current price of clean and safe water relative to its benefits. But then, when you think about the crushing infrastructure and regulatory cost challenges we will face over the coming decades and the fact that as the cost of providing water and wastewater services increases so does its price, you might wonder how much longer water will be affordable. We'll have more to say about the idea presented in this article in next month's column.

A fit for purpose (FFP) framework has been developed to evaluate the suitability of brackish water resources for various competing uses. The suitability or the extent of unsuitability for an intended use is quantified using an overall compatibility index (OCI). The approach is illustrated by applying it to evaluate the feasibility of the Dockum Hydrostratigraphic Unit (Dockum-HSU) as a water supply alternative in the Southern High Plains (SHP) region of Texas. The groundwater in Dockum-HSU is most compatible for hydraulic fracturing uses. While the water does not meet drinking water standards, it can be treated with existing desalination technologies over most of the study area, except perhaps near major population centers. The groundwater from Dockum-HSU is most compatible for cotton production, but not where it is currently grown. It can be a useful supplement to facilitate a smoother transition of corn to sorghum cropping shifts happening in parts of the SHP. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), sodium, sulfate, and radionuclides are major limiting constituents. Dockum-HSU can help reduce the freshwater footprint of the Ogallala Aquifer in the SHP by supporting non-agricultural uses. Greater regional collaboration and more holistic water management practices are however necessary to optimize brackish groundwater use.

This research investigated the embodied energy associated with municipal water use. The feasibility of using a geographic information system model as a framework for sustainability planning was evaluated using data from Loudoun County, Va. The model spatially displays the embodied energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with municipal water and wastewater service. The embodied energy associated with water service depends on the topographic characteristics of the municipality, the efficiency of the water and wastewater treatment systems, and the efficiency of the pumping stations. GHG emissions varied with the embodied-energy and energy-generation characteristics of the power company. Within the study area, the embodied energy associated with customer water use ranged from 4.4 to 7.2 MW·h/mil gal. Customer carbon footprints ranged from 0.01 to 17.93 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The results of this study contribute to the development of a standardized approach for estimating the GHG impact of the municipal water cycle.

The efficient operation and management of an existing water supply system require short-term water demand forecasts as inputs. Conventionally, regression and time series analysis have been employed in modelling short-term water demand forecasts. The relatively new technique of artificial neural networks has been proposed as an efficient tool for modelling and forecasting in recent years. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the relatively new technique of artificial neural networks for use in forecasting short-term water demand at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Other techniques investigated in this study include regression and time series analysis for comparison purposes. The secondary objective of this study is to investigate the validity of the following two hypotheses: 1) the short-term water demand process at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur campus is a dynamic process mainly driven by the maximum air temperature and interrupted by rainfall occurrences, and 2) occurrence of rainfall is a more significant variable than the rainfall amount itself in modelling the short-term water demand forecasts. The data employed in this study consist of weekly water demand at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur campus, and total weekly rainfall and weekly average maximum air temperature from the City of Kanpur, India. Six different artificial neural network models, five regression models, and two time series models have been developed and compared. The artificial neural network models consistently outperformed the regression and time series models developed in this study. An average absolute error in forecasting of 2.41% was achieved from the best artificial neural network model, which also showed the best correlation between the modelled and targeted water demands. It has been found that the water demand at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur campus is better correlated with the rainfall occurrence rather than the amount of rainfall itself.

Thousands of cities around the world are experiencing water shortages on a regular basis. These water‐stressed cities are finding it extremely difficult and expensive to secure the additional water supplies needed to support their growth. Their best hope might be to form partnerships with farmers; by helping to reduce water consumption on farms, water can be freed up for use in the city. Urban water conservation is important as well.

TRUST is an acronym for Transition to the Urban Water Services of Tomorrow. Just into its second year, this four‐year European Union project consists of a consortium that is split into eight work areas (which in turn are segmented into many work packages), focusing on different aspects of the project. These eight work areas are not islands of expertise working in isolation in different countries in Europe, but cooperating and collaborating team members actively exchanging and sharing information among themselves to ensure that progress toward the end goals is ensured and expedited.

In a matter of first impression, a Pennsylvania commonwealth court held that a municipal water authority (Authority), acting as township agent, could bring an action in equity to enforce a township ordinance requiring connection to a public water system. The court also found that there were no exemptions to the mandatory connection law and that it could not carve out an exemption to a policy that protects the general public interest.

Many developing countries face daunting water resources challenges as the needs for water supply, irrigation, and hydroelectricity grow; as water becomes more scarce, quality declines, and environmental and social concerns increase; and as the threats posed by goods and droughts are exacerbated by climate change. As a consequence, there is a high and increasing demand for World Bank engagement. Lending for water resources and development accounted for about 16 percent of all World Bank lending over the past decade. Within the World Bank, business strategies for specific water-using sectors, such as water and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, and hydropower, are determined primarily as part of the strategies for these sectors. Water Resources Sector Strategy: Strategic Directions for World Bank Engagement focuses on how to improve the development and management of water resources while providing the principles that link resource management to the specific water-using sectors. The Strategy emphasizes the difficult and contentious issues upon which World Bank practice needs to improve and suggests that the main management challenge is not a vision of integrated water resources management but a “pragmatic but principled” approach.