The future of urban water management

According to the United Nations, an estimated 60 per cent of the world's population will be living in urban areas by 2030. In 2012 that figure was 52 per cent, by 2023 it had reached 56 per cent. By 2030, a third of the world's population will be living in cities with at least half a million people.

Urbanisation is progressing at a rapid rate globally with high-income countries having higher percentanges of urban populations than middle and low-income countries. However, urbanisation is happening at more rapid rate in Africa and Asia.

As the World Bank states, 'with rapid urbanization, competition for water resources across all sectors will become fierce. At the same time, raw water sources risk becoming more contaminated through changes in land use patterns, poor solid waste and stormwater management, inadequate wastewater treatment, aging infrastructure, and unbridled formal and informal urban expansion.'

"With rapid urbanization, competition for water resources across all sectors will become fierce."

Add to this mix, climate change, changing patterns of weather and rising temperatures, it is easy to see the increasing challenges of water managment in urban environments. Not just the quantity and quality for human consumption, but for agriculture, energy, industry and waste treatment.

In this article, we look at the one response to these growing challenges: urban water management, or integrated urban water management. Aquatech Online talked to Mark Fletcher, director, global water reader, and Arup Fellow, and Newsha Ajami, chief development officer for research, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in the USA, to understand more about the challenges, innovations, and possibilities of urban water management.

 

What is an urban water management strategy?

Integrated urban water management (IUWM) aims to address the challenges faced by rapid urbanisation and resource competition.

Anjami told Aquatech Online that a IUWM should: "Start by managing demand and reducing the demand baseline, while building reliability by diversifying water supplies." To do this would necessitate, "going beyond conventional centralized linear water solutions and embracing circular water economy, and both nature-based and green infrastructure solutions."

Fletcher told Aquatech Online that IUWM is an approach that recognises the interdependent components of the water cycle that impact urban environments. The aim of the approach, he said, is to approach the problems and challenges we face holistically, in a different and a more effective way.

He added: “From a bottom-up perspective it can mean starting to better integrate decisions, along with the data and models that underpin them, across water and wastewater, for example. From a top-down perspective it can mean aligning overarching governance arrangements to logically manage water.”

 

What are the current challenges in urban water management?

With so many strands to manage, and with our water sources under increasing straing from over-extraction and pollution, one of the main challenges to any urban water management strategy is to balance water resiliency and reliability, while keeping it affordable, meeting environmental regulations, and protecting ecosystems.

While the central role of water in our urban environments is increasingly recognised, those looking to make changes through urban water management are finding that one potential challenge is the lack of clarity around water stresses and our own involvement in solving them.

"This makes it more difficult to find common ground and work towards shared goals."

As Fletcher explains: “The present-day media culture can also make it more difficult to establish evidence-based consensus around important issues. Often, deliberate misinformation, polarisation, and divisiveness can further erode trust in institutions. If people are largely exposed to information and viewpoints that reinforce existing standpoints and beliefs, this can lead to a lack of understanding and empathy between different groups. This makes it more difficult to find common ground and work towards shared goals.”

Water is increasingly seen as a problem, but it also sits at the heart of the solution to many of our urban challenges.

 

How can integrated water resource management (IWRM) be implemented?

It is one thing to develop a strategy for urban water management, but it is quite another to implement it on the ground.

Anjami believes that thinking on a watershed level is essential for achieving a sustainable and resilient future: We also need to break down the governance and institutional silos that separate water, wastewater, and stormwater/flood management. We need to develop holistic and systematic strategies to enable seamless integration across these subsectors and advance a 'One Water' vision and a circular water economy.

Both Anjami and Fletcher believe breaking down silos must work in tandem with building partnerships outside of the water sector.

"We need to develop holistic and systematic strategies to enable seamless integration across these subsectors."

Fletcher said: Collaboration is vital to the succesful implementation of an integrated water resource management (IWRM). This includes a shift towards different ways of working. It may mean the formation of new and different partnerships, often between actors that have not traditionally worked together.

He added: We term this collaboration as 'progressive partnerships', with new partnerships and partnership models needed to design, deliver and fund IWRM.

