irrigation considering that predictions for climate change indicate a concentration
of rainfall and an increase of its intensity. A coupling of soil and water conservation is then essential to increase water infiltration and storage in the soil profile
as well as to control soil evaporation.
Water conservation increases the amount of consumptive use by crops and
natural vegetation, sometimes called the green water fraction, and assists in preserving the quality of flows that are often called the blue water, the general good
quality environmental water (Rodriguez-Garcia et al. 2011). Water savings usually
refer to the blue water fraction. Despite it often not being easy to distinguish
between ‘‘conservation’’ and ‘‘saving,’’ these terms should not be used synonymously. For example, questions related to preservation and upgrading of water
quality are essential in water conservation but are rarely relevant to the usual ideas
of water saving. It is arguably a modern tragedy that considerable volumes of the
scarce resource can and are being lost or wasted due to lack of clarity of terms used
and miscommunication between those involved. This is analyzed in most papers in
this issue, with the various authors adopting a variety of approaches. Yet, communication must also apply to specific fields or scales: our main focus in this
chapter is water use at the farm scale, or a group of users served by the same system,
not basin planning, or water allocation. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is twofold: (1) to demonstrate the confusion of the terms used both between and within
disciplines and groups of users, and the resulting potential for poor use of water and
(2) to suggest alternative terms that could gain wide acceptance and common usage.
Some case study applications are used to illustrate the use of these terms and ideas.
Two important aspects must be analyzed in the field of water; (i) The physicochemical characteristics of water according to the nature and source of the water
and (ii) Water as a fact of life. In this regard, considerations of water as life
support, clean water and its uses, wastewater and the effects of pollution, and the
health considerations of drinking water cannot be ignored (Muga and Mihelcic
2008).
The general principle in wastewater treatment is to remove pollutants from the
water by getting them to either settle or float, and then removing this material.
Some pollutants are easily removable. Others must be converted to a settleable
form before they can be removed. Treatment facilities are designed in stages. Each
stage either removes particles from the wastewater or changes dissolved and
suspended material to a form that can be removed. A modern wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP) may include the following stages: (i) influent, (ii) primary treatment, (iii) secondary treatment, and (iv) tertiary treatment and effluent discharge
(Walsh et al. 2006).
In the final stage, the disinfection process has the objective to eliminate all the
pathogen agents to prevent plant and human diseases. While most of these
microorganisms are not pathogens, pathogens must be assumed to be potentially
present. Thus, whenever wastewater effluents are discharged into receiving waters
which may be used for water supply, swimming, shell fishing, or if its quality is
really good, it can be used in food production, and the reduction of bacterial
80
L. Pérez-Sánchez et al.
of rainfall and an increase of its intensity. A coupling of soil and water conservation is then essential to increase water infiltration and storage in the soil profile
as well as to control soil evaporation.
Water conservation increases the amount of consumptive use by crops and
natural vegetation, sometimes called the green water fraction, and assists in preserving the quality of flows that are often called the blue water, the general good
quality environmental water (Rodriguez-Garcia et al. 2011). Water savings usually
refer to the blue water fraction. Despite it often not being easy to distinguish
between ‘‘conservation’’ and ‘‘saving,’’ these terms should not be used synonymously. For example, questions related to preservation and upgrading of water
quality are essential in water conservation but are rarely relevant to the usual ideas
of water saving. It is arguably a modern tragedy that considerable volumes of the
scarce resource can and are being lost or wasted due to lack of clarity of terms used
and miscommunication between those involved. This is analyzed in most papers in
this issue, with the various authors adopting a variety of approaches. Yet, communication must also apply to specific fields or scales: our main focus in this
chapter is water use at the farm scale, or a group of users served by the same system,
not basin planning, or water allocation. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is twofold: (1) to demonstrate the confusion of the terms used both between and within
disciplines and groups of users, and the resulting potential for poor use of water and
(2) to suggest alternative terms that could gain wide acceptance and common usage.
Some case study applications are used to illustrate the use of these terms and ideas.
Two important aspects must be analyzed in the field of water; (i) The physicochemical characteristics of water according to the nature and source of the water
and (ii) Water as a fact of life. In this regard, considerations of water as life
support, clean water and its uses, wastewater and the effects of pollution, and the
health considerations of drinking water cannot be ignored (Muga and Mihelcic
2008).
The general principle in wastewater treatment is to remove pollutants from the
water by getting them to either settle or float, and then removing this material.
Some pollutants are easily removable. Others must be converted to a settleable
form before they can be removed. Treatment facilities are designed in stages. Each
stage either removes particles from the wastewater or changes dissolved and
suspended material to a form that can be removed. A modern wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP) may include the following stages: (i) influent, (ii) primary treatment, (iii) secondary treatment, and (iv) tertiary treatment and effluent discharge
(Walsh et al. 2006).
In the final stage, the disinfection process has the objective to eliminate all the
pathogen agents to prevent plant and human diseases. While most of these
microorganisms are not pathogens, pathogens must be assumed to be potentially
present. Thus, whenever wastewater effluents are discharged into receiving waters
which may be used for water supply, swimming, shell fishing, or if its quality is
really good, it can be used in food production, and the reduction of bacterial
80
L. Pérez-Sánchez et al.