Air

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Air

• Human beings need quality air for health and
  well-being.

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Air composition

• Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen CO2 and
  some inert gases.
• It also consists of water vapours of varying
  quantity.
• Air also contains numerous harmful substances
  natural pollutants such as dust and volcanic ash,
  and pollutants that are by-products of human
  activity.

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Atmosphere

• The atmosphere consists of layers of air 
  covering the Earth. Plants and animals rely on
  the gases in the atmosphere.
• Plants need CO2 for the process of
  photosynthesis and release oxygen as a result.
• Animals -- including human beings -- need oxygen
  to live and release CO2 as they exhale.
• The CO2 is then taken up again by plants,
  forming a cycle of life in the biosphere.

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• In the modern world, however, industrial
  activity, the burning of fossil fuels, waste
  treatment, intensive agriculture and many other
  economic activities lead to air pollution.
• Air pollution is harmful to humans, as well as to
  plants, animals and their natural habitats.
• It even brings about changes in the Earth's
  climate.

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• It was long believed that air pollutants, once
  released, were diluted to negligible
  concentrations in the atmosphere.
• Measurements have shown this belief to be flawed,
  if not misleading.High concentrations of
  primary pollutants can occur within and around
  emission areas.
• Nearly all large particles are deposited
  locally.
• Local weather is an important factor in
  determining short-term pollution levels.
• However, local emissions may have regional and
  global implications.
• For example, CFCs emitted at the surface are
  responsible for ozone layer depletion that occurs
  at an altitude of 20-30 kilometres in the
  stratosphere. 

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Ambient air pollutants

• Chemical compounds present in the atmosphere
  are considered ambient air pollutants when they
  occur in unnaturally high concentrations and have
  the potential to cause harm to the environment
  and human health.The traditional air pollutants
  include SO2, NOx, CO, lead, particulate matter
  (PM) and VOCs.

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• Hazardous air pollutants include
• metals and metalloids, such as cadmium, mercury
  and arsenic
• respirable mineral fibres, such as asbestos and
  glass micro-fibres
• inorganic gases, such as fluorides, chlorine,
  cyanide and phosgene and
• organic compounds, such as aldehydes, aromatic
  and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and
  dioxins.

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Efectos en la salud de contaminates del aire

•  Ozone cause pulmonary damage, nose and throat
  irritation and headaches
• Fine particles and heavy metals cause irritation
  and damage to respiratory functions and can
  possess mutagenic and carcinogenic properties
• VOC have wide-ranging impacts, from olfactory
  irritations to mutagenic and carcinogenic effects
  (benzene).

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• CO affects tissue oxygenation.
• NOxcause acid rain.,have respiratory effects and
  inhibit plant growth
• SO2 exacerbates respiratory pathology and causes
  acid rain.
• Exposure to dioxins increases the risk of cancer.
  
• Scientists believe that dioxins hinder the immune
  system and alter the concentration of
  reproductive hormones.

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Tipos de contaminación aerea

• Summer smog When the sun shines, the gases
  exhausted from cars (such as NOx and VOCs)
  combine to form ozone. Although the Earth needs
  ozone in the upper atmosphere, its effects at low
  altitudes are extremely harmful more than 100
  million people are affected in Europe alone.

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Winter smog

• Winter smog is created when pollutants are
  trapped by a mass of cold air hovering over a
  city, causing them to build up (especially SO2,
  NOx and particles).
• The worst pollution tends to occur in urban
  environments, where two of every three Europeans
  live today.Severe winter smog episodes
  frequently create health hazards in parts of
  Central and Eastern Europe in the densely
  populated areas of, for example, the Czech
  Republic, eastern Germany and Poland
• Combustion processes, including residential
  heating, power production and industry, are the
  main sources of pollution.

