ABSTRACT
The philosophy of integrated water resource management (IWRM), as formulated in several international summits, yielded numerous interpretations and extensions over the last decade but always focused on the overall objective of maximizing the welfare and livelihood of the people concerned. One of the major constraints of this concept is the gap between the well-defined philosophy and the fuzzy definition of operational and testable indicators for the achievement of its goals. This leads to difficulties in the evaluation of potential contributions from technological and managerial improvements. The experience of the multi-lateral IWRM research initiative SMART in the lower Jordan Valley shows that the evaluation and ranking of alternative IWRM strategies and their elements relies simultaneously on the identification of local goals and their interfaces with the superordinate national water sector policies. The documentation of the, still ongoing, development process of suitable assessment procedures describes their methodological embedding and conclusions drawn for the heterogeneous situation of water-related settings in this transboundary watershed.
Subject(s)
Environmental Monitoring/methods , Jordan , Water SupplyABSTRACT
In order to address serious concerns over public health, water scarcity and groundwater pollution in Jordan, the expansion of decentralized wastewater treatment and reuse (DWWT&R) systems to small communities is one of the goals defined by the Jordan government in the "Water Strategy 2009-2022". This paper evaluates the general potential of decentralized wastewater system solutions to be applied in a selected area of the Lower Jordan Rift Valley in Jordan. For the study area, the connection degree to sewer systems was calculated as 67% (5% in the rural sector and 75% in the urban sector). The annual wastewater production available for DWWT&R in the rural sector of the investigation area was calculated to be nearly 3.8 million m(3) at the end of 2007. The future need of wastewater treatment and reuse facilities of the rural sector was estimated to be increasing by 0.11 million m(3) year(-1), with an overall potential of new treatment capacity of nearly 15,500 population equivalents (pe) year(-1). The overall potential for implementing DWWT&R systems in the urban sector was estimated as nearly 25 million m(3) of wastewater in 2007. The future need of wastewater treatment and reuse facilities required for the urban sector was estimated to be increasing at a rate of 0.12 million pe year(-1). Together with the decision makers and the stakeholders, a potential map with three regions has been defined: Region 1 with existing central wastewater infrastructure, Region 2 with already planned central infrastructure and Region 3 with the highest potential for implementing DWWT&R systems.
Subject(s)
Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods , Demography , Environmental Pollution , Forecasting , Humans , Jordan , Politics , Population Density , Population Growth , Public Health , Rural Population , Water Purification/methods , Water Supply/standardsABSTRACT
We carried out a follow-up study to investigate variation in short-term outcome for preterm infants in 2 hospitals in Buraidah. We compared gestational age, birth weight, head circumference at birth and length of stay. Outcome measures were weight gain/day, feeding pattern on discharge and feeding pattern 1 month after discharge. Mean weight gain was significantly higher in hospital A, 9.6 [+/- 19.7] g/day compared to -1.2 [+/- 29.5] g/day in hospital B [P = 0.049]. The proportion of infants exclusively breastfed 1 month after discharge was 37.5% in hospital B compared to 13.2% in hospital A [P = 0.0224]. There are clear hospital level differences in short-term outcome in the same region, emphasizing the need for continuous follow-up and evaluation of differences in a perinatal audit
