The São Francisco River provides about 70% of the surface water in Northeast Brazil and like much of Brazil the basin includes communities characterized by a broad range of incomes and persistent poverty (Brito and Gichuki 2003). The basin’s agricultural systems cover a similar range between capitalized export-focused enterprises and subsistence farms. Major corporations and cottage industries comprise the industrial water use sector while cities and towns tap the basin for municipal supplies. The basin also hosts several important water-dependent ecological zones.

This paper examines the water dimensions of recent large-scale land acquisitions for biofuel production in the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo and Northern regions of Ghana. Using secondary sources of data complemented by individual and group interviews, the paper reveals an almost universal lack of consideration of the implications of large-scale land deals for crop water requirements, the ecological functions of freshwater ecosystems and water rights of local smallholder farmers and other users.

This working paper contains the proceedings of the workshop that was organized on 14 March 2001 in Hanoi, gathering experts from the various disciplines such as health, environment,water resources management, irrigation, agriculture, soil sciences, water quality, etc. to discuss the findings of 16 papers on different aspects of wastewater reuse. The proceedings of this workshop are presented here in summary form, which we hope will provide a bird's-eye view of the current knowledge in Vietnam on this subject to a wide spectrum of interested persons.

Restrictive soil layers commonly known as hardpans restrict water and airflow in the soil profile and impede plant root growth below the plough depth. Preventing hardpans to form or ameliorate existing hardpans will allow plants root more deeply, increase water infiltration and reduce runoff, all resulting in greater amounts of water available for the crop (i.e. green water).