Role of Models in the Decision-Making Process in Integrated Urban Water Management: A Review

Managing urban water systems in which stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water sectors affect each other is a difficult task that requires the right modeling tools for decision making. Integrated urban water management models (IUWMs) are tools that allow decision makers to demonstrate the effectiveness of various management, operational and design strategies. Although models are useful tools, the wide range of available models with many different capabilities make it challenging for the users to select an appropriate model for their specific objectives. In this review we investigated the capabilities of popular models in IUWM. We developed a comprehensive list of indicators to compare the capabilities of the models. We also analyzed the application of these models in a comparative way and evaluated their input requirements. Finally, we provided a procedure to select the appropriate model in the management environment based on the user’s needs. In summary, the results show that most of the models’ applications are focused on supply and demand, wastewater management, and stormwater management. Very few models consider social factors and policy aspects in IUWM. While each model has its own advantages, we found some of them, such as MIKE Urban, Hydro Planner, and Aqua Cycle, to be more comprehensive. Nevertheless, there are still gaps in the models in areas such as water-energy nexus, evaluating ecosystem services, including socioeconomic factors and sustainability analysis.

Photoelectrocatalysis on TiO2 meshes: different applications in the integrated urban water management

Recently, among AOPs, photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) on TiO2 is gaining interest. In this study, five different real waters sampled in four different points of the integrated urban water management (IUWM) system were tested with PEC and UV alone, for comparison. This work aims to verify the effect of the PEC suggesting the optimal position in IUWM system where the PEC should be located to obtain the best performance. In groundwaters (GWs), PEC effectively removed atrazine-based compounds (> 99%), trichloroethylene, and perchloroethylene (96%), after 15 min of reaction time. However, given the low concentrations of emerging compounds, the synergistic effect of UV radiation with the catalyst and with the polarization of the mesh was not visible, with very few differences compared with the results obtained with UV alone. Pharmaceutical industrial wastewater (IWW) showed a significant increase in biodegradability after 2 h, both if subjected to PEC or UV (200%), despite the absence of COD removal. The PEC applied on IWW from a sewage sludge treatment plant allowed to effectively remove the COD (39.6%) and increase the biodegradability (300%). Good results in terms of COD removal (33.9%) and biodegradability increase (+900%) were also achieved testing PEC on wastewater treatment plant effluent. Except for GWs, PEC allowed significant EEO savings respect to UV alone (76.2–99.1%).

Integrated urban water resources management strategy for a smart city in India

Economic growth of any nation like India depends on growth of cities. In India 31% of total population exists in urban extent. Smart City mission of India was established with the objective to deliver the basic requirements of the citizens in a sustainable manner. Madurai city located at Peninsular India with 1.4 Million population was taken for this study. The objective is to develop an Integrated Urban Water Management Strategy after analysing all the components of Urban Water Cycle such as rainfall, runoff, groundwater and wastewater. The population forecast for 2021 was done for the Local Planning Area (LPA) of 726.34 km2 and the water demand was calculated as 109 Mm3/year. To meet the demand, runoff from the average rainfall was estimated as 393 Mm3/yr using SCS-CN method. The storage capacity in the water bodies to store the Surface water was estimated as 156 Mm3/yr and groundwater recharge potential was estimated as 22 Mm3/yr. The Integrated Urban Water Management strategy developed, shows that there is a huge potential for rainwater storage at the surface level and subsequent recharge through artificial recharge techniques.

Performance and scientific contributions of the Research Group “Integrated Urban Water Management” of the State University of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil

Research Group Integrated Urban Water Manegement (GIAU) was founded in 2014, due to the need to study and to suggest solutions to weaknesses reported in the municipality of Maringá, in Paraná State, regarding this subject. The integrated urban water management comprehend ah holistic view to potable water supply and sanitary sewage systems, water drainage management in urban areas, besides urban solid waste management. In this context, the aim of this paper is to present the research group and its main contributions up to this point. The applied method consisted in present the history from creation, formation and recent actions of the whole group and in realize a systematic review of the published papers. The main results showed that although recent, the group has worked in a proactive way in its community by means of promotion of lectures and events, besides the production of 52 publications in national and international journals, national and international events, books and book chapters. The group has also board members highly qualified, concentrating in the training of human resources. It can be concluded that the research group is consolidating, with high performance expectations.

Mapping Institutional Landscape for Integrated Urban Water Management in Haldwani City, Uttarakhand

According to the latest government reports, India is facing evident shortfall of water in various parts of the country, and Himalayan states are likely to suffer the impacts of climate change related to water more than non-Himalayan states. Water resources are expected to affect Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, and future projections are far more upsetting. In this light, sustainable and adaptive strategies such as integrated water resources management, nature-based solutions have been promoted globally for sustainable and integrated urban water management. The paper inquires into functions of respective institutions and their possibilities to adopt possible nature-based solutions such as rain water harvesting in response to water insecurity and adaptation in times of climate change. Taking case of Haldwani city, the paper assesses water demand and supply gaps, the existing water institutions, their scope of work and water management mechanism. Further, the scope of adoption of possible nature-based solution is explored by the purview of their work in water management. This was derived through an in-depth literature review, stakeholder consultations as key informant interviews, and participatory mapping. Haldwani has experienced severe water scarcity due to depletion of groundwater, decline in the discharge rate of river Gaula, and drying of springs in and around the city. Various agencies manage the existing water resources in isolation and mismanagement of water is one of the prominent problems in the city. The paper delves into the nuances of various strategic interventions, and the respective institutional capability to undertake the same. While most of the strategies prevalent at international level are yet to be adopted in context of Himalayan cities, a key finding is that rain water harvesting system can be easily taken up as a nature based solution by each of the institutions since it also falls in their scope of work as well as to meet the city’s present and future water challenges.

Capturing different perspectives on integrated urban water management issues

Integrated urban water management (IUWM) involves a complex web of organisational interactions. Each organisation has its own priorities and unique perceptions of problems. This study offers two contributions to the research on this topic. First, 14 major issues in IUWM infrastructure planning were determined through industry consultation and a literature review. Second, an industry survey investigated which issues were most important to which organisations, and results show significant differences across organisational types. While there were significant differences between organisational types, the survey found that across the entire sector, most issues were ranked similarly in importance with two clear outliers, collaboration and integration being clearly the most important and post-evaluation the least. If the industry can develop an understanding of these differences in organisational perspectives, it will provide a starting point for better collaboration in integrated water infrastructure planning processes.