This text presents an up-to-date account of environmental hydrology, a contemporary means of describing the basic system of water circulation, patterns of runoff, and how hydrology is altered by development and industry. The author focuses particularly on the utility of river basins and catchments because they are the basic experimental, data-gathering, and water management units. Numerous methodological frameworks are considered, most of which rely on traditional methods of statistical and scientific analysis. In the case of freshwater environments, however, where key data are relatively...

This is a fully revised and expanded second edition of Malcolm Newson's acclaimed book. Exploring in greater depth the meaning of sustainability in river basin development this new edition:
* highlights the rapid evolution of practical concepts since the Rio Earth Summit
* features new illustrations and case studies from Australia, South Africa and Israel
* makes the ecosystem model more explicit throughout
* strengthens coverage of the linkages between land and water management.

Water is newsworthy: there is, or will be, a world water crisis. Aggravated by climate change, we are approaching the limits of human exploitation of freshwater resources, notably in growing essential food. The complexities and uncertainties associated with improving our management of fresh water take the potential remedies out of the hands of simple, local, hard engineering and into much larger units - the basin, the ecosystem and the global context, and also require longer term perspectives.

The Third Edition follows the same structure as its predecessors, presenting the...