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Urban air pollution

• Urban areas are growing worldwide, as are their
  air-pollution levels.Europe, for example, is a
  highly urbanised continent, with more than 70
  percent of its inhabitants living in urban areas.
  Traffic, combustion and industrial production
  lead to airborne emissions with elevated
  concentrations of pollutants.
• This pollution gives rise to a range of problems
  such as health risks, accelerated deterioration
  of building materials, damage to historical
  monuments and harm to vegetation within and
  around cities.

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Air pollution from transport

• Smog occurrences and long-term average
  concentrations of harmful compounds such as lead,
  benzene, particulate matter and benzopyrene are
  significantly increased by road-transport
  emissions. Road transport also contributes more
  than half of NOx emissions and 35 percent of VOC
  emissions.
• Diesel-engine vehicles also produce very fine
  particulate matter, which is extremely harmful to
  human health. A significant air pollution
  problem in Scandinavian countries results from
  the use of studded tyres in winter.
• These tyres wear down the surfaces of roads and
  produce grit, which becomes suspended in the air.

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Air pollution from industry

• Air pollution is also caused by industry.
• The level of impact of the emission source
  depends on the height of the smokestack and the
  prevailing wind direction.
• Primary pollutants with longer residence times
  include acidifying compounds (such as SO2, NOx
  and ammonia) and aerosol-bound pollutants (such
  as dust, heavy metals and persistent organic
  pollutants).
• "Hot spot" air pollution is a term used to
  describe high, short-term pollution
  concentrations.
• Populations near pollution sources are at risk
  of exposure.
• Hot spot pollution includes urban streets with
  busy traffic and the impact of industrial stacks
  in cities.

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Regional air pollution

• Pollutants originating from sulphur and nitrogen
  oxides, as well as ammonia emissions, can be
  transported long distances downwind and deposited
  onto natural surfaces.
• Severe problems (such as the acidification and
  contamination of soils and surface water) can
  result, which dramatically affect the diversity
  and conditions of ecosystems, including forests
  and crops.
• Fish dieback is a serious problem in regions
  susceptible to freshwater acidification  .
• The highest deposition levels in Europe are found
  in the highly populated and industrialised zones
  between Poland and the UK.

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Global air pollution

• The build-up of long-life pollutant compounds
  alters the atmosphere's composition, chemistry
  and dynamics.
• It also leads to possible climatic changes and
  the depletion of the shield protecting against
  solar UV-radiation provided by the stratospheric
  ozone layer  .
• Europe's contribution to most man-made emissions
  of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting compounds
  is disproportionately large in relation to its
  geographical area and population size.

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• WaterWater is a unique component of our planet.
  It is also a commodity to manage and sell, and is
  the object of many controversial economic
  interests and complex social interrelations.

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• Water propertiesWater is at once simple and
  complex. A water molecule is made up of only
  three atoms two hydrogen and one oxygen. The
  configuration of this building block, however,
  produces a molecule with almost magical
  properties.

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• Some physical and chemical propertiesWater
  molecules are attached to each other, creating
  hydrogen bonds.
• These strong bonds determine almost every
  physical characteristic of water and many of its
  chemical properties.

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• Water is the only substance present in nature in
  three forms solid, liquid and gaseous.Pure
  water at sea level boils at 100 degrees Celsius
  and freezes at 0 degrees.
• At higher elevations, where atmospheric pressure
  is lower, water's boiling temperature is lower.
• This effect explains why it takes longer to boil
  an egg at higher altitudes.

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• Dissolving a substance in water lowers the
  water's freezing point, which is why people
  spread salt on streets in winter to prevent ice
  formation.Water is called the universal
  solvent.
• It can dissolve more substances than any other
  solvent.
• There is hardly a substance known that has not
  been identified as soluble in the Earth's waters.

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• Water molecules, as well as binding to each
  other, bind to many other substances, such as
  glass, cotton, plant tissue and soil.
• This is called adhesion.

