UNU's Research Publications on Water

by the
Environment and Sustainable Development Programme
The United Nations University, Tokyo

 
International River and Lake Basins Management
Water is a critical resource for sustainable development and is often a limiting factor for regions sharing major international water bodies. UNU's work provides scientific basis for environmentally and politically sustainable management of critical, shared water resources.

BOOKS

PAPERS & REPORTS

  • Jakubis, M. L. Jansky and M. Zavacka (2002). "History of River Floods in the Slovak Republic." In: History Seminar, Volume 1D, 18th Congress on Irrigation and Drainage, Montreal, 21-28 July 2002. ICID, p. 77-87.
  • Murakami, M. and L. Jansky (2002). "The Danube River, Conflict or Compromise - Damming or Removing the Dams." J. of Jap. Soc. of Shimanto Policy and Integrated River Basin Management, 1(1):55-66.
  • Nakayama, M., L. Jansky and K. Furuyashiki (2002). "International Water Systems Project of the UNU. In: International Framework on Water Resources Dynamics - International Water Conflicts and Water Trade Balance." Proceedings of 2002 Seminar on Water Resources, DPRI, Kyoto University, 15 November 2002, p.57-67.
  • Adeel, Z., M. Tabucanon, Y. In-na, M. Thanomphan, G. Wattayakorn, K. Tsukamoto, and S. Vongvisessomjai (2002). "Capacity development needs in the Chao Phraya river basin and the Gulf of Thailand," United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Jansky L. and M. Nakayama (2001). "Environmentally Sustainable Development Programme of the United Nations University: Towards the International Water Systems program in 2002-2003." J. of Japan Society for Hydrological & Water Resources, 14(6): 506-514 (in Japanese).
  • Nakayama M. and L. Jansky (2001). "New Perspectives for Management of International Water Systems." Global Environmental Change, 11(3):247-250.
  • Jansky, L. (1998). "Philosophy of River Problems: Local to Regional, Static to Mobile." In Vlavianos-Arvanitis, A. and J. Morovic (eds.), Biopolitics, the Bio-environment, vol. VI. BIO, Greece, pp. 296-299.
  • Hofer, T., 1998. "Floods in Bangladesh: A Highland-Lowland Interaction?" Geographica Bernensia, G48, Institute of Geography, University of Berne, Switzerland, 171 pp. plus appendices.
  • Nakayama, M. (1997). "Successes and Failures of International Organizations in Dealing with International Waters." International Journal of Water Resources Development, 13(3): 367-382.


 
Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water in the Asian Region
The groundwater pollution caused by arsenic in a number of Asian countries has led to a major environmental crisis. UNU undertakes research work focused on better understanding the scientific problems, engages in policy-relevant research and facilitates the dialogue on the mitigation approaches.

BOOKS

  • Ahmed, M.F., M.A. Ali, and Z. Adeel, eds., (2003). Fate of Arsenic in the Environment, UNU-BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  • Ahmed, M.F., M.A. Ali, and Z. Adeel, eds., (2001). Technologies for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water, UNU-BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PAPERS & REPORTS

  • Ali, M.A., A.B.M. Badruzzaman, M.A. Jalil, M.D. Hossain, M.F. Ahmed, A. Al-Masud, M. Kamruzzaman and M.A. Rahman, (2003). Fate of arsenic extracted with groundwater, Presented at the BUET-UNU International Symposium "Fate of Arsenic in the Environment," Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5-6 February.
  • Ali, M.A., A.B.M. Badruzzaman, M.A. Jalil, M.F. Ahmed, M. Kamruzzaman, M.A. Rahman and A. Al-Masud, (2003). Fate of Arsenic in wastes generated from arsenic removal units, Presented at the BUET-UNU International Symposium "Fate of Arsenic in the Environment," Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5-6 February.
  • Arsenic Contamination in Groundwater - Technical and Policy Dimensions, (2002). United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Adeel, Z., (2002). The disaster of arsenic poisoning of groundwater in South Asia - a focus on research needs and UNU's role, Global Environmental Change, 12(1): 69-72.
  • Adeel, Z. and Ali, M.A. (2002). A comparative evaluation and field implementation of treatment technologies for arsenic removal from groundwater, International Symposium on Water Reuse Technology, Kwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Kwangju, South Korea, 29 March.
  • Adeel, Z., (2001). Arsenic crisis today - Strategy for tomorrow, United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Ali, M.A., A.B.M. Badruzzaman, M.A. Jalil, M.D. Hossain, M.M. Hussainuzzaman, M. Badruzzaman, O.I. Mohammad, and N. Akter, (2001). Development of low-cost technologies for removal of arsenic from groundwater, Presented at the BUET-UNU International Workshop: "Technologies for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water," Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5-7 May.
  • Ahmed, M.F., (2001). An overview of arsenic removal technologies in Bangladesh and India, Presented at the BUET-UNU International Workshop: "Technologies for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water," Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5-7 May.
  • Adeel, Z., (2001). Policy dimensions of the arsenic pollution problem in Bangladesh, Presented at the BUET-UNU International Workshop: "Technologies for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water," Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5-7 May.


