节水应优先于调水

就规划中的南水北调西线工程受水区情况,本刊记者访问了刘昌明院士和陶传进博士。尽管他们对南水北调西线工程的必要性看法不同,却表达了一个共同的声音：受水区应把挖掘自身的节水潜力摆在优先。     

Water,Water, Everywhere

Abstract

Math and Science Across Culture: Activities and Investigations from the Exploratorium. Maurice Bazin, Modesto, and the Exploratorium Teacher Institute. New York: The New Press, 2002. 176 pp. $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 1-56584-541-2

History Beneath the Sea—Nautical Archaeology in the Classroom. K. C. Smith and Amy Douglass (Editors). Washington, D.C.: Society for American Archaeology, 2001. 28 pp. $5.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-932839-17-7.     

Water

Water remains a scarce and valuable resource. Improving technologies for water purification, use and recycling should be a high priority for all branches of science.One of our most crucial and finite resources is freshwater. How often do biologists spare a thought for this substance, other than to think about its purity for the sake of an experiment? How often do we consider that 30 litres of cooling water are used to make one litre of double-distilled water? Americans use approximately 100 gallons per person per day, whereas millions of the world''s poor subsist on less than 5 gallons per day. Within the next 15 years, it is estimated that more than 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with severe water scarcity, partly as a result of climate change. By 2030 it is estimated that the annual global demand for water will increase from 4,500 billion m³ to 6,900 billion m³—approximately 40% more than the amount of freshwater available (Water Resources Group, 2009). We are not only facing an increasing scarcity of water, but we also misuse the available water. Approximately 2.5 billion people use rivers to dispose of waste—not to mention what industry dumps into them—while freshwater dams generate problems of their own including population displacement, the spread of new and more diseases to people living in the vicinity of the river, as well as effects on ecology and farming downstream.Many factors influence the supply of and demand for water, and a one-fits-all solution for all regions is therefore not possible. There are essentially two strategies to ensure a sound supply of freshwater: we either use less water, or we make more of the water that we do use. The first is a typical accounting approach and is limited in scope, whereas the second calls for better science and engineering approaches.Although the surface of the Earth is mostly covered with water, more than 95% of it is salty or inaccessible. One clear solution to increase fresh water supply is desalination, which can be done by distillation or osmosis, through the use of carbon nanotubes, or by using another promising new technology: biomimetics. Water can be filtered through aquaporins—proteins that transport water molecules in and out of cells. Such biotechnologies could reach the market as early as 2013, although other exciting technologies are already available. Simple chemistry can be used, for example, in the ‘PUR'' water purifier that uses gravity to precipitate water-born contaminants and pathogens or the water purifier akin to a trash bag, which cleanses water through a nanofibre filter containing microbicides and carbon to remove pollutants and pathogens. Such simple and cheap technology is ideal for billions of the world''s poor who do not have access to clean drinking water.Of the available freshwater, agriculture uses the largest share—up to 70% in many regions—and technological and biotechnological solutions can also contribute to preserving water in this context. New farming processes that can retain water in the soil, recycle it or reduce its use include no-till farming, crop intensification, improved fertilizer usage, crop development, waste water re-use and pre- and post-harvest food processing, among many others. The different degrees of water quality can also be exploited for agriculture; ‘grey water''—which is unsafe for human consumption—could still be used in agriculture.In addition to improving management practices, there is no question that we need considerably more innovation in water technology to close the supply–demand gap. These developments should include better processes for purification and desalination, more efficient industrial use and re-use and improved agricultural usage. The problem is that the water sector is poorly funded in all respects, including research. New technologies could help to re-use water and reclaim resources from wastewater while generating biogas from the waste. There is also enormous potential for the use of water beyond its consumption in households, agriculture and industry. ‘Blue energy'', for instance, generates power from reverse electrodialysis by mixing saltwater and freshwater across an ion exchange membrane stack. This could potentially generate energy wherever rivers flow into the sea.With so many innovations already under way with so little funding, what other technologies can we come up with to reduce water usage and deal with medical, industrial and individual waste? The issue of waste is a serious and pressing problem: we find pharmaceutical chemicals in fish, which are in turn consumed by humans and other species in the food chain. We need to find ways to effectively transform waste into biodegradable products that can be used as fertilizers, as well as to recover valuable molecules such as rare metals. The downstream consequences of such technologies will be the regeneration of coastal estuaries, lower levels of contaminants in marine life and cleaner rivers. Ultimately, we need much more research into reducing water use, purification, bioremediation and recycling. I submit that this should be a priority research area for all the natural sciences and engineering.Companies are held accountable these days for socially responsible projects, sustainability and their carbon footprint—this includes water usage. Why should research institutions not be held responsible too? After all, we claim to be at the cutting edge of science and should set the trend. Research grants should have a ‘green component'' and a score should be given to applications according to water usage and ‘green work''.     