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Importance to life

• Nearly all substances become heavier and thicker
  when converted from a liquid to a solid state.
• Water, however, increases in volume and becomes
  lighter when it turns into ice.
• This property is of vital importance for
  sustaining life in basins during winter.A drop
  of rainwater falling through the air dissolves
  atmospheric gases.
• When rain reaches the Earth, it affects the
  quality of the land, lakes and rivers.

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• Water can store huge quantities of energy, which
  can turn oceans, seas and lakes into giant heat
  reservoirs.
• This particular property influences climates in
  areas situated near water basins.
• It is also due to its energy-retaining quality
  that water is widely used for cooling and
  transferring heat in thermal and chemical
  processes.

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• Water-surface tension is a measure of its
  surface-film strength.
• The attraction between water molecules creates a
  strong film, which among other liquids is
  surpassed only by mercury.
• This surface tension permits water to hold up
  substances heavier and denser than itself.
• Some aquatic insects, such as the water spider,
  rely on surface tension to walk on water.

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• Water surface tension is essential for the
  transfer of energy from wind that creates waves.
• Waves are necessary for rapid oxygen diffusion in
  lakes and seas.

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• In a thin glass capillary, for example, when
  molecules at the edge reach for and adhere to the
  molecules of glass just above them, they tow
  other water molecules at the same time.
• The water surface, in turn, pulls the entire body
  of water upward until the downward force of
  gravity is too great to be overcome.
• This process is called "capillary action," and
  it allows a sponge to be used to soak up spilled
  water.
• Without this property, the nutrients needed by
  plants and trees would remain in the soil.

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• A large percentage of our blood is water.
• People must exchange about two litres of water
  per day in order to regulate their body
  temperature.Places where water is preserved on
  land are called water basins.
• Water can be found in rivers, lakes, pools,
  animals, plant stems and under the ground.

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Water in motion

• Water is constantly moving between the Earth and
  the atmosphere.
• The sun and wind evaporate water from soil, plant
  leaves and animals, and from the surfaces of
  rivers, lakes and oceans.

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• This process changes water to a gaseous form
  called water vapour.
• Water vapour condenses under certain conditions
  and falls back to earth as rain or snow.
• Precipitation that ultimately reaches streams and
  rivers, often transporting other material with
  it, is known as runoff.

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• Rain fills up rivers and lakes.
• Rivers flow into the oceans.
• Some precipitation penetrates the ground and
  forms groundwater.
• In this way water circulates constantly from the
  earth to the atmosphere and back again, in what
  is called the hydrological cycle  .

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• The hydrological cycleTranspirationWater
  vapour is also emitted from plant leaves by a
  process called transpiration.
• Every day an actively growing plant transpires
  5-10 times as much water as it can hold.

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• CondensationAs water vapour rises, it cools and
  eventually condenses, usually on tiny particles
  of dust in the air. When it condenses it becomes
  a liquid again or turns directly into a solid
  (ice, hail or snow). These water particles then
  collect and form clouds.

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• Water tableThe water table is the level to
  which water rises in an open well.

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• EvaporationAs water is heated by the sun, its
  surface molecules become sufficiently energised
  to break free of the force binding them together.
  
• They then evaporate and rise into the atmosphere
  as invisible vapour

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• PercolationSome precipitation and melted snow
  moves down through the soil, percolates and
  infiltrates through cracks and pores in soil and
  rocks until it reaches the water table, where it
  becomes groundwater.

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• GroundwaterSubterranean water is held in cracks
  and pores.
• Depending on the geology, groundwater can flow to
  support streams.
• It can also be tapped by wells.
• Some groundwater is extremely old and may have
  been under the Earth for thousands of years

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• RunoffExcessive rain or melting snow can
  produce overland flow to creeks and ditches.
• Runoff is the visible flow of water into rivers,
  creeks and lakes as the water stored in basins
  drains out.

