vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
In places like Florida , where it is necessary to avoid nutrient overload of sensitive receiving water , reuse of treated or reclaimed water can be more economically feasible than meeting the higher standards for surface water disposal mandated by the Clean Water Act
Wetland
Constructed wetlands are used to treat municipal and industrial wastewater as well as stormwater runoff . They may also play a role in water - sensitive urban design .
Wetland
The function of most natural wetland systems is not to manage to wastewater , however , their high potential for the filtering and the treatment of pollutants has been recognized by environmental engineers that specialize in the area of wastewater treatment . These constructed wetland systems are highly controlled environments that intend to mimic the occurrences of soil , flora , and microorganisms in natural wetlands to aid in treating wastewater effluent . Constructed wetlands can be used to treat raw sewage , storm water , agricultural and industrial effluent . They are constructed with flow regimes , micro-biotic composition , and suitable plants in order to produce the most efficient treatment process . Other advantages of constructed wetlands are the control of retention times and hydraulic channels . The most important factors of constructed wetlands are the water flow processes combined with plant growth .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
There are examples of communities that have safely used recycled water for many years . Los Angeles County 's sanitation districts have provided treated wastewater for landscape irrigation in parks and golf courses since 1929 . The first reclaimed water facility in California was built at San Francisco 's Golden Gate Park in 1932 . The Water Replenishment District of Southern California was the first groundwater agency to obtain permitted use of recycled water for groundwater recharge in 1962 .
Water in California
The large quantity of water beneath the surface has given rise to the misconception that groundwater is a sort of renewable resource that can be limitlessly tapped . Calculations assuming that groundwater usage is sustainable if the rate of removal equals the rate of recharge are often incorrect as a result of ignoring changes in water consumption and water renewal .
Wetland
Examples : An example of how a natural wetland is used to provide some degree of sewage treatment is the East Kolkata Wetlands in Kolkata , India . The wetlands cover 125 square kilometres ( 48 sq mi ) , and are used to treat Kolkata 's sewage . The nutrients contained in the wastewater sustain fish farms and agriculture .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
Few sewage treatment facilities were constructed in the late 19th century to treat combined wastewater because of the associated difficulties . There were only 27 U.S. cities with wastewater treatment works by 1892 , most of them `` treating '' wastewater through land application . Of these 27 cities , 26 had separate sanitary and storm water sewer systems , thus facilitating wastewater treatment , because there was no need for large capacitites to accommodate wet weather flows . Furthermore , there was a belief that the diluted combined wastewater was not harmful to receiving waters , due to the natural dilution and self - purifying capacity of rivers , lakes and the sea . In the early 20th century a debate evolved between those who thought it was in the best interest of public health to construct wastewater treatment facilities and those who believed building them was unnecessary . Nevertheless , many cities began to opt for separate sewer systems , creating favorable conditions for adding wastewater treatment plants in the future .
Phosphorus cycle
Repeated application of liquid hog manure in excess to crop needs can have detrimental effects on soil phosphorus status . Also , application of biosolids may increase available phosphorus in soil . In poorly drained soils or in areas where snowmelt can cause periodic waterlogging , dereducing conditions can be attained in 7 -- 10 days . This causes a sharp increase in phosphorus concentration in solution and phosphorus can be leached . In addition , reduction of the soil causes a shift in phosphorus from resilient to more labile forms . This could eventually increase the potential for phosphorus loss . This is of particular concern for the environmentally sound management of such areas , where disposal of agricultural wastes has already become a problem . It is suggested that the water regime of soils that are to be used for organic wastes disposal is taken into account in the preparation of waste management regulations .
Recycling
At one end of the spectrum is mixed waste collection , in which all recyclates are collected mixed in with the rest of the waste , and the desired material is then sorted out and cleaned at a central sorting facility . This results in a large amount of recyclable waste , paper especially , being too soiled to reprocess , but has advantages as well : the city need not pay for a separate collection of recyclates and no public education is needed . Any changes to which materials are recyclable is easy to accommodate as all sorting happens in a central location .
Environmental issues in India
Other sources of water pollution include agriculture run off and small scale factories along the rivers and lakes of India . Fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture in northwest have been found in rivers , lakes and ground water . Flooding during monsoons worsens India 's water pollution problem , as it washes and moves all sorts of solid garbage and contaminated soils into its rivers and wetlands . Water
Iodine-131
The use of I as a medical isotope has been blamed for a routine shipment of biosolids being rejected from crossing the Canada -- U.S. border . Such material can enter the sewers directly from the medical facilities , or by being excreted by patients after a treatment
Fresh water
Fresh water is a renewable and variable , but finite natural resource . Fresh water can only be replenished through the process of the water cycle , in which water from seas , lakes , forests , land , rivers , and reservoirs evaporates , forms clouds , and returns as precipitation . Locally however , if more fresh water is consumed through human activities than is naturally restored , this may result in reduced fresh water availability from surface and underground sources and can cause serious damage to surrounding and associated environments .
