The global attention in recent years has focused primarily on water quantity and allocation issues. Water quality has received significantly less attention than water quantity. Commendable progress has been made by the developed world to control point sources of pollution, but commensurate progress in reducing non-point sources has not been made. In the third world countries both point and non-point sources of pollution are becoming increasingly a serious concern. Already, nearly all water bodies in such countries near and around urban centres have been severely polluted, with very high health and environmental costs.
Water Quality Management assesses the current status of water quality management in both developed and developing worlds, as well as analysing the effectiveness of economic instruments and legal and institutional frameworks to control water contamination. It outlines the importance of building up social and political awareness to reverse the trend of continuing water quality deterioration, which is likely to be a most challenging task in the coming years. Water Quality Management was published as a special issue of International Journal of Water Resources Development.
Foreword: Water Quality, the Challenge of the Future
1. Water Quality Management: An Introductory Framework
2. Water--A Reflection of Land Use: Understanding of Water Pathways and Quality Genesis
3. Impact of Agriculture on Water Pollution in OECD Countries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects
4. Regulating Nonpoint Source Water Pollution in a Federal Government: Four Case Studies
5. Introduction to Environmental and Economic Consequences of Hypoxia
6. Financing Water Quality Management
7. Water Governance in Aragon
8. Water Management in the Ebro River Basin: An Approach to the 2010–15 Hydrological Plan
9. Water Quality in Zaragoza
10. Water Quality Management in China: The Case of the Huai River Basin
11. Water Quality Management in Egypt
12. A New Mindset for Integrated Water Quality Management for South Africa
13. Water Quality and Health in Poor Urban Areas of Latin America
14. Conceptual Framework for Protecting Groundwater Quality
15. Evolution of Water Management in Mexico
16. Agriculture and Water Pollution: Farmers' Perceptions in Central Mexico
Asit K. Biswas is the founder and Chief Executive of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar.
Cecilia Tortajada is the Scientific Director of the International Centre of Water and Environment, Zaragoza, Spain, and Past President of the International Water Resources Association.
Rafael Izquierdo is the Director of the Aragon Water Institute, Zaragoza, Spain.