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• PrecipitationPrecipitation, in the form of
  rain, snow and hail, comes from clouds.
• Propelled by air currents, clouds move around the
  world.
• When rising over mountain ranges, they cool,
  becoming so saturated with water that it begins
  to fall as rain, snow or hail, depending on the
  temperature of the surrounding air.

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• Water qualityImpact on human health and food
• The contamination of drinking water and food
  with microbiological agents can cause a variety
  of communicable diseases, such as hepatitis A,
  salmonellosis or shigellosis.

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• In Europe, microbiological contamination of
  bathing water results in over two million cases
  of gastrointestinal diseases annually.
• Nitrate concentrations of groundwater in several
  areas across Europe with intensive agriculture
  were found to exceed guideline levels.
• These levels were established to protect infants
  from serious, life-threatening diseases (for
  example, ethaemoglobinemia).

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• Concentrations of arsenic found in water can also
  lead to health problems such as skin cancer.
  Impact on plants and animals
• The lack of sufficient oxygen (due to organic
  waste pollution or the presence of nitrates and
  phosphates in water) can cause the death of fish
  and other forms of aquatic life.

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• Chemicals such as inorganic and organic
  compounds, oil, gasoline and pesticides harm fish
  and other aquatic life and depress crop yields.
• Sediment (insoluble particles of soil suspended
  in water) clouds water, inhibits photosynthesis
  and destroys the aquatic food chain.

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Water resources

• Surface water and groundwater are important
  elements of the Earth's hydrological cycle.
• Surface water includes rivers, lakes and
  glaciers.
• Groundwater remains one of the least-studied and
  most difficult water resources to determine.

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• Surface waterIn Europe, annual runoff is
  greatest in western Norway.
• Considerably less is seen in parts of Spain,
  central Hungary, eastern Romania and the southern
  part of Russia.

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• The differences in river flow regimes are
  apparent in Western Europe (where flows are at a
  minimum in summer and late autumn), mountain-fed
  catchments (where flows are greatest in summer),
  and Eastern and Northern Europe (where most
  runoff occurs during the spring-melt period).
• Many European river flow regimes are heavily
  affected by human activities such as water
  abstraction and damming

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• GroundwaterNatural groundwater resources are
  stored in aquifers, which are permeable rock
  formations, or in unconsolidated deposits (sands,
  silts or gravels). The main characteristics of
  groundwater systems are invisible and
  relatively inaccessible locations low flow
  rates long residence times and slow
  reactions to changes on the surface.

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• Groundwater plays a number of important economic
  and ecological roles, as well as being an
  essential element of human health.
• Groundwater systems are normally very stable, in
  both quantity and quality.
• However, the effects of pollution and
  overexploitation could lead to drastic changes,
  with the period of recovery lasting centuries.

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• Surface water is the main source for water
  abstraction in Europe about 70 percent of the
  total abstraction on average.
• However, there is significant variation among
  European countries  .

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• European water resourcesOverall, there is no
  water shortage problem in Europe.
• However, the amount of water available for
  sustained consumption is very unevenly
  distributed across the continent.
• There are extreme variations that range from less
  than 100 cubic metres per capita per year in
  Malta to more than 630,000 cubic meters per
  capita per year in Iceland.

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• Many European countries are heavily dependent on
  external contributions of water through
  transboundary rivers to meet their demands.
• Countries located downstream of large rivers
  (Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Luxembourg and The
  Netherlands) receive more than 75 percent of
  their flows from other countries, which could
  result in a dispute over transboundary water
  pollution or the disposal of water resources.

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Impacto humano
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• Human impact on waterWater is used for
  agricultural purposes (irrigation), by industry
  (production of goods, and as a cooling and
  heating agent) and for domestic purposes
  (drinking, personal hygiene, washing, recreation,
  etc.).

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• In Europe as a whole, 53 percent of transported
  surface water and groundwater is used by
  industry.
• Twenty-six percent of it is used for agriculture
  and only 19 percent for domestic purposes.
• There is large variability in water abstraction
  among various economic sectors of European
  countries  .