Water in California
Water use in California is divided into approximately 51 % for environmental uses , 39 % agricultural use and 11 % urban uses , though that varies considerably between regions and between wet and dry years . Solely relying on these statewide volumes is controversial because they do n't consider the fact that most of the volume of water used for environmental purposes includes flows down Wild and Scenic Rivers in the North Coast where there is no practical way to recover it for either agricultural or urban use because it lacks many connections to the statewide water supply system . It also does n't factor in the amount of water required to keep salty water from the Pacific Ocean from intruding into the Delta beyond a certain small concentration . Otherwise , `` reduced water quality resulting from large amounts of salt water drawn into the Delta could shut down the export pumps that supply fresh water to agriculture and cities . ''
Water in California
Exclusive right is given to the original appropriator , and all following rights are conditional upon precedent rights . All rights are conditional upon beneficial use . Water may be used on riparian lands or non-riparian lands ( i.e. water may be used on the land next to the water source , or on land removed from the water source ) Diversion is permitted , regardless of the shrinkage of the river or stream . The right may be lost through non-use .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
The Irvine Ranch Water District ( IRWD ) was the first water district in California to receive an unrestricted use permit from the state for its recycled water ; such a permit means that water can be used for any purpose except drinking . IRWD maintains one of the largest recycled water systems in the nation with more than 400 miles serving more than 4,500 metered connections . The Irvine Ranch Water District and Orange County Water District in Southern California are established leaders in recycled water . Further , the Orange County Water District , located in Orange County , water is given more advanced treatments and is used indirectly for drinking .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
Where wastewater was being treated it was typically discharged into rivers or lakes . However , in 1932 , the first reclaimed water facility in the U.S. was built in Golden Gate Park , San Francisco , for the reuse of treated wastewater in landscape irrigation .
Irrigation tank
Much water is evaporated from the large expanse of shallow water and is thus not available for irrigation . Tanks cover large areas of cultivable land . In many areas , other sources of irrigation have been adopted and the dry beds of tanks have been reclaimed for agriculture . Moreover , lifting of water from tanks and carrying it to the fields is a strenuous and costly exercise which discourages the use of tanks as a source of irrigation .
Ultraviolet
Disinfection using UV radiation is commonly used in wastewater treatment applications and is finding an increased usage in municipal drinking water treatment . Many bottlers of spring water use UV disinfection equipment to sterilize their water . Solar water disinfection has been researched for cheaply treating contaminated water using natural sunlight . The UV - A irradiation and increased water temperature kill organisms in the water .
Sustainability
Water efficiency is being improved on a global scale by increased demand management , improved infrastructure , improved water productivity of agriculture , minimising the water intensity ( embodied water ) of goods and services , addressing shortages in the non-industrialized world , concentrating food production in areas of high productivity , and planning for climate change , such as through flexible system design . A promising direction towards sustainable development is to design systems that are flexible and reversible . At the local level , people are becoming more self - sufficient by harvesting rainwater and reducing use of mains water . Food
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
The City of El Paso 's ( Texas , USA ) water sources include groundwater aquifers and surface water from the Rio Grande . In order to increase groundwater levels , the El Paso Water Utilities injects advanced treated reclaimed water into the aquifer . The advanced treatment facilities use two - stage powdered activated carbon ( PAC ) , addition of lime , two - stage recarbonation , sand filtration , ozonation , granular activated carbon ( GAC ) , and chlorination for purifying the water . The Hueco Bolson Recharge Project , which initially began in 1985 , currently recharges 1,700 acre - feet per year of reclaimed water at 10 injection wells and 800 acre - feet per year at an infiltration basin for groundwater recharge .
Water potential
In many cases , absolute value of matrix potential can be relatively large in comparison to the other components of water potential discussed above . Matrix potential markedly reduces the energy state of water near particle surfaces . Although water movement due to matrix potential may be slow , it is still extremely important in supplying water to plant roots and in engineering applications . The matrix potential is always negative because the water attracted by the soil matrix has an energy state lower than that of pure water . Matrix potential only occurs in unsaturated soil above the water table . If the matrix potential approaches a value of zero , nearly all soil pores are completely filled with water , i.e. fully saturated and at maximum retentive capacity . The matrix potential can vary considerably among soils . In the case that water drains into less - moist soil zones of similar porosity , the matrix potential is generally in the range of − 10 to − 30 kPa .
