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This study explores the concept of hydraulic flushing gate with an automated control system as a flow control structure of the urban storm water system. The research team has implemented a flush gate with the automated control system to the flow of the water in a drainage channel. The flow control structure was used to determine the effectiveness of such design by applying the concept of virtually on a real-world drainage system at Jalan Astana, Kuching. Computer representations of the existing drainage system and flow control structure were built using EPA SWMM 5.0 model. The series of flow control structure was proven to hold the runoff from 10-year storm. The modelling result shows that there is 25.9% of flow reduction at outlet node. As a modification of the existing drainage system in the urban area involves high construction cost, by installing a flow control structure in the drainage system is an innovative way to control the flow of the water.

This chapter discusses the DRENURBS initiative in Belo Horizonte, a program for urban water drainage using natural ecosystems, using the sociotechnical framework. DRENURBS transformed the logic of canalizing water streams into a new, nature-based solution with significant positive impacts on biodiversity and social benefits. Following a theoretical debate on sustainability transition and innovation concepts, this chapter seeks to map the essential elements for building a successful institutional framework in the public sector for urban biodiversity improvements.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Soil Conservation Services (SCS) rainfall-runoff model has been applied worldwide since 1954 and adopted by Malaysian government agencies. Malaysia does not have regional specific curve numbers (CN) available for the use in rainfall-runoff modelling, and therefore a SCS-CN practitioner has no option but to adopt its guideline and handbook values which are specific to the US region. The selection of CN to represent a watershed becomes subjective and even inconsistent to represent similar land cover area. In recent decades, hydrologists argue about the accuracy of the predicted runoff results from the model and challenge the validity of the key parameter, initial abstraction ratio coefficient (λ) and the use of CN. Unlike the conventional SCS-CN technique, the proposed calibration methodology in this chapter discarded the use of CN as input to the SCS model and derived statistically significant CN value of a specific region through rainfall-runoff events directly under the guide of inferential statistics. Between July and October of 2004, the derived λ was 0.015, while λ = 0.20 was rejected at alpha = 0.01 level at Melana watershed in Johor, Malaysia. Optimum CN of 88.9 was derived from the 99% confidence interval range from 87.4 to 96.6 at Melana watershed. Residual sum of square (RSS) was reduced by 79% while the runoff model of Nash–Sutcliffe was improved by 233%. The SCS rainfall-runoff model can be calibrated quickly to address urban runoff prediction challenge under rapid land use and land cover changes.

The impact of climate change towards water surface resources is crucial, particularly in developing and non-developing countries. Groundwater as a main water resource is thus an essential. However, contamination due to hydrocarbon spills affects the groundwater as a water resource, especially as a main source of drinking water. This chapter investigates the light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) penetrations in double-porosity soil with different moisture contents and with or without vibration impact. It also explains the LNAPL penetration phenomena by employing image analysis. The physical laboratory experiments were implemented using an acrylic cylinder, a mirror, toluene and a Nikon D90 DSLR digital camera. Prepared soil was poured in an acrylic cylinder and compressed with compressor until it became 10 cm in height. LNAPL was then poured instantaneously onto the acrylic cylinder that was filled with soil sample. The LNAPL penetration patterns were recorded and monitored using a Nikon D90 DSLR digital camera. The processing technique was conducted at predetermined time intervals using Surfer software and Matlab routine to plot the LNAPL pattern. The results showed that a higher penetration rate of LNAPL occurred with higher moisture content and without vibration impact. The penetration time for LNAPL to reach the bottom of the soil sample was found to be longer for the soil that had low moisture content and with vibration impact.

Brevard College is a small, liberal arts college in Western North Carolina committed to experiential education. The Teacher Education Program prepares future teachers to lead the next generation of learning communities by nurturing values and skills necessary for inquiry-based teaching. Darling-Hammond (2005) reaffirms that one critical aspect of school reform is “preparing accomplished teachers who can effectively teach a wide array of learners to high standards … essential to economic and political survival” (p. 238). Admittedly, this is no easy task. Newly licensed candidates face a convergence of politics, economic, and demographic 21st century realities. Faculty and candidates need a deep understanding of constructivist theory to prepare for inquiry-based teaching. This knowledge must not just be a tag line on a syllabus but embedded in heads and heart. Reflecting on how theory is put into practice, through explicit minds-on/hands-on field experiences in diverse community partnerships, teacher candidates are empowered. The lessons learned by a newly licensed constructivist-based teacher boldly sharing his passion for inquiry-based teaching in a public school setting offers a glimpse of potential hope.