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• Water pollutionThere are several classes of
  common water pollutants.Disease-causing agents
  (pathogens)
• These include bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and
  parasitic worms that enter water from domestic
  sewage and untreated human and animal wastes.
• Every day about 14,000 people, half of them
  children, die due to this type of water pollution
  worldwide.

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• Oxygen-demanding waste
• This term refers to organic waste matter
  requiring aerobic decomposition by bacteria.
• Large populations of bacteria supported by the
  presence of these wastes degrade water quality by
  depleting it of dissolved oxygen.
• This process can cause the death of fish and
  other forms of oxygen-consuming aquatic life.

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• Water-soluble inorganic chemicals
• These are acids, salts and compounds of toxic
  metals such as mercury and lead.
• High levels of these chemicals can make water
  unfit to drink, harm fish and other aquatic life,
  depress crop yields and accelerate the corrosion
  of machinery that uses water. Industry is the
  main source of water-soluble inorganic chemicals.

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• Inorganic plant nutrientsThese are water-soluble
  nitrates and phosphates that can cause excessive
  growth of algae and other aquatic plants.
• As these plants decay they deplete the water of
  dissolved oxygen, which fish need to
  survive.People who drink water with excessive
  levels of nitrates suffer a reduction in the
  oxygen-carrying capacity of their blood.
• Agriculture is the main source of such pollution.

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• Organic chemicalsOrganic chemicals include oil,
  gasoline, plastics, pesticides, cleaning
  solvents, detergents and many other chemicals.
• They threaten human health and harm fish and
  other aquatic life.The main sources of such
  water pollution are transport, industry, urban
  activities and household cleaning.

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• Sediment (suspended matter)
• Insoluble particles of soil and other solids
  become suspended in water, mostly when soil is
  eroded from the land.
• By weight, this is by far the biggest water
  pollutant.
• Sediment clouds water, inhibits photosynthesis
  and destroys the aquatic food chain.

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• Water can be the subject of
• radioactive pollution (caused by water-soluble,
  radioactive isotopes),
• thermal pollution (after using water to cool down
  industrial and power plants) or
• genetic pollution (caused by accidental
  introduction of non-native species such as
  mussels and phytoplankton).

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• Sources of water pollutionWastewater treatment
  facilities themselves, if operating incorrectly,
  can cause water pollution.

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• Sources of water pollutionAgricultural
  activities such as the dispersion of pesticides,
  fertilisers and other chemical products cause
  significant air and water pollution

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• Sources of water pollutionBridge construction
  and riverbank corrections can cause changes in
  river flows and groundwater levels.

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• Sources of water pollutionPetroleum-product and
  chemical spills destroy aquatic ecosystems.

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• Sources of water pollutionMany towns do not
  posses wastewater treatment facilities.
• Direct wastewater discharges into rivers destroy
  aquatic ecosystems.

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• Sources of water pollutionRivers are often
  polluted by sewage and land runoffs

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• Sources of water pollutionDumping garbage into
  a body of water decreases its quality and
  destroys aquatic ecosystems.

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• Sources of water pollutionLarge animal
  concentrations in intensive pig and poultry farms
  release a great deal of waste.
• Discharging this waste into a river without
  proper treatment can cause death to aquatic flora
  and fauna and affect human health.

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• Wastewater management In rural and suburban
  areas, sewage from homes is usually discharged
  into a septic tank.
• To avoid groundwater pollution, septic tanks must
  be cleaned out every three to four years by a
  specialised company.

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• In urban areas, most waterborne wastes from
  homes, businesses, factories and storm runoff
  flow through a network of sewer pipes to
  wastewater treatment plants.
• Some cities have separate lines for storm water
  runoff.When sewage reaches a treatment plant 
  it may undergo as many as three levels of
  purification.