Anjami agreed that focusing on wider issues, such as resources and climate was vital: Another dimension of this approach is focusing on the integration of water, energy, and carbon solutions at the watershed scale to concurrently address climate mitigation and adaptation.

She added: Such a multi-objective strategy ensures that these systems work together efficiently, minimising trade-offs and maximising benefits.

 

Innovations in thinking

This focus on wider resources and other water-adjacent sectors is not just a question of semantics, as Fletcher explained, it is about cooperation and collaboration around what is needed to manage urban environments: The latest thinking has seen organisations moving to a collective focus on the common outcomes that matter to society and the environment.

He added: A move from outputs to outcomes isn't a simple matter of semantics. It is a radical change to how organisations traditionally think and act. It means deliberately moving goals outside of one's direct sphere of influence, and therefore putting success partially in the hands of others.

 

How do smart water management systems enhance efficiency?

There is huge scope for a broader range of water management services and solutions to be implemented across utility networks, communities, and homes. As new technologies continue to emerge, and capabilities continue to develop, Fletcher believes this will necessitate the need to put the demand side central to the solutions.

Fletcher added: Smart water management systems provide the opportunity for us to balance this demand with the impact it has on the water system. The result can be the more effective and efficient management of water, with increased urban resilience and reduce impact on our natural environment.

He added that smart water management systems also have the potential to limit or avoid the need for any asset interventions in the first place, whether they are grey, green or blue.

"Smart systems offer opportunities for cross-sector coordination, such as aligning water infrastructure with energy grids and transportation networks."

Anjami agreed that smart systems, data analytics, and information technology have the potential to significantly enhance the efficiency and performance of water infrastructure networks.

By optimizing operations, these technologies enable better engagement with customers, more precise management of load and pressure across the network - especially as decentralised solutions are integrated - and real-time detection and control of leaks, she added.

In addition, advanced sensors and data analytics are able to monitor water quality continuously, ensuring safety and compliance with regulations, while reducing response times to potential issues.

Furthermore, Anjami added, smart systems offer opportunities for cross-sector coordination, such as aligning water infrastructure with energy grids and transportation networks, to unlock broader efficiencies and cost savings.

 

What are the benefits of water recycling and reuse?

Both Anjami and Fletcher agree that water reuse is crucial to the success of any urban water management strategy of the future, helping to reduce our water footprint and build resilience and sustainability into increasinly water stressed environments.

"Reuse needs to occur at every scale," Anjami said, "both behind the meter, where it serves as a demand management strategy to reduce demand baseline, and in front of the meter, where it enhances water supply and diversifies utility water sources."

 

How can green infrastructure and nature-based solutions help?

One thing has become very apparent recently... water infrastructure in many places is no longer fully fit for purpose. Designed in times of smaller populations, lower levels of urban living and with fewer competing industries, these systems are no longer proving efficient.

As Anjami explained, we have come to learn two facts: "First, engineered solutions are only as effective as the assumptions on which they were based, and they can lose their efficacy when conditions significantly deviate from those norms."

Second, she added: "Working with nature and integrating nature-based solutions is essential for managing extremes - such as floods, droughts, and heat - and for achieving long-term sustainability. The benefits of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure extend far beyond a single dimension."

"Working with nature and integrating nature-based solutions is essential for managing extremes."

By working with nature, rather than against it, nature-based solutions can improve water management by enhancing natural infiltration, storage, and filtration.

They also provide a range of co-benefits, as Anjami explained: "They improve water quality, reduce urban heat islands, enhance biodiversity, sequester carbon, and create recreational spaces that benefit communities. By mimicking and restoring natural processes, these solutions offer a more adaptive, cost-effective, and resilient alternative to traditional infrastructure, supporting both ecological health and human well-being."

 

What role do policy and governance play in urban water management?

For urban water management systems to fulfil their potential, strong governance and policy is essential.

Fletcher explained that effective policy and governance is more important than ever in urban water management: "Key to this is a strong social contract, where citizens and customers are willing to engage, participate and contribute, and to change their behaviours, in response to an 'ask' by institutions or organisations that they trust."