Wetland
Restoration and restoration ecologists intend to return wetlands to their natural trajectory by aiding directly with the natural processes of the ecosystem . These direct methods vary with respect to the degree of physical manipulation of the natural environment and each are associated with different levels of restoration . Restoration is needed after disturbance or perturbation of a wetland . Disturbances include exogenous factors such as flooding or drought . Other external damage may be anthropogenic disturbance caused by clear - cut harvesting of trees , oil and gas extraction , poorly defined infrastructure installation , over grazing of livestock , ill - considered recreational activities , alteration of wetlands including dredging , draining , and filling , and other negative human impacts . Disturbance puts different levels of stress on an environment depending on the type and duration of disturbance . There is no one way to restore a wetland and the level of restoration required will be based on the level of disturbance although , each method of restoration does require preparation and administration .
Recycling
It is difficult to determine the amount of energy consumed or produced in waste disposal processes in broader ecological terms , where causal relations dissipate into complex networks of material and energy flow . For example , `` cities do not follow all the strategies of ecosystem development . Biogeochemical paths become fairly straight relative to wild ecosystems , with very reduced recycling , resulting in large flows of waste and low total energy efficiencies . By contrast , in wild ecosystems , one population 's wastes are another population 's resources , and succession results in efficient exploitation of available resources . However , even modernized cities may still be in the earliest stages of a succession that may take centuries or millennia to complete . '' How much energy is used in recycling also depends on the type of material being recycled and the process used to do so . Aluminium is generally agreed to use far less energy when recycled rather than being produced from scratch . The EPA states that `` recycling aluminum cans , for example , saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source , bauxite . '' In 2009 , more than half of all aluminium cans produced came from recycled aluminium .
Osmosis
Osmosis may be used directly to achieve separation of water from a solution containing unwanted solutes . A `` draw '' solution of higher osmotic pressure than the feed solution is used to induce a net flow of water through a semi-permeable membrane , such that the feed solution becomes concentrated as the draw solution becomes dilute . The diluted draw solution may then be used directly ( as with an ingestible solute like glucose ) , or sent to a secondary separation process for the removal of the draw solute . This secondary separation can be more efficient than a reverse osmosis process would be alone , depending on the draw solute used and the feedwater treated . Forward osmosis is an area of ongoing research , focusing on applications in desalination , water purification , water treatment , food processing , etc .
Fresh water
Fresh water is not the same as potable water ( or drinking water ) . Much of the earth 's fresh water ( on the surface and groundwater ) is unsuitable for drinking without some treatment . Fresh water can easily become polluted by human activities or due to naturally occurring processes , such as erosion .
Water potential
A soil solution also experiences osmotic potential . The osmotic potential is made possible due to the presence of both inorganic and organic solutes in the soil solution . As water molecules increasingly clump around solute ions or molecules , the freedom of movement , and thus the potential energy , of the water is lowered . As the concentration of solutes is increased , the osmotic potential of the soil solution is reduced . Since water has a tendency to move toward lower energy levels , water will want to travel toward the zone of higher solute concentrations . Although , liquid water will only move in response to such differences in osmotic potential if a semipermeable membrane exists between the zones of high and low osmotic potential . A semipermeable membrane is necessary because it allows water through its membrane while preventing solutes from moving through its membrane . If no membrane is present , movement of the solute , rather than of the water , largely equalizes concentrations .
Recycling
Source separation used to be the preferred method due to the high sorting costs incurred by commingled ( mixed waste ) collection . However , advances in sorting technology have lowered this overhead substantially . Many areas which had developed source separation programs have since switched to what 's called co-mingled collection . Buy
Environmental issues in Delhi
Underground hydrological resources are a substantial supplemental source of water in Delhi , especially in the affluent sections of the city . In the residential plots called the ' farmhouses ' almost every household draws from this resource . Though water - storing rocks , i.e. aquifers , are renewed as surface rain - water percolates down , they are not inexhaustible . Delhi 's aquifers stand in danger of depletion on account of excessive use . Furthermore , rampant construction activity has contaminated them with cement , paints , varnishes and other construction materials ; leaky , poorly constructed and maintained sewage lines have added to the contamination . This is an irremediable loss , as aquifers , once polluted , can not be decontaminated ; they have no exposure to air and sunlight or to micro-organisms which clear - up chemical or biological pollutants .
