urban water Articles
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Working towards sustainable urban water management: the vulnerability blind spot
The unprecedented water scarcity in Australia coincides with the adoption of a new urban water rhetoric. The ‘Security through Diversity’ strategy has been adopted in a number of Australian cities as a new and innovative approach to urban water management. Although this strategy offers a more holistic approach to urban water management, in practice, the Security through Diversity strategy is ...
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Decentralised systems – definition and drivers in the current context
This paper explores the current context for decentralised approaches in the provision of urban water services. It examines the recent history of decentralised systems' implementation in Australia and identifies its drivers. The drivers included addressing capacity constraints of centralised systems, mitigating the environmental impact of urban development, and increasing the resilience ...
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Evaluation of urban water resource security under urban expansion using a system dynamics model
Because of rapid economic development and urbanization, water shortage has become a serious problem in the arid region of China. To investigate urban water resource security, the supply demand pressure of water resources and the urban expansion index were analyzed under different developing scenarios in this paper. Based on the economic data of Urumqi, a typical inland city in the arid area, ...
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A stochastic optimization approach for integrated urban water resource planning
Urban water is facing the challenges of both scarcity and water quality deterioration. Consideration of nonconventional water resources has increasingly become essential over the last decade in urban water resource planning. In addition, rapid urbanization and economic development has led to an increasing uncertain water demand and fragile water infrastructures. Planning of urban water ...
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Urban-Water Harmony model to evaluate the urban water management
Water resources in many urban areas are under enormous stress due to large-scale urban expansion and population explosion. The decision-makers are often faced with the dilemma of either maintaining high economic growth or protecting water resources and the environment. Simple criteria of water supply and drainage do not reflect the requirement of integrated urban water management. The ...
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Assessing performance in the management of the urban water cycle
This paper proposes the use of directional distance functions and Data Envelopment Analysis techniques to assess technical efficiency in the provision of the different stages of the urban water cycle in Andalusia, a Southern European region. Evaluating performance in the management of specific stages of the urban water cycle provides utility managers and regulating authorities with relevant ...
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Institutional trajectory for diffusing on-site wastewater treatment in urban China
Urban water scarcity has been an issue for a long time in China while water pollution has attracted more and more attention over the last two decades. Recently, on-site wastewater treatment (OST) has been proposed as a meaningful alternative to deal with both water pollution and water scarcity in cities in a more sustainable way. However, the diffusion of such an OST system is still slow and ...
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Water rate to manage residential water demand with seasonality: peak-load pricing and increasing block rates approach
A strong seasonal demand for water occurs in many tourist areas, which might exacerbate the water shortage problems. Water pricing is a key instrument for water use management; therefore, the objective of this work was to design a variable water rate to examine the seasonal water demand in water-scarce regions. The proposed water rate combines the peak-load pricing (PLP) and increasing block ...
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Looking for efficiency through integrated water management between agriculture and urban uses
Many urban water systems must cope with water scarcity and climate change and additionally they must be able to fulfil the objectives of environmental protection, efficiency and sustainability. At the end they must provide the expected level of service now and in the future horizons. Some new comprehensive approaches are assessing the total water footprint in a territory using the concept of ...
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NaWaTech Compendium of Natural Water Systems and Treatment Technologies to cope with Water Shortages in Unbanised Areas in India
Providing adequate water supply and sanitation, particularly in urban areas, is a challenging task for governments throughout the world. This task is made even more difficult due to predicted dramatic global changes. Population growth, urbanisation, increasing industrialisation, climate change and a steep increase in water consumption are putting pressure on urban water resources. In order to ...
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Beijing, managing water for the eco city of the future
Some examples of problems in the water and sanitation sector in China will be given. Subsequently, the hierarchy of Chinese Government will be explained, before describing the stakeholders in water governance at the national and municipal level. A separate section is devoted to changes in the water governance structure that have been implemented already in Beijing. Water governance has been ...
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The future of urban water management in South Africa: achieving water sensitivity
South Africa (RSA) is a water scarce country challenged with transforming its unsustainably resource-intensive economy whilst also addressing the legacy of Apartheid. The adequate provision of water to RSA's citizens is one of the most significant challenges facing the country – and if a water crisis is to be averted, existing systems will need to be managed effectively. This will ...
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Discussion of the enabling environments for decentralised water systems
Decentralised water supply systems are becoming increasingly affordable and commonplace in Australia and have the potential to alleviate urban water shortages and reduce pollution into natural receiving marine and freshwater streams. Learning processes are necessary to support the efficient implementation of decentralised systems. These processes reveal the complex socio-technical and ...
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Criteria and Performance Measures for Iskandar Malaysia Urban Water Shortages Management
In Malaysia, usage of performance indicators are still new and evaluation of water utilities performance in each state are not standardized. In Iskandar Malaysia, with shortages predicted by the year 2025, new water alternatives and management measures needed to overcome this problem. Thus, criteria and performance measures were outlined for the selection of alternative water supply management. ...
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Water and energy futures for Melbourne: implications of land use, water use, and water supply strategy
This paper quantifies the effect of three policy levels on the water and energy futures of Melbourne, Australia. During a time of severe water shortages attributed to climate change, water strategies lacked consideration of energy consequences. Modeling, guided by urban metabolism theory, demonstrated that a compact urban form, reduced water consumption by 90 GL/a, compared with a sprawling ...
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Water scarcity and institutional change: lessons in adaptive governance from the drought experience of Perth, Western Australia
Urban water systems will be increasingly challenged under future climates and global pressures. Meeting challenges by reconfiguring water systems to integrate supplies and deliver multifunctional uses is technically well described. Adjusting the institutions that frame the management of these systems is not well operationalized in practice or conceptualized in theory. This study seeks to ...
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Efficient water conservation in agriculture for growing urban water demands in Jordan
A significant worldwide challenge is to increase the food supply to accommodate a population growing to 9,000,000,000 in the face of climate change. Per capita water supply in Jordan is among the world's lowest. Despite this scarcity, three-quarters of Jordan's water use is consumed by irrigated agriculture, while producing low economic values from additional water used compared to urban uses. ...
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Role of water-saving devices in reducing urban water consumption in the mega-city of Tehran, case study: a residential complex
Iran is one of 27 countries that are likely to face increasing water shortage crises between now and 2025 unless action is taken to reduce currently high-per-capita urban water consumption. Accordingly, consumption control in the mega-city of Tehran will be an invaluable achievement. A study of Tehran water consumers has determined that household consumers are responsible for 70 percent of the ...
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Efficiencies of multilayer infiltration systems for the removal of urban runoff pollutants
Current rates of urban development will result in water runoff becoming a major complication of urban water pollution. To address the worsening situation regarding water resource shortage and pollution, novel multilayer infiltration systems were designed and their effectiveness for removing pollutants in urban runoff tested experimentally. The multilayer infiltration systems effectively removed ...
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Influence of intermittent water supply operations on the vulnerability of water distribution networks
Water authorities in countries facing water shortage problems are implementing intermittent water supply (IWS) policies, as a measure to conserve and control their national water resources. Implementation of such measures affects the behaviour of the water pipe systems during the operation stage. The research work presented herein presents a model simulating the behaviour of urban water ...
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