In this chapter, the title theme of “Disaster by Design” is explored and justified. Even from early times, the Aral Region was subject to alterations of natural conditions due to human intervention, often deliberate and designed. After the final conquest by Russia, the region became a fixed colony as part of the Soviet Union, ripe for exploitation characteristic of the Soviet approach to nature broadly and to stigmatized areas specifically. The Aral region was selected for irrigated cotton and other cultivation even though the consequences for desiccation of the sea, desertification, and salinization were understood. The decision was so calculated that even a cost–benefit analysis was offered to show that the Aral fishery was worth but a fraction of the cotton potential. The destruction of the region was made possible by a Soviet system of central planning and peripheral control. The brief glimmer of hope for the region evidenced during glasnost was the only moment where the Aral's fate was not sealed. The outcome is a model of ecological disaster by design, an environmental injustice, and an indication of the abusive nature of authoritarian power.

Market-based approaches to environmental management are increasingly common. In 1983 when Joeres and David published their pioneering collection, Buying a Better Environment, the concept was seen as at best novel, and at worst far-fetched. Yet today, conservation and water quality credits are for sale in many developed countries, and the idea of payment for ecosystem services is ubiquitous in environmental policy circles. This paper traces that shift from command-and-control to market-based environmental management through analysis of the evolving practice of stream mitigation banking (SMB) in the US. In the most common form of SMB today, a for-profit company buys land with a damaged stream on it and restores it to produce mitigation credits which can then be purchased by developers to fulfill their permit conditions under the Clean Water Act. Though decidedly noncommercial in origin, SMB was converted into for-profit tradable regulatory mechanism in 2000 and has since spread rapidly across the US with the strong support of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Using Bourdieu’s field concept as a framework, I argue that the neoliberal transformation of mitigation banking is a product of both relations within the regulatory field, of that field’s relations with the fields of science, and of power.

The research objectives of this chapter are threefold. First, we explore what is the current status of corporate water accounting tools and methodologies. Second, we develop a framework for analyzing corporate water accounting and reporting. Third, we investigate what French CAC 40 companies account for and report in relations to the water challenge.

We collected annual and sustainability reports from all CAC 40 companies as well as their water Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) responses when available. We also collected all publically available corporate water accounting methodologies to assess the international water accounting field. We coded the data according to our designed framework via qualitative data analysis software.

Although water is seen as equally important to climate change (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 2009), French multinationals have a very immature reporting on this topic. Most still do not report to the water disclosure questionnaire of CDP in 2014 and rely on basic figures such as global water consumption. We analyzed the multiple water accounting, reporting, and risk assessment frameworks that have mushroomed since 2000, and question the impact of this fragmented field on the maturity of the water performance reporting by French companies.

The developed framework for analysis of water reporting can be used for sustainability teaching at university level.

We developed the first comprehensive analytical framework for water corporate reporting assessment. Moreover, this research is the first comprehensive study of water reporting in Europe. We therefore contribute to extend our comprehension of corporate maturity in water stewardship and water performance reporting.

In the UK regions that are structurally more vulnerable are less able to respond to economic shocks (McCann, 2017). An economic downturn for a poorer region like the North East of England (Jenkins, Pike, & Tomaney, 2019) will mean it enters recession earlier and emerges from recession later than significantly wealthier regions like London and South East region in England or Amsterdam City region in the Netherlands. We ask, what can be done to improve the impact of policy interventions that support and develop weaker regional economies? Behind this chapter sit two elements of research study: a question, which asks, what if you develop a “great” policy, that is well researched and designed; however, it fails because the people who deliver it don’t have the right culture, values, or knowledge? The second element is that the authors are interested in a range of factors that affect not only policy implementation including entrepreneurship but also economic culture and social capital, looking at the problem from different disciplinary viewpoints (Baker & Welter, 2018). This chapter makes a comparative study between the North East of England and the Amsterdam City region to explore how policy implementation might be improved as other factors of place cannot be easily altered, these factors include major infrastructure, political systems, and budgetary control as well as overall economic wealth. What this means is that practical research and studies have to find factors that can be improved in order to achieve change and a greater economic impact on Places in this context, the North East of England.