 
Multi-hazard Risk Assessment
Multi-hazard risk assessment methodologies are developed using high-resolution 3-D spatial information. Common standards in the Asian region are developed to assess risks and losses.

BOOKS

  • Herath, S. (ed) (1999) Proc. International Symposium on Information Technology Tools for Natural Disaster Risk Management, UNU/INCEDE/AIT, Bangkok, INCEDE Report 11, University of Tokyo, p. 383.

PAPERS AND REPORTS

  • Herath, S, Dutta, D. and Wijesekera, S. (2003) A coupled river and inundation modeling scheme for efficient flood forecasting, Journal of the Japan Society of Geoinformatics, (in press).
  • Dutta, D., S. Herath and S. Wijesekera (2003) Impact of DEM Horizontal Resolution in Flood Inundation Modeling, Asian Journal of Geoinformatics, AIT (in press).
  • Herath, S (2001) Network based simulation for flood disaster reduction, Proc. of the first workshop for comparative study on urban earthquake disaster management, 171-178.
  • R. Jha, Herath, S. and K. Musiake (2000) River Network Solution for a Distributed Hydrological Model and Applications, Journal of Hydrological Processes, John Wiley & Sons, Vol.14, No. 3, pp. 575-592
  • Dutta, D., Herath, S. and K. Musiake (2000), Flood inundation simulation in a river basin using a physically based distributed hydrologic model, Journal of hydrological Processes, John Wiley & Sons, Vol.14, No. 3, pp. 497-520
  • Herath S., Dutta D., and Musiake K., (1999) Flood Damage Estimation on an Urban Catchment Using Remote Sensing and GIS, 8th International Conference on Urban Storm Drainage, pp. 2177 - 2185.


 
Hydrological Modeling for Optimum Water Resources Utilization
The programme intends to develop methodologies to improve water resource management through scientific understanding of the basin wide water cycle to meet growing water demands, reduce disaster impacts and assess adverse manmade and climatic change impacts on environment.

REPORTS

  • Herath, S. and Dutta, (ed) (2000). Proc. International Workshop on Mekong Basin Studies, AP-FRIEND/UNESCO/INCEDE, Bangkok, INCEDE Report 19, p. 164.