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• Treatment plantSecondary sewage
  treatmentSecondary sewage treatment is a
  biological process in which aerobic bacteria are
  used to remove up to 90 percent of biodegradable,
  oxygen-demanding organic waste.

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• Sewage is usually pumped into a large tank and
  mixed for several hours with bacteria-rich sludge
  and oxygenating air bubbles to facilitate the
  degradation of microorganisms.
• The water then goes to a sedimentation tank,
  where most of the suspended solids and
  microorganisms settle out as sludge.

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• The sludge produced from primary and secondary
  treatment is broken down by anaerobic digestion
  and then incinerated, dumped in a landfill or
  applied to land as fertiliser.Even after
  secondary treatment, however, wastewater still
  contains some oxygen-demanding wastes, suspended
  solids, 70 percent of its phosphorus (mostly as
  phosphates), some nitrates and a number of toxic
  metal compounds.

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• Water a conflict of interestsIt is said that
  in the 19th century wars were waged over metals,
  in the 20th century over petrol, and if there is
  a war in the 21st century, it will definitely be
  over sources of drinking water. There are 214
  rivers and lakes on the planet that belong to two
  or more countries - 66 of these are shared by
  four or more nations. Conflicts often result

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• The NileAn Egyptian leader once threatened that
  abuse of the Nile River was a declaration of war.
  The waters of the longest river in the world run
  through Tanzania, Rwanda, Zaire, Uganda,
  Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.When Ethiopia
  declared in 1990 that it intended to build a huge
  reservoir on the river, the Egyptian government
  reacted negatively.
• At Egypt's request, Ethiopia was not granted a
  loan to construct the dam, and the project
  failed.

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• The Ganges RiverA water conflict over the Ganges
  River has transpired between India and Bangladesh
  for 25 years.
• A huge amount of its water is being diverted by
  India's government to meet the needs of giant
  cities such as Calcutta.
• In October 1995 more than 40 million people in
  Bangladesh were dying of hunger and thirst
  because India had diverted this water to irrigate
  its agricultural lands.

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• The Danube River The Danube River passes through
  nine European countries.
• Water pollution caused by one country often
  affects neighbouring environments as much as its
  own.

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• In February 2000 a large quantity of cyanide was
  released from a gold mine in Romania, causing the
  mass death of fish in two Hungarian rivers
  flowing into the Danube.
• Experts declared the five-kilometre carpet of
  dead fish floating on the river the greatest
  ecological disaster in the area since the
  Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
• Images of the river's casualties being hauled
  away by train drew international attention.
• The pollution also affected countries downriver
  from the spill.

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• Water crisis hits homeIn Central and Eastern
  Europe (CEE), the need to address water problems
  is as urgent as anywhere else in the world.
• Broadly speaking, the region's problems include
  pollution and water quality deterioration, water
  resource issues and institutional and financial
  concerns.

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• Water problems in CEEEcosystems in CEE are at
  risk due to land conversion, changes in
  hydrological regimes, pollution by inadequately
  controlled agricultural discharges and the low
  level of wastewater collection and treatment.
• Water quality improvement and pollution control,
  including protection of surface and groundwater
  and the marine environment of the Baltic and
  Black seas, are urgent tasks for the region.
• Rehabilitation of degraded areas, such as old
  military camps and industrial sites, is also
  essential for preserving the region's water
  resources.

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• Another group of problems for the region involves
  coping with floods and droughts and satisfying
  water demands.
• Flood management is a constant concern in
  Poland, Lithuania and all countries located in
  the Danube River basin. But high water is a
  problem all over the region.

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• Ironically, long-term droughts are a problem in
  the same areas that are plagued by flooding.
• The total loss of water from plant transpiration
  and evaporation from the ground, known as
  "evapotranspiration," is high in several parts of
  the Danube Basin, and may exceed the total volume
  of precipitation.
• One example of a drought caused by
  evapotranspiration in CEE can be observed along
  the Tisza River, where the streams in the
  catchment area are low.
• In the Baltics, the annual runoff from the
  Vistula and Odra basins in dry years may be about
  50 percent less than the mean annual value.

