Communities as the agents of commodification: The Kumbo Water Authority in Northwest Cameroon

In 1991 the people of the town of Kumbo in Northwest Cameroon expelled the national water corporation from town by force. They claimed to be retrieving a network that the community rightfully owned and they began to run the system along community lines. The paper tells the story of that water supply twice. First it reproduces the popular accounts that circulated in the 1990s that emphasize the role played by the community in the development and operation of the water supply and portray recent events as a triumph of community management. Then it retells the story using archive evidence that puts a quite different light on some of the events. It is argued that the emphasis on community management has a tendency to obscure other important aspects of the story, for example its political context and consequences. It is suggested that the widespread admiration for any initiative that is community based often results in an uncritical analysis of this form of development project. In this case the commodification of water accelerates after the community has wrested control of this public service from the state.     

Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake of one of the largest hydrological systems in the Levant and may thus be viewed as a large rain gauge for the region. Variations of its level are indicative of the climate variations in the region. Here, we present the decadal- to centennial-resolution Holocene lake-level curve of the Dead Sea. Then we determine the regional hydroclimatology that affected level variations. To achieve this goal we compare modern natural lake-level variations and instrumental rainfall records and quantify the hydrology relative to lake-level rise, fall, or stability. To quantify that relationship under natural conditions, rainfall data pre-dating the artificial Dead Sea level drop since the 1960s are used. In this respect, Jerusalem station offers the longest uninterrupted pre-1960s rainfall record and Jerusalem rains serve as an adequate proxy for the Dead Sea headwaters rainfall. Principal component analysis indicates that temporal variations of annual precipitation in all stations in Israel north of the current 200 mm yr⁻¹ average isohyet during 1940–1990 are largely synchronous and in phase (70% of the total variance explained by PC1). This station also represents well northern Jordan and the area all the way to Beirut, Lebanon, especially during extreme drought and wet spells. We (a) determine the modern, and propose the past regional hydrology and Eastern Mediterranean (EM) climatology that affected the severity and length of droughts/wet spells associated with multiyear episodes of Dead Sea level falls/rises and (b) determine that EM cyclone tracks were different in average number and latitude in wet and dry years in Jerusalem. The mean composite sea level pressure and 500-mb height anomalies indicate that the potential causes for wet and dry episodes span the entire EM and are rooted in the larger-scale northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation. We also identified remarkably close association (within radiocarbon resolution) between climatic changes in the Levant, reflected by level changes, and culture shifts in this region.     

1991年江淮暴雨时期的能量和水汽循环研究

通过对 1991年 5～ 7月江淮暴雨期全球范围的水汽输送和不同降水过程中江淮暴雨区及其临近区域的水汽收支和视热源和视水汽汇的计算分析得到了以下结论 :( 1)从水汽输送的机制来看 ,一方面 ,有大量的水汽以定常涡动的方式从孟加拉湾及南海输送到中国江淮地区 ;另一方面 ,江淮地区的瞬变涡动水汽向北输出 ,这可能与江淮地区频繁活动的α和β中尺度系统有关 ,它们将江淮地区汇集的充沛的水汽除了大部分以降水形式降下外 ,剩余部分继续向水汽较少的高纬地区输出 ,以维持全球水汽的平衡。( 2 )在降水过程中 ,局地蒸发项在水汽的供应中或再循环中十分重要 ,其数值一般为降水量的 13 ～ 12 ,这与1998年的降水情况相似。( 3 )在降水过程中 ,暴雨区的水汽主要是从南边界和西边界流入的 ,东边界和北边界则流出 ,并且水汽的流入、流出主要在中低层进行。 (a)在流入边界上 ,水汽通量的垂直分布存在差异 ,暴雨区西边界和南边界的水汽流入的垂直差异可能与其所在的地理位置有密切关系。 (b)对于暴雨区 ,不同强度的降水过程水汽的主要来源有所不同。( 4)在 5次降水过程中 ,视热源和视水汽汇的较大值对应降水的大值区 ,表明了水汽凝结加热对大气加热所起的主要作用。梅雨期降水 ,以对流性降水为主 ,对流活动随季节变化     