Environmental impact of irrigation
Irrigation can have a variety negative impacts on ecology and socioeconomy , which may be mitigated in a number of ways . These include siting the irrigation project in a location which minimises negative impacts . The efficiency of existing projects can be improved and existing degraded croplands can be improved rather than establishing a new irrigation project Developing small - scale , individually owned irrigation systems as an alternative to large - scale , publicly owned and managed schemes . The use of sprinkler irrigation and micro-irrigation systems decreases the risk of waterlogging and erosion . Where practicable , using treated wastewater makes more water available to other users Maintaining flood flows downstream of the dams can ensure that an adequate area is flooded each year , supporting , amongst other objectives , fishery activities .
Recycling
Strong magnets are used to separate out ferrous metals , such as iron , steel , and tin cans . Non-ferrous metals are ejected by magnetic eddy currents in which a rotating magnetic field induces an electric current around the aluminum cans , which in turn creates a magnetic eddy current inside the cans . This magnetic eddy current is repulsed by a large magnetic field , and the cans are ejected from the rest of the recyclate stream . A
Irrigation tank
Water is considered a purifying and regenerative element in India , and is an essential element of prayer and ritual . Water is also revered because of its scarcity in western India where dry and monsoon seasons alternate and failure of the monsoon season means famine and death while plentiful water replacing irrigations sources is a time of rejoicing . This resulted in building water storage tanks that combined the practical and sacred . Since ancient times , the design of water storage has been important in Indian architecture . As early as 3000 BC , sophisticated systems of drains , wells and tanks were built to conserve and utilise water . Tank building as an art form began with the Hindus and developed under Muslim rule .
Mass wasting
Water can increase or decrease the stability of a slope depending on the amount present . Small amounts of water can strengthen soils because the surface tension of water increases soil cohesion . This allows the soil to resist erosion better than if it were dry . If too much water is present the water may act to increase the pore pressure , reducing friction , and accelerating the erosion process and resulting in different types of mass wasting ( i.e. mudflows , landslides , etc . ) . A good example of this is to think of a sand castle . Water must be mixed with sand in order for the castle to keep its shape . If too much water is added the sand washes away , if not enough water is added the sand falls and can not keep its shape . Water also increases the mass of the soil , this is important because an increase in mass means that there will be an increase in velocity if mass wasting is triggered . Saturated water , however , eases the process of mass wasting in that the rock and soil debris are easily washed down - slope .
Sustainability
Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of dematerialization , converting the linear path of materials ( extraction , use , disposal in landfill ) to a circular material flow that reuses materials as much as possible , much like the cycling and reuse of waste in nature . This approach is supported by product stewardship and the increasing use of material flow analysis at all levels , especially individual countries and the global economy . The use of sustainable biomaterials that come from renewable sources and that can be recycled is preferred to the use on non-renewables from a life cycle standpoint . The
Green Revolution in India
Use of insecticides like herbicide Use of pesticides Consolidation of holdings Land reforms Improved rural infrastructure Supply of agricultural credit Use of chemical or synthetic fertilizers Use of sprinklers or drip irrigational systems Use of advanced machinery Use of vector quantity
Recycling
Certain regions have difficulty using or exporting as much of a material as they recycle . This problem is most prevalent with glass : both Britain and the U.S. import large quantities of wine bottled in green glass . Though much of this glass is sent to be recycled , outside the American Midwest there is not enough wine production to use all of the reprocessed material . The extra must be downcycled into building materials or re-inserted into the regular waste stream .
Water in California
After four decades of diversion from the Mono Lake area , environmental damage created an environmental battle in the 1980s , with a victory for the Mono Lake proponents in 1994 . Other problems arose when dust from the bed of Owens Lake ( completely dried up by diversions ) became a major source of air pollution in the southern Owens Valley . To restore Mono Lake , correct air - quality law violations , and rewater portions of the Owens River , Los Angeles has begun to reduce its dependence on Eastern Sierra Nevada water . This has mostly been achieved through water conservation . The city enacted a program offering free low - flow toilets to its customers .
Environmental impact of irrigation
Owing to drainage of surface and groundwater in the project area , which waters may be salinized and polluted by agricultural chemicals like biocides and fertilizers , the quality of the river water below the project area can deteriorate , which makes it less fit for industrial , municipal and household use . It may lead to reduced public health . Polluted river water entering the sea may adversely affect the ecology along the sea shore ( see Aswan dam ) .