Creating space for climate adaptation through shifting to green mobility

Climate change increases the urgency of spatial adaptation to extreme heat, pluvial floods and droughts in urban areas. To accelerate climate adaptation efforts, Dutch government organisations have agreed to work towards a climate adaptive and water resilient country by 2050 in the Delta Plan on Spatial Adaptation (DPSA). The implementation of...

Understanding farmers’ micro irrigation adoption behavior: a case study in Maharashtra, India

India, a predominantly rural country, relies on agriculture, with smallholder farmers owning a small portion of cultivable land. Maharashtra, a major cotton-growing region, faces water scarcity and drought events, leading to low crop yields and farmer indebtedness, followed by high suicide rates. Micro irrigation, such as drip and sprinkler...

Flood Resilience in Accra: Accra's Flooding Problem

Natural disasters, related to water, in various forms have become more common in our daily lives and on our television screens. Within the past years, flooding has become a phenomenon which affects global, social, psychological and economic development. In Ghana there are major problems related to water and this has increased substantially over...

Water as a carrier for futuure values: a design for the long term transition for the Benthuizer Noordpolder, The Netherlands

Living in the deep polders in the deltaic landscape of the Netherlands poses large-scale challenges. Biodiversity decline, weather extremes, sea level rise, salination, the housing crisis, and subsidence affect large parts of the Netherlands. These challenges should be tackled together through the integral question of ‘what does the area need?’...

Pathways for Climate-Adaptive Haven-Stad: Spatial Adaptive Policy Pathways approach for climate adapation planning in Haven-Stad, Amsterdam

Due to population growth, a growing housing shortage, and a space shortage, it is expected that new urban developments in the Netherlands will mainly take place inside existing city boundaries and in high densities. At the same time, it is projected that the effects of climate change will increase, as climate change is expected to intensify....

Values of the Blue Nile: An evaluation of the Nile Basin Decision Support System from a values perspective

The Blue Nile is characterised by growing tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt related to increasing demands for water and upcoming unilateral developments. Growing efforts towards basin wide cooperation from the international and scientific community have led to the development of a common decision support tool, the Nile Basin Decision...

Let It Flow: Implementation of Environmental Flows In Dutch Water Management: Identifying challenges and opportunities

In order to find the possibilities of implementation of e-flows in Dutch water management, it is necessary to first explore the current role of e-flows in projects, plans and policies. Data collection is primarily done through interviews. In addition to this, analysis of policy documents is used as a method of data collection. The collected...

Climate adaptation measures for local flooding of the Dutch national highway network: A case study on Vught and Sint-Michielsgestel

This master thesis provides an approach to develop Adaptation Pathways to prevent local flooding of the Dutch national highway network, using the A2 between the Vught and Sint-Michielsgestel junctions as a case study. Local flooding as result of extreme precipitation has the highest urgency on the Dutch national highway network, due to its...

Private homeowners climate adaptive: An exploration on how private homeowners can be stimulated to adopt small scale climate adaptive measures

Understanding the perceived stimuli and barriers by private homeowners is key knowledge to realise effective climate adaptive policy and consequently the adoption of SSCAM by homeowners. Q-methodology was used to unravel the perspectives of 25 homeowners from the Vruchtenbuurt, Den Haag and Hillegersberg-Zuid, Rotterdam on climate adaptation....

Advancing Adoption of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage: a New Evaluation Method to Support Local Decision-Makers: Assessment of the Technical and Commercial Potential of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage in New York State Considering the Requirements and Interests of Key Stakeholders

Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) is a geothermal technique that is an important component in the transition towards renewable energy in the heating and cooling industry, which accounts for half of the world's energy consumption. However, the technology has not yet been implemented in many countries. The main reason is that extensive...

Getting a better grip on sanitation systems: Introducing a numerical model to identify, predict and mitigate hazardous events and measure the safety of on-site sanitation systems

Of the world's population, 59% of the people are not connected to a sewer system and use on-site sanitation (OSS) systems. A large amount of these systems is unsafe. The ultimate goal of this research is to gain knowledge on manners to improve and monitor the safety of on-site sanitation (OSS) systems. The performance and safety of OSS systems...

Sand storage dams in Kitui – Kenya: community perspective on access to water: An evaluation using Q-methodology

Ephemeral rivers are common hydrological features in Southern Africa where periods of up to 9 months occur, without significant rainfall. These rivers are important in the Kitui region of Kenya, where water shortage impedes rural and urban development. The seasonal rivers of Kitui provide suitable water for domestic, livestock and agricultural...

Enhancing innovation in dike monitoring practice: a case study on the implementation of novel optic fibre pressure sensors

Flooding currently affects 100 million people on average per year globally, and the number is increasing. The performance of dikes under extreme conditions is crucial to societal flood protection. By deploying measurement instruments in and around the embankment, more accurate insights into the actual status of the dike can be achieved that can...

Decision analysis support for sustainable allocation of newly-arrived refugees according to water security criteria

Site selection is a critical factor in the ability to provide safe and healthy environment for refugees. At the outset of an emergency, limited resource and time create large planning uncertainties and current refugee sites’ assessments based on field visit are no longer adequate. The selection of unsuitable locations triggers a number of issues...

The implications of the mandatory character of the Dutch drinking water benchmark

The Dutch drinking water benchmark has been carried out every three years since 1997. In 2011, the benchmark was incorporated into the Drinking Water Act. As a result the benchmark switched from a voluntarily benchmark executed by the Association of Dutch water companies to a mandatory benchmark executed by the Human Environment and Transport...