Matric Bound Water of Water Tissue from Succulents

Matric bound water was measured as water retained by frozen and thawed tissue after desorption on a pressure membrane filter under 20 bars nitrogen gas pressure. Central water-storage tissue and peripheral chlorenchyma from leaves or stems of 15 taxonomically diverse non-halophytic succulent species were investigated. Matric bound water as a per cent of the dry weight averaged higher in water storage than in chlorenchyma tissue but lower than values reported for many mesophytic leaves. Matric bound water as a proportion of the total water held, however, was lower in water tissues. Osmotic potentials were generally high (solute contents low). It is concluded that matric or osmotic forces cannot account, in any unique way, for the high water content of water tissues. This appears to depend, instead, on the enormous ability of the thin-walled cells to take up available water and expand.     

Water Biophysics: How Water Interacts with Biomolecules

The papers of this special issue are based on a Conference on Water Biophysics and develop a fundamental understanding on how water interacts with biomolecules. The Conference highlighted the great empathy of a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to rationalize the role of water in foods, pharmaceutical, and biochemical systems, taking vantage of the advances in simulation and experimental methods.     

Grafham Water

SUMMARY. The phytoplankton and zooplankton of Grafham Water reservoir, Cambridgeshire, are described and discussed for the 5 years 1974–78 together with the main physical variables and macro-nutrients believed to affect them. This follows on from the Water Pollution Research Laboratory study of 1969–74. The rationale for the work was to provide short-term warning of treatment and management problems caused by algae and to gain insight into the factors controlling them.
During the period reviewed the 1976 drought occurred with a massive draw-down. Afterwards replenishment of the lake from the River Great Ouse resulted in its enrichment with high concentrations of nitrate, orthophosphate and silica. The algal cycles changed to some extent over this period with a few species becoming even more dominant and others diminishing in importance. The effect of the drought and post-drought pumping is discussed; a return to former nutrient levels seems likely. The effects of weather, particularly radiation and wind, on algae may be of equal importance to nutrient levels in Grafham and will be further investigated.     

Water,Water Compartments and Water Regulation in Some Nematodes Parasitic in Vertebrates

While nematodes are sometimes regarded as osmoconformers, at least one species is capable of short-term osmoregulation over a wide range of osmotic environments, and the principal site of osmoregulation is the body wall. This general osmoregulation is important to the life of the nematode not only in confronting variations in the environment, but also in maintaining its hydrostatic skeleton. There is also evidence suggesting that compartments exist in some nematodes and that water exchange between the compartments is limited and slow. The ability to regulate the internal movements of water is important in molting and in the infective process. Hormones may be the mediators of osmotic control.     

Water Flow in Wheat Seedlings after Small Water Deficits

Cultures of Scenedesmus obliquus when grown heterotrophically for 10 or 30 days without addition of fresh medium showed 85 and 98% loss of their photosynthetic capacity respectively. This loss in photosynthetic capacity was accompanied by an increase in quantum requirement. No major changes in the pigment amounts or types were detected which would explain the decay in photosynthetic capacity. Partial reactions mediated by photosystem II or I showed a more or less constant decay over a period of 30 days. Photosystem II reactions appeared less stable than those of photosystem I, decaying by 95% as compared with 70%, over this time period. The results of comparative studies on aged cells for their potential of cytochrome f photooxidation, fluorescence kinetics, 520 nm absorbance change and the variable influence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea and 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone on the photosynthetic capacity of such cells, suggest that it is the inherent ability of the cells to photooxidize plastohydroquinone which is affected primarily. In addition, secondary changes were noted in the activity of reactions on the water-splitting side of photosystem II and in the P700 — plastocyanin — cytochrome f complex.     

Water Justice and Integrated Water Resources Management: Constitutionality Processes Favoring Sustainable Water Governance in Mexico

This research analyzes four ongoing water conflicts in Jalisco state, Mexico, through the lens of constitutionality. Constitutionality refers to a bottom-up institution building process based on the activation of emic perceptions of people who are often marginalized in policymaking, as well as on alliances with external actors, with the aim of achieving recognition by the state of self-created institutions. Results show that the constitutionality concept helps to link analysis of local people’s resistance movements against top-down water policies with an emerging process of institutional innovation that aims for more sustainable water governance. Local institutional innovations embody the principles of water justice; these are recognized by the state as being part of its own Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policy, and thus find their way into state policy arenas. This analysis provided the basis for the formulation of a conceptual framework that integrates water conflicts, water justice, and IWRM into the concept of constitutionality.     

Sugars Communicate through Water: Oriented Glycans Induce Water Structuring

Cells are coated with a glycocalyx—a layer of carbohydrate-containing biomolecules, such as glycoproteins. Although the structure and orientation of the cell-surface glycans are frequently regarded as being random, we have found, using α-1-acid glycoprotein and antitrypsin as model systems for surface glycans, that this is not the case. A glycoprotein monolayer was adsorbed onto hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates. Surface-force measurements revealed that the orientation of the glycans with respect to the aqueous solution has a profound effect on the structure of vicinal water. The glycan antennae of the surface-adsorbed glycoproteins apparently impose an ordering on the water, resulting in a strong repulsive force over some tens of nanometers with superposed film-thickness transitions ranging from ≈0.7 to 1.8 nm. When the glycan orientation is modified by chemical means, this long-range repulsion disappears. These results may provide an explanation as to why the multiantennary structure is ubiquitous in glycoproteins. Although direct, specific interactions between glycans and other biomolecules are essential for their functionality, these results indicate that glycans’ long-range structuring of water may also influence their ability to interact with biomolecules in their vicinity.