Water Centric Cities of the Future - Towards Macroscale Assessment of Sustainability

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Novotny ◽  
Eric V. Novotny
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
San Antonio ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Carbon Emissions Reduction ◽  
Water Developments

The developments of several current and future ecocities have been comparatively assessed as to their environmental benefits of preservation or restoration of the ecological and hydrological (water reuse) functionality of their surface water bodies and social benefits such as carbon emissions reduction, recreation, and resource recovery. These evaluation categories are the key components of the Triple Bottom Line assessment of sustainability. The assessed urban water developments include downtown San Antonio (TX, USA), ecocity portion of San Francisco and Sonoma Mountain Village (CA, USA), Hammarby Sjöstad (Sweden), Tianjin, Qingdao and Dongtan (China), and Masdar (UAE). The analysis revealed some problems with the lack of macroscale measures, models, and indices for some key components of the triple bottom assessment. Several research hypotheses and ecocity concepts were suggested for further research and studying.

Blueprint for a greener city: growth need not costthe earth

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 61-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
River System ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
System Capacity ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Alternative Water

The current human use of global natural resources exceeds the long-term sustainable capacity of the planet. New and more sustainable ways of building cities and providing urban water services are needed. The Australian city of Sydney is expected to grow by more than 1 million people over the next 30 years. Water use from the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system already exceeds system capacity. Current proposals to allocate a greater proportion of low flows to meet environmental flow needs will limit urban water allocations and require the development of more efficient water and sewerage systems for new and existing urban development. This paper presents a hypothetical case study of how water supply and sewerage services might be provided for an additional 1 million people over a 25-year period. It compares traditional service provision with alternative scenarios incorporating water conservation measures, rainwater harvesting and water reuse. The paper presents both economic and environmental comparisons. The economic comparisons include valuations of environmental externalities in the form of environmental levies. It shows that the extra capital costs of water conservation, alternative water sources and water reuse scenarios are offset by operating savings and environmental benefits. Ecological footprints are reduced because of lower water diversions, discharges, energy use and CO2 emissions. The paper also discusses the implication of alternative infrastructure ownership and water pricing arrangements, and the opportunities to create incentives for additional investment in water conservation and reuse projects.

scholarly journals Performance assessment of water reuse strategies using integrated framework of urban water metabolism and water-energy-pollution nexus

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 4582-4597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oriana Landa-Cansigno ◽  
Kourosh Behzadian ◽  
Diego I. Davila-Cano ◽  
Luiza C. Campos
Keyword(s):  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Domestic Wastewater ◽  
Planning Horizon ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Water Metabolism

Abstract This paper evaluates the metabolism-based performance of a number of centralised and decentralised water reuse strategies and their impact on integrated urban water systems (UWS) based on the nexus of water-energy-pollution. The performance assessment is based on a comprehensive and quantitative framework of urban water metabolism developed for integrated UWS over a long-term planning horizon. UWS performance is quantified based on the tracking down of mass balance flows/fluxes of water, energy, materials, costs, pollutants, and other environmental impacts using the WaterMet2 tool. The assessment framework is defined as a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) within the context of the water-energy-pollution nexus. The strategies comprise six decentralised water reuse configurations (greywater or domestic wastewater) and three centralised ones, all within three proportions of adoption by domestic users (i.e. 20, 50, and 100%). This methodology was demonstrated in the real-world case study of San Francisco del Rincon and Purisima del Rincon cities in Mexico. The results indicate that decentralised water reuse strategies using domestic wastewater can provide the best performance in the UWS with respect to water conservation, green house gas (GHG) emissions, and eutrophication indicators, while energy saving is almost negligible. On the other hand, centralised strategies can achieve the best performance for energy saving among the water reuse strategies. The results also show metabolism performance assessment in a complex system such as integrated UWS can reveal the magnitude of the interactions between the nexus elements (i.e. water, energy, and pollution). In addition, it can also reveal any unexpected influences of these elements that might exist between the UWS components and overall system.

Economic and environmental benefits of urban water reuse in tourist areas

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Lazarova ◽  
Heimata Carle ◽  
Vincent Sturny
Keyword(s):  
Water Reuse ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Economic Viability ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Tertiary Treatment ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Reliability Of Operation ◽  
Membrane Treatment ◽  
Public Opposition

This paper presents and discusses the keys of success of a water reuse project for landscape irrigation and other urban uses in Bora Bora, French Polynesia. To better preserve public health and overcome all constraints and public opposition, a membrane tertiary treatment for the production of high-quality recycled water was implemented. Special attention was paid to the reliability of operation and economic viability of membrane treatment, as well as to active public participation with involvement of all stakeholders. The demand for the new recycled water steadily increased during the last two years with a wide diversification of urban uses, not only for irrigation, but also for cleaning, industrial and commercial uses and fire protection. Monetary and non-monetary benefits have been assessed and recognised. As a result of this successful project, new recycling projects are under development.

scholarly journals Urban water reuse: A triple bottom line assessment framework and review

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 448-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Wilcox ◽  
Fuzhan Nasiri ◽  
Sarah Bell ◽  
Md. Saifur Rahaman
Keyword(s):  
Water Reuse ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Bottom Line

Counting Fish: Environmental Benefits Calculation for Avoided Costs Analysis in Urban Water Use Efficiency Planning

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Shulte Joung ◽  
Mary Ann Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Environmental Benefit ◽  
Conservation Programs ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Water Savings ◽  
Urban Water Use ◽  
Use Efficiency

This report documents a project undertaken for the California Urban Water Conservation Council to create a method to calculate water utility avoided costs and assign economic value to the environmental benefits of raw water savings as a result of implementing urban water conservation programs. It is assumed that water savings associated with implementation of conservation programs can be quantified and represented as a reduction in the demand for water from a particular set of supply sources. This demand reduction may in turn result in a change to the availability of an environmental benefit provided by that source. Environmental valuation, as it is applied here, is relatively new and there are numerous complications, ambiguities, data gaps and differences of opinion in the application of the methodology. For that reason, this report should be considered a pioneering effort to put together all the required elements in a single coherent framework.

scholarly journals An Examination of Green Credit Promoting Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduction: A Provincial Panel Analysis of China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7148
Author(s):  
Wenjie Zhang ◽  
Mingyong Hong ◽  
Juan Li ◽  
Fuhong Li
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Green Finance ◽  
Carbon Emissions Reduction ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Emissions Intensity ◽  
The Impact

The implementation of green finance is a powerful measure to promote global carbon emissions reduction that has been highly valued by academic circles in recent years. However, the role of green credit in carbon emissions reduction in China is still lacking testing. Using a set of panel data including 30 provinces and cities, this study focused on the impact of green credit on carbon dioxide emissions in China from 2006 to 2016. The empirical results indicated that green credit has a significantly negative effect on carbon dioxide emissions intensity. Furthermore, after the mechanism examination, we found that the promotion impacts of green credit on industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation are two effective channels to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Heterogeneity analysis found that there are regional differences in the effect of green credit. In the western and northeastern regions, the effect of green credit is invalid. Quantile regression results implied that the greater the carbon emissions intensity, the better the effect of green credit. Finally, a further discussion revealed there exists a nonlinear correlation between green credit and carbon dioxide emissions intensity. These findings suggest that the core measures to promote carbon emission reduction in China are to continue to expand the scale of green credit, increase the technology R&D investment of enterprises, and to vigorously develop the tertiary industry.

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