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-- an SWM THiNKTANK article As of today the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q02/2012 are released and available from http://swm-group.blogspot.ch/p/swm-downloads.html If you encounter any problems accessing the Notes please request a free copy of the Notes from: swm.group@gmx.net . You are also invited to share the download link with other interested stakeholders and/or inform others about SWM THiNKTANK. As in the previous releases, the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management are intended to provide concerned stakeholders with up-to-date information about ongoing developments related to water and its management, also addressing closely related issues like climate change. Legal issues are addressed as well as most recent water supply topics. Have a good reading and your contribution to the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management – Q03/2012 are very welcomed. Please forward your contribution to: swm.group@gmx.net not later than 15th September 2012.

-- an SWM THiNKTANK article edited: 2012-05-25 (ws), Sustainability and 'growth' (as observed and interpreted today) is a contradiction. The first term has (under today's conditions) nothing to do with the latter and vice versa. Why is this the case? First of all 'growth' (up to now and prevailing) refers to a purely quantitative growth. For example, the GDP [ 1 ], mobility growth [ 2 ], car market growth [ 3 ]-[ 6 ], profit growth [ 7 ], unemployment growth [ 8 ]. A return to growth (away from the current 'anemic growth' [ 9a ]-[ 9c ]) is reported [e.g. 9 ] which, however, may have disadvantageous consequences, i.e. another growth in CO2-emissions despite a decrease [ 10 ]. The list could easily be expanded.  The overall impression from the above brief list however is, that the society is inescapable doomed to grow, in particular (and actually exclusively) in quantitative/physical terms/dimensions. Cancer, perhaps a rather drastic nevertheless certainly t...

-- an SWM THiNKTANK article   * alpha-terms : a series of attributes describing the fundamental characteristics of sustainability. edited: 2012-05-22 (ws),2012-05-23 (ws) S ustainability today is overquantified, institutionalised (suffering from inflexible conditions), technified, etc. [ 1 ]. There exists (unfortunately) a popular unidimensional belief that almost exclusively technical solutions (entities, vehicles, etc.), i.e. entities that somehow can be 'engineered' (in the broadest sense) can provide for sustainable development. Two major characteristics of sustainability are: credibility and confidence . Looking exemplary at the finance sector it is rather evident that both attributes have seriously suffered in the course of the recent social and economic developments. Reflecting on the information available to the public about the economic development, specifically the finance sector, from the more recent three to four years the following major processes/measures, among...

-- an SWM THiNKTANK article edited: 2012-05-15 (ws), 2012-05-21 (ws) humanity (humanism), confidentiality, reliability, efficiency, flexibility, durability, stability, quality, honesty, consistency,  competency, decency, transparency, legitimacy, continuity, fidelity, accuracy, (uni)versatility, plurality, (sense of) responsibility, clarity, to be complemented... fairness, confidence, esteem, tolerance, respect, appreciation, constructiveness, robustness, to be complemented... Sustainability, often - perhaps to often - quoted, was once (in context with 'development') defined as: "sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” [ 1 ]. Accordingly, such a development implies the consideration of a rather long time-span challenging well-founded, comprehensive decision making (approximately between 20 and 30 years [ 3 ], depending upon the definition). Also the above ...

-- an SWM THiNKTANK article In a recent publication British scientists evaluated the potential amount of fresh-water resources in Africa based upon maps, publications and further qualitative and quantitative information [ 1 ], [ 2 ]. Accordingly, the volume of subterrestrial fresh-water resources are estimated to amount to about 0.66 Mio km3 [ 3 ]. One of the key information sources for the researchers were once more a set of high-resolution maps [ 4 ]. According to the results major ground-water resources are located in Libya, Algeria, Egypt, and Sudan. Despite the identified potential availability of the precious good 'water' in regions otherwise endangered by shortages of almost every kind the problem exists that this resource currently is not usable. An outdated technical equipment (hand pumps) presents one of the key challenges to address in order to provide for sustainable water supply [ 5 ], [ 6 ]. Also in this context it might be useful to favor a diversified water su...