PAPERS & REPORTS

  • Pathirana, A. and S. Herath (2002) Multifractal Modeling and Simulation of Rain Fields Exhibiting Spatial Heterogeneity, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 695-708,
  • Herath, S (2001) Hydrological Modeling for Water Management and Flood Reduction - Experiences in Some Asian Catchments, Proceedings of 2001 Annual Conference, Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources, 130-137.
  • M. Habib-ur-Rehman, Srikantha Herath, and Katumi Musiake, (2001) Development of a grid-based, soil erosion and sediment transport model; its validation at plot and small watershed scales, Proceedings of 2001 annual conference, Japan Society of Hydrology & Water Resources, pp.196-197.
  • Pathirana, A., Herath, S. and K. Musiake (2001), Scaling rainfall series with a multifractal model, Annual Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 45, pp.~295-300
  • Herath, S., and Yang, D. (2000) Distributed Hydrological Modeling in Mekong Basin, Proc. of the Workshop on Hydrologic and Environmental Modeling in the Mekong Basin, Mekong river Commission, Cambodia, pp. 30-39
  • Silva, Amila, Herath, Srikantha and Musiake, Katumi, Assessment of Energy Consideration in the description of Hydrological Processes Modeling (2000), Annual Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, JSCE, Vol. 44, pp.163-168
  • Yang, D., S. Herath and K. Musiake (2000), Comparison of different distributed hydrological models for characterization of catchment spatial variability, Journal of Hydrological Processes, John Wiley & Sons, Vol.14, No. 3, pp. 403-416
  • Pathirana, Assela, Herath, Srikantha and Musiake, Katumi (2000), Development of network based hydrological analysis system, Proc. of the Engineering Jubilee Congress Engineering beyond 2000, University of Peradeniya, pp. 149
  • Herath, S., Musiake K., Silva A., and Hironaka K., (1999) Monitoring and Modeling of Urban Hydrology - A Case Study of Two Japanese Catchments, 8th International Conference on Urban Storm Drainage, pp. 2130 - 2138.
  • Herath, S., Yang, D., and Musiake, K., (1999), Description of Catchment Hydrologic Response Using Catchment Area Function, IAHS publication no. 254, pp. 61-70
  • Zilahy A., Herath S., and Musiake K, (1999) Statistical Analysis of SAR imagery for Estimating Surface Soil Moisture, Proc. of 99 Annual Conference of JSHWR, pp. 124-125.
  • Jha, R., Herath, S., and Musiake, K., (1998), Application of IIS Distributed Hydrological Model (IISDHM) in Nakhon Sawan Catchment, Thailand, Proc. of 98 Workshop on GAME-Tropics in Thailand, pp.7-12, National sub-Committee for GAME-Tropics in Thailand and Japan sub-Committee for GAME-Tropics.
  • Jha, R., Herath, S., and Musiake, K., (1998), Hydrological Modeling of Chao Phraya Catchment in GAME-Tropics with IISDHM - Data and Spatial Resolution, 1998 Western Pacific Geographical Meeting, AGU, pp.w26.


 
International Research Journals
These journals are co-published by UNU with other partners and water-related issues are frequently covered in the published research.
  • Mountain Research and Development, co-published by the International Mountain Society and the United Nations University.
  • Journal of Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, co-published by the United Nations University and Elsevier Science, Ltd.


 
Water Management in Drylands
Increasing scarcity of water in the dry regions - comprising arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas - is a major constraint for development. UNU's networking and research activities focus on innovative and practical ways to manage water resources, while facilitating South-South collaboration.

BOOKS

  • Adeel, Z., ed., (2003). Sustainable Management in Marginal Drylands - Application of Indigenous Knowledge for Coastal Drylands, UNU Desertification Series No. 5, UNU, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Adeel, Z., ed., (2002). Integrated Land Management in Dry Areas, UNU Desertification Series No. 4, UNU, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Adeel, Z., ed., (2001). New Approaches to Water Management in Central Asia, UNU Desertification Series No. 3, UNU, Tokyo, Japan


 
Water Quality Monitoring in the East Asian Region
Land-based sources of water pollution have emerged as major threat to riverine and coastal ecosystems in the East Asian region. UNU has undertaken a consistent water quality monitoring programme in the East Asian region and uses this information to develop policy guidelines for pollution reduction and management.

BOOKS

  • Adeel, Z., ed., (2003). The Global Challenge of Managing Endocrine Disruptors - Perspectives from Asia and the Pacific, UNU Press, Tokyo, Japan (in development).
  • Adeel, Z., ed., (2003). East Asian Experience in Environmental Governance: Response in a Rapidly Developing Region, UNU Press, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Adeel, Z. and C. King, eds., (2002). Conserving Our Coastal Environment, United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Hidayati, D., (2001). Coastal Management in ASEAN Countries: The Struggle to Achieve Sustainable Coastal Development, UNU, Tokyo, Japan.

PAPERS & REPORTS

  • UNU, (2002). Tracing pollutants from agrochemical use: Focus on EDC pollution, 15-16 April 2002, Hanoi, Vietnam.
  • UNU, (2001). Industries and EDC Pollution, 9-10 February 2001, Seoul, Korea.
  • UNU, (2000). Environmental Governance and Analytical Techniques: EDCs in East Asian Coastal Hydrosphere, 17-18 April 2000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • UNU, (1999). Environmental Governance and Analytical Techniques: Environmental Issues Related to EDC Pollution in East Asia, 9-10 February, 1999, Tokyo, Japan.
  • UNU, (1997). Environmental Governance and Analytical Techniques: Water Pollution and Water Quality Monitoring, 21 February 1997, Tokyo, and 24 February, 1997, Singapore.