Anjami agreed: "Governance and policy could serve as catalysts for change, shaping the way communities use, manage, and reuse water resources while minimizing environmental and ecological impacts. Through well-designed policies and regulations, alongside financial and fiscal incentives, governments can promote sustainable practices such as source protection and pollution prevention, water conservation and efficacy, water recycling and reuse at every scale."

Such policies, she added, can spur innovation, encourage the adoption of innovative solutions, help rethink and redefine infrastructure, and more intentionally incorporate green infrastructure and nature-based solutions within the existing infrastructure portfolio.

 

How important is community engagement and education in water conservation?

A recent report in the UK suggested that low public understanding of the water sector is leading to mistrust. While this is a UK-based report, it does bring home the need to engage and involve communities more in water management. After all, they are the ones who are crucial for the adoption of new strategies and establishing the sustainable practices that are crucial to urban water management initiatives.

"Community involvement helps raise awareness about where their water comes from, how it is treated and delivered, and where it goes after use," Anjami said: "This knowledge encourages people to make informed decisions, reducing waste and safeguarding local ecosystems. Additionally, community engagement can promote shared responsibility, inspiring collective action to protect water resources and the environment through mindful consumption and sustainable habits. This could also help build resilience bottom up."

For Fletcher, community engagement and education have the greatest potential to change our relationship with water: "In light of the need for greater adoption of blue green and nature-based solutions, and behavioural changes, the sector will inevitably rely more on local communities, as well as individuals, to contribute. This will only be possible through active engagement with and involvement in the decision-making processes."

 

What strategies build climate resilience in urban water management?

The need for urban water management strategies to ensure resilience against future urbanisation is well accepted, but what will those strategies look like?

Anjami believes that urban water management strategies need two primary goals: Protecting water sources from pollution and degradation, and reducing demand through effective management strategies.

"Safeguarding water sources ensures long-term availability by maintaining water quality and ecosystem health, which are essential for both human consumption and environmental sustainability," she explained. "On the demand side, conservation and efficiency measures play a crucial role in reducing water use. Additionally, onsite water reuse systems allow water to be used multiple times within homes or buildings, further decreasing the strain on centralised supplies."

This approach would include practices like greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting, shower to toilet technologies, and more, which not only reduce demand but also contribute to drought resilience. Anjami also believes that smart water systems will be key to the success of any strategy.

"This will involve scenario planning, recognising the critical factors and trends that may significantly impact the future."

"In addition to smart technologies, centralised water infrastructure remains essential, especially when combined with decentralised approaches like stormwater capture and reuse," Anjami added. "Capturing stormwater not only mitigates flooding but also provides an alternative water source, easing pressure on traditional supplies."

Strategies will also need to incorporate green and nature-based solutions – such as wetland, bioswales and green roofs – and focus on both demand and supply reduction.

Any strategy will also need to anticipate and mitigate future threats and challenges and be able to overcome disruption, asserts Fletcher.

"This will involve scenario planning, recognising the critical factors and trends that may significantly impact the future, such as climate-related developments, geopolitical shifts, socio-economic conditions, and technological advancements," he explained.

"These can be used to create a set of diverse and plausible future scenarios, against which adaptive plans need to be developed such that outcomes can be achieved irrespective of the future that will unfold. Increasingly this also involves the use of adaptive pathway planning."

 

Future trends and innovations in urban water management

Smart water management tools, increasingly adopting AI and machine learning, will help shape future urban water management systems.

Anjami added: "These will be deployed at various scales and honed to different parts of the water infrastructure system, such as leak detection, network optimization, demand management and forecasting, customer-facing analytics, and more."

Water reuse, both small-scale and on larger scales, will also be utilised far more frequently.

"From our experiences working with public and private organisations and institutions across the globe that are on the frontline of the water crises, we have identified nine features that we deem essential for organisations to successfully help address the challenges we face," explained Fletcher, citing Arup's work. Any future urban water management strategy needs to adopt the following characteristics.

"We term these the necessary characteristics of future-facing organisations. They have an: outcomes focus; systems mindset; resilient and adaptive approach; distributed mix of solutions; total value perspective; progressive partnerships; a place and community outlook; collaborative citizen and customer base; robust social contract."