Integrated Urban Water Resources Management

Growing populations and rising standards of living exert stress on water supply and the quality of drinking water. This book presents aspects of challenges in the management of urban water resources, urban water supply, urban drainage and water bodies, wastewater treatment, security, and reuse. The book presents expert opinions which indicate that the way to deal with the current urban water management dilemmas is by integrated management and innovative delivery of water services.

The Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) is an emerging approach to managing the entire urban water cycle in an integrated way, which is key to achieving the sustainability of urban water resources and services. The IUWM incorporates: the systematic consideration of the various dimensions of water, including surface and groundwater resources, quality and quantity issues; the implication that while water is a system it is also a component which interacts with other systems; and the interrelationships between water and social and economic development. Integrated Urban Water Management: Arid and Semi-Arid Regions – the outcome of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme project on the topic – examines the integrated management of water resources in urban settings, focusing on issues specific to arid and semi-arid regions and on what make them different from other regions. The urban water management system is considered herein as two integrated major entities; water supply management and water excess management. The first six chapters provide an overview of the various aspects of IUWM in arid and semi-arid regions, with emphasis on water supply technologies, such as artificial recharge, water transfers, desalination, and harvesting of rainfall. Water excess management is examined in the context of both the stormwater management system and the floodplain management system. Case studies from developed and developing countries are presented in order to emphasize the various needs and challenges of water management in urban environments in arid and semi-arid regions around the world.

In past decades, urban water management practices focused on optimizing the design and operation of water distribution networks, wastewater collection systems, and water and wastewater treatment plants. However, municipalities are now faced with aging urban water infrastructures whose operation must be improved and expanded to maintain current high

Advanced Tools for Integrated Water Resources Management, Volume Three, explores a wide breadth of emerging and state-of-the-art technologies used to study advanced tools for integrated water resources management. The book provides insights in chapters relating to How to involve the public - citizen science approaches for IWRM, Urban forestry as a management tool for urban water, Applying water accounting methods in Mediterranean areas, The Jucar River case, Valuation of Guadalquivir River Basin water resources (southern Spain) using SEEA Water Account, Applying water accounting methods through statistical data and simulation models, and much more. Covers a wide breadth of emerging and state-of-the-art technologies Includes contributions from an International board of authors Provides a comprehensive set of reviews relating to water resource management

Better water management will be crucial if we are to meet many of the key challenges of this century - feeding the worlds growing population and reducing poverty, meeting water and sanitation needs, protecting vital ecosystems, all while adapting to climate change. The approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely recognized as the best way forward, but is poorly understood, even within the water sector. Since a core IWRM principle is that good water management must involve the water users, the understanding and involvement of other sectors is critical for success. There is thus an urgent need for practical guidance, for both water and development professionals, based on real world examples, rather than theoretical constructs. That is what this book provides. Using case studies, the book illustrates how better water management, guided by the IWRM approach, has helped to meet a wide range of sustainable development goals. It does this by considering practical examples, looking at how IWRM has contributed, at different scales, from very local, village-level experiences to reforms at national level and beyond to cases involving trans-boundary river basins. Using these on-the-ground experiences, from both developed and developing countries in five continents, the book provides candid and practical lessons for policy-makers, donors, and water and development practitioners worldwide, looking at how IWRM principles were applied, what worked, and, equally important, what didn‘t work, and why. Published with the Global Water Partnership

This book is an introduction to hydroinformatics applied to urban water management. It shows how to make the best use of information and communication technologies for manipulating information to manage water in the urban environment. The book covers the acquisition and analysis of data from urban water systems to instantiate mathematical models or calculations, which describe identified physical processes. The models are operated within prescribed management procedures to inform decision makers, who are responsible to recognized stakeholders. The application is to the major components of the urban water environment, namely water supply, treatment and distribution, wastewater and stormwater collection, treatment and impact on receiving waters, and groundwater and urban flooding. Urban Hydroinformatics pays particular attention to modeling, decision support through procedures, economics and management, and implementation in both developed and developing countries. The book is written with post-graduates, researchers and practicing engineers who are involved in urban water management and want to improve the scope and reliability of their systems.

Integrated water resources management advocates a coordinated approach for managing water resources in a way that balances social and economic needs with concern for the environment. While potentially useful, integrated water management is also controversial. Supporters believe that the multi-dimensional nature of water can only be understood and managed from a holistic perspective, while critics often argue that integrated water management lacks suffi ciently well-defi ned rules for its practical implementation. This book, written by academics, users and practitioners, provides a down-to-earth approach to the ideal of integrated water resources management, drawing from conceptual frameworks and real-life practice to identify the key aspects that are yet to be resolved. As such, it examines the role of water accounting, food trade, environmental externalities and intangible values as key aspects whose consideration may help the water management community move forward. Overall, integrated water resources management is perceived to be a useful utopia, whose value lies more in the steps that need to be taken to make it a reality than in achieving its ever-elusive end goal.