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• Water management in CEEThe institutional
  arrangements for managing water in CEE are too
  complicated, not transparent and not financially
  self-supporting, according to Janusz Kindler and
  Laszlo Somlyody, who contributed to the 2000
  series of reports entitled Water for the 21st
  Century Vision to Action.
• The principles of river basin management are
  well known across the region, and some countries
  even have river basin agencies.
• But those agencies are often not well
  incorporated into the overall government
  structure, according to Kindler and Somlyody.

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• The situation is expected to improve as the
  countries of the region seek to align themselves
  with the European Union's Water Framework
  Directive.
• The directive offers a clear mechanism for reform
  of institutions dealing with water management.

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• Because rivers in the region pass through many
  countries, flood control along them requires
  international solutions.
• In August 2002, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter
  Medgyessy took steps toward achieving such a
  solution.
• He launched an initiative for regional
  cooperation in addressing floods among countries
  located in the Danube, Odra and Elbe river
  basins.

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• Paying for better managementAchieving alignment
  with EU regulations on water will be costly.
  Investment needs in the area of water supply and
  water sanitation are enormous in both the rural
  and urban areas of CEE.
• Kindler and Somlyody estimate that the
  investment required to meet EU directives ranges
  between USD 500 and 1,000 per capita in the
  countries of the region.
• This is obviously a huge sum when compared to the
  average, per-capita, gross domestic product of
  CEE countries.

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• Finding means for financing the work that is
  needed, and using subsidies efficiently, are
  therefore essential for countries seeking to
  accede to the EU.
• Developing the economies in this region could
  also make it easier for these countries to pay
  for improvements in their water infrastructure.
• And CEE countries will have to build their
  capacity to handle certain types of work,
  including integrated water resources management,
  environmental economics and wastewater
  management.

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• One important international effort that affects
  CEE directly is the EU Water Initiative, a
  strategic partnership between the EU, Africa and
  12 countries from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus
  and Central Asia.
• The aim of this initiative is to create a higher
  efficiency of water-related development by
  providing a platform to coordinate and streamline
  activities.
• The EU, which says it is the largest donor in the
  field of water with an average of EUR 1.4 billion
  a year, has announced that it wants to serve as a
  major driving force to meet goals set at the
  World Summit on Sustainable Development in
  Johannesburg in relation to water.

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• CEE countries are increasingly playing a role in
  international water initiatives.
• Along with these various international efforts,
  these countries are addressing water issues as
  they work toward compliance with the EU Water
  Framework Directive, which will reshape water
  protection and water management in the region.
  The Bulletin, December 2002

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Agua y la gente
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• Water and peopleThe Earth is called the Blue
  Planet because of the proliferation of water, yet
  only 0.6 percent of it is fit for drinking.Only
  3 percent of the water we use serves an essential
  human need. The remainder could be controlled and
  decreased.

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• People are now realising that excessive and
  unnecessary water use and increased pollution of
  drinking water sources will lead to catastrophe.
  Since we all use water, we are all responsible
  for saving it. The two basic principles behind
  maintaining water resources are conserve and
  protect

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• Conserve and protectScientists claim that when
  modern technologies are applied, household water
  consumption is reduced by one-third, agricultural
  by one-half and industrial by 90 percent!
• Click on the pictures to find out what needs to
  be done.

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• Conserve and protectRepair water pipes to
  minimise water lost in transport.

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• Conserve and protectImplement the drop-method
  of agricultural irrigation to increase water-use
  efficiency by minimising evaporation losses.

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• Conserve and protectIntroduce the circular mode
  of industrial water supply.

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• Conserve and protectImpose an environmental
  taxation on water that would cover all delivery,
  management and purification costs.

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• Conserve and protectBuild purification systems
  for wastewater everywhere.