地震层析成像在水利水电工程地质勘察中的应用

水利水电工程地质勘察是水利水电工程建设中的基础工作。地震层析成像技术作为一种新的物探方法，通过工程中孔，碉间地质条件的探测，进而评价大坝建筑物的工程地质条件是一种有效的手段。本文介绍了乌江构皮滩水利枢纽的应用效果。     

湾一井水位年动态变化研究

详细讨论了富裕湾一井的年动态变化趋势。结果表明湾一井各阶段的年动态变化可拟合为一线性方程，不同阶段水位上升速度改变可能与井头分流作用有关，中强地震前的漏斗形异常和人为因素引起的水位变化可通过水位恢复时上升速率不同而加以识别。     

矿震及其深井水位的异常响应

简要介绍了山东省陶庄煤矿的二次矿震及其并水位的同震效应与震前异常。结果表明，矿震活动与天然地震活动在时间上有同步性，并且二次矿震的井水位同震效应形态与震前异常持续时间有差异，而这种差异主要同震源体的破坏特征有关。     

井水温度微动态形成的水动力学机制研究

井水温度微动态观测越来越受到有关学者的关注，已成为我国地震地下流体动态观测的主测项之一。观测结果表明，无论是水温的正常动态还是震前的异常动态的形成，用传统的热传导或热对流机制难以给出合理解释。因此笔者根据观测到的事实、异常特征与同震效应等提出了水动力学机制，即含水层变形→含水层内孔隙压力变化→井－含水层系统内水流变化→井水温度的变化。     

水汽方程积分计算格式的数值试验

该文把Easter(1993)的水汽方程积分方案应用到球坐标的有限区模式（LAFS）中，并作了两组比较性试验。Easter的方案是把水汽的通量方程和连续方程联立求解。在计算中不会出现水汽负值。而且稳定性好。本文所做的两组试验表明。Easter的方案比LAFS的原方案所产生的计算性扩散小。因而降水预报更接近实况。但CPU时间增加了16%。     

三峡工程永久船闸边坡岩体卸荷特性

从地貌学角度,分析了三峡工程永久船闸边坡岩体的自然及人为卸荷特性,指出了地表侵蚀、河流下切、开挖船闸等自然及人为地貌过程诱发了岩体的基本卸荷过程,构筑了一个三峡工程永久船闸边坡岩体卸荷特性的宏观模式。实地调砥及数值计算成果均表明,地貌分析法在分析实际岩体工程中,岩体卸荷特性方面具有较强的应用价值。     

垃圾和垃圾学──一门新兴科学的出现及其对中国固体废物处理事业的意义

垃圾产生于社会的每一个角落，垃圾也反映了人类生活的各个方面。可是，直至最近，社会依然极少理会垃圾中真正蕴藏着些什么，以及垃圾能够告诉我们些什么。１９７３年美国图森市亚利桑那大学威廉·拉舍基博士（ＷｉｌｌｉａｍＬＲａｔｈｊｅ）及其同事们所建立并发展的垃级计划，标志着一门新科学──垃圾学的兴起，即垃圾的系统研究、垃圾产生、运移、利用和处置的机理以及相关的社会经济和环境问题。美国和其它少数国家的垃圾学研究所揭示的各种事实、定律和原理，正划时代地碰击着现代社会、社会心理学、市场和许多其它领域，大量的城市固体废物不仅意味着自然资源的巨大浪费，而且垃圾处理，无论焚化或者填埋，都对环境构成了严重污染的威胁，尤其是对地下水资源。垃圾的管理、再循环和处置费用是昂贵的，而且总是受到错综复杂的社会和法律冲突的挑战，纽约和美国东部其它人口稠密地区所面临的严峻形势就是最好的例证，解决现今进退维谷的垃圾问题，需要包括技术的、社会的、环境的、经济的、政治的、法律的和公共教育在内的多方面协作。中国正经历着令人振奋的经济发展时期。预计以现在的国民经济发展速度，以及因巨量人口而导致的社会消费的急剧增长，在未来１０～２０年内，很有可能导致严重的