This book examines changes and transitions in the way water is managed in urban environments. This book originated from a joint French-Australian initiative on water and land management held in Montpellier, France. The book delivers practical insights into urban water management. It links scientific insights of researchers with the practical experiences of urban water practitioners to understand and respond to key trends in how urban water is supplied, treated and consumed. The 51 contributors to the volume provide a range of insights, case studies, summaries and analyses of urban water and from a global perspective. The first section on water supply and sanitation includes case studies from Zimbabwe, France and South Africa, among others. Water demand and water economics are addressed in the second section of the book, with chapters on long-term water demand forecasting, the social determinants of water consumption in Australian cities, a study of water quality and consumption in France, governance and regulation of the urban water sector and more. The third section explores water governance and integrated management, with chapters on water management in Quebec, in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond urban area, in Singapore and in Australia. The final section offers perspectives on challenges and future uncertainties for urban water systems in transition. Collectively, the diverse insights provide an important step forward in response to the challenges of sustainably delivering water safely, efficiently and equitably.

In the 21st Century, the world will see an unprecedented migration of people moving from rural to urban areas. With global demand for water projected to outstrip supply in the coming decades, cities will likely face water insecurity as a result of climate change and the various impacts of urbanisation. Traditionally, urban water managers have relied on large-scale, supply-side infrastructural projects to meet increased demands for water; however, these projects are environmentally, economically and politically costly. Urban Water Security argues that cities need to transition from supply-side to demand-side management to achieve urban water security. This book provides readers with a series of in-depth case studies of leading developed cities, of differing climates, incomes and lifestyles from around the world, that have used demand management tools to modify the attitudes and behaviour of water users in an attempt to achieve urban water security. Urban Water Security will be of particular interest to town and regional planners, water conservation managers and policymakers, international companies and organisations with large water footprints, environmental and water NGOs, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students.

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This book describes the impact of modernization on the organization and sustainability of Urban Water Systems in Europe (UWSEs). Bolognesi explains that the modernization of UWSEs was a regulatory shock that began in the 1990s and was put into action with the EU Water Framework Directive in the year 2000. This process sought to reorganize water governance in order to achieve certain sustainability goals, but it fell short of expectations. Modernization and Urban Water Governance provides an update on the organization and sustainability of UWSEs, while drawing from a comparative analysis of German, French, and English water models and an institutionalist explanation of the current situation. With a focus on transaction costs, property rights allocation and institutional environments, this book argues that the modernization of UWSEs tends to depoliticize these systems and make them more resilient but also limits their potential for sustainable management. This book will be relevant to those wishing to understand the real impacts of water reform in Europe according to national contingencies.

The world’s population is currently undergoing a significant transition towards urbanisation, with the UN expecting that 70% of people globally will live in cities by 2050. Urbanisation has multiple political, cultural, environmental and economic dimensions that profoundly influence social development and innovation. This fundamental long-term transformation will involve the realignment of urban society’s technologies and infrastructures, culture and lifestyles, as well as governance and institutional frameworks. Such structural systemic realignments can be referred to as urban sustainability transitions: fundamental and structural changes in urban systems through which persistent societal challenges are addressed, such as shifts towards urban farming, renewable decentralised energy systems, and social economies. This book provides new insights into how sustainability transitions unfold in different types of cities across the world and explores possible strategies for governing urban transitions, emphasising the co-evolution of material and institutional transformations in socio-technical and socio-ecological systems. With case studies of mega-cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, New York and Adelaide, medium-sized cities such as Copenhagen, Cape Town and Portland, and nonmetropolitan cities such as Freiburg, Ghent and Brighton, the book provides an opportunity to reflect upon the comparability and transferability of theoretical/conceptual constructs and governance approaches across geographical contexts. Urban Sustainability Transitions is key reading for students and scholars working in Environmental Sciences, Geography, Urban Studies, Urban Policy and Planning.

Urban water security is crucial for achieving sustainable development, peace, and human health and well-being. Framing urban water security is challenging due to the complexity and uncertainty of its definition and assessment framework. Several studies have assessed water security in widely divergent ways by granting priority indicators equal weight without considering or adapting to local conditions. This dissertation develops a new urban water security definition and assessment framework applicable to water scarce cities, with a focus on Madaba, Jordan. It takes a novel and systematic approach to assessing urban water security and culminates in integrated urban water security index (IUWSI) as a diagnostic tool and guide management actions. The dissertation suggests a new working definition of urban water security based on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 on safe drinking water for all and the human rights on water and sanitation as follows: The dynamic capacity of water systems and stakeholders to safeguard sustainable and equitable access to water of adequate quantity and acceptable quality that is continuously, physically and legally available at an affordable cost for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being and socioeconomic development, ensuring protection against waterborne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. This proposed definition captures issues at the urban level of technical, environmental and socioeconomic indicators that emphasize credibility, legitimacy and salience. The assessment framework establishes a criteria hierarchy, consisting of four main dimensions to achieve urban water security: drinking water and human well-being, ecosystem, climate change and water-related hazards and socioeconomic aspects (together, DECS). The framework enables the analysis of relationships and trade-offs between urbanization, water security and DECS indicators. The dissertation also provides a structured analysis to understand how urban water is managed in intermittent water supply system, by conducting a water balance analysis after quantifying the components of water losses in Madaba’s water distribution network. The findings showed that Madaba's non-revenue water (NRW) amounted to annual loss of about 3.5 million m3, corresponding to financial losses of 2.8 million USD to the utility, of which 1.7 million USD is the cost of real losses. The dissertation provided an intervention strategy for strengthening infrastructure resilience and reducing leakage via the infrastructure, repair, economic, awareness and pressure (IREAP) framework. The IREAP framework provides a robust strategy to shift intermittent water supply (IWS) into continuous water supply. The IUWSI highlighted the state of water security in Madaba, Jordan and identified the means of implementation to move towards achieving urban water security based on the priorities for Madaba. The drinking water and human wellbeing dimension was the most important priority, receiving a weight of 66.22%, followed by ecosystem (17.15%), socioeconomic aspects (10.18%), and climate change and water-related hazards (6.45%) dimensions. The IUWSI indicated that the urban water security in Madaba is reasonable with a score of 2.5/5 and can meet the minimum requirements in several dimensions, but nonetheless, it has many loopholes to cover. Gaps are clear in the climate change and water-related hazards, and socioeconomic dimensions with scores of 1.6/5 and 2.237/5 respectively. Additionally, specific shortcomings are found in indicators such as water availability, reliability, diversity, and public health. The IUWSI framework assists with a rational and evidence-based decision-making process, which is important for enhancing water resource management in water-scarce cities

This book is about water - in Britain, and in the world. It is about water resources, their conservation, protection of water quality for human consumption and aquatic ecosystems. Since the publication of the first edition in 1998, major political and regulatory changes have taken place; this book provides a clear and comprehensive update of conservation and water resource management issues in the UK over the past two decades, and – in an expansion of its original UK perspective – now includes examples of global best practice. The UK’s 2003 adoption of the EU Water Framework Directive has had enormous implications for the conservation and management of our water resources. In 2016, with the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the governance scene is entering upon an unpredictable future regarding its major water resource policies. The Protection and Conservation of Water Resources, Second edition provides a clear and comprehensive update of conservation and water resource management issues. Chapter 1 deals with sustainability and water policy, outlines the issues and challenges, and asks: what is integrated water management? Chapter 2 reviews water availability and sufficiency in Britain, while Chapter 3 explores the dynamic between institutions and legislative framework. Chapter 4 introduces the catchment approach, and chapters 5 and 6 explore the issues of sustaining bulk supply and the imperatives of climate change. Chapter 7 looks at the contemporary background to water quality issues, and Chapter 8 provides case studies of catchment problems, both urban and rural. Chapter 9 describes solutions in land use change, including technical fixes and their sustainability. Chapter 10 is concerned with emerging governance arrangements, and Chapter 11 takes a global view, looking at successful examples around the world to find positive lessons from Europe, north America and Australia.