The Water Sensitive City

ISBN-13: 9781118897669 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 240 str.

Grant, Gary

Opis

This book advocates a more thoughtful approach to urban water management. The approach involves reducing water consumption, harvesting rainwater, recycling rainwater and adopting Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) where surface water is not sent straight to drains but is intercepted by features like green roofs, rain gardens, swales and ponds.Cities in particular need to change the existing linear model of water consumption and use to a more circular one in order to survive. The Water Sensitive City brings together the various specialised technical discussions that have been continuing for some time into a volume that is more accessible to designers (engineers and architects), urban planners and managers, and policymakers.

This book advocates a more thoughtful approach to urban water management, including for example, exponents of the Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) approach in Australia and Low Impact Development in the US.

Spis treści

About the Author xiii

Acknowledgement xv

1. Water and Cities 1

The Molecule 1

Blue Planet 1

A Global Water Cycle 2

Terrain and Water 2

Seasons and Cycles 4

Variations in Rainfall 4

Changing Climates 5

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide 5

Fossil Fuels and Growth 6

The Ancients and Water 6

Dams 7

Limits 7

Sanitation 9

Pollution 9

Urban Drainage 10

Potable Water 12

Waste 12

Rainwater Harvesting 13

Recycling 14

Biodiversity 14

Restoration 15

The Future 16

Privatization and Regulation 16

Coordination and Cooperation 17

Towards a Better Future 18

2. A Brief History of Water Supply and Sanitation 19

Genesis 19

Bronze Age 20

The First Aqueducts 20

Nineveh 21

The Nile 21

The Minoans 22

Qanats 22

Pompeii 23

Byzantium 24

Yucatan 24

The Incas 25

Qi 26

Lijiang 26

Medieval and Early Modern Europe 26

Early Victorian Period 27

Germ Theory 27

The Great Stink 28

Modern Sewers and Sewage Treatment 28

Sewage Treatment Refined 29

Standards for Sewage Treatment 29

Birmingham Corporation Water Act 1892 30

Los Angeles and the Owens Valley 30

3. Demand 33

Basic Needs 33

Personal Consumption 34

Water Footprint 35

Dependency 36

China 36

Germany 36

India 37

Indonesia 37

Spain 38

United Kingdom 38

Water Footprint of Products 38

Meat 39

Vegetable Crops 39

Power Plants 40

Steel 41

Mining, Oil and Gas 42

When Will Water Consumption Peak? 42

4. Supply 43

The Roof of the World 43

Mountains 44

Forests 45

Reservoirs 46

Impacts of Dams 46

Lowland Rivers 47

Licensing Abstraction 48

Aquifers 48

Nitrate 49

Overabstraction 49

Desalination 50

Reverse Osmosis 50

Impacts of Desalination 51

High Cost of Desalination 51

Rainwater Harvesting 51

Pressure and Pumps 52

Pipework 52

Reliant on Rain 53

5. Climate Change and Water 55

Climate Changes 55

The Greenhouse Effect 55

Callendar 56

Keeling 57

Atmosphere and Oceans 57

Details of the Carbon Cycle 57

The IPCC 58

Stern and the Financial Crisis 58

400 ppm Breached 59

Two Degrees 59

Sea Level Rises 60

Coastal Cities 61

Warmer Seas 62

Ice 62

Feedback Loops 62

Ocean Chemistry 63

Snowmelt 63

Models and Projections 65

Summer Storms 66

Heat Waves 66

Drought 66

6. Microclimate 69

Climate 69

Microclimate 69

City Microclimates 70

Urban Heat ]Island Effect 70

Smog 70

Solving the Air ]Pollution Problem 71

Cooler Roofs 72

Living Walls 73

Trees Cool Streets 74

Parks 75

Quality of Green Space 75

Locating Trees 76

Water Bodies 76

Rivers 76

Heat ]Related Deaths 77

Energy Savings 78

An Overwhelming Case 79

7. Ecosystem Approach 81

The Great Acceleration 81

The Convention on Biological Diversity 81

Ecosystem Approach 82

Ecosystems 82

Principles of the Ecosystem Approach 83

Operational Guidance 85

Ecosystem Approach and the Water ]Sensitive City 87

Impacts and Responsibilities 88

Limits 88

City ]Scale Planning 89

The City Spectrum 89

Ecosystem Services 89

Valuation of Ecosystem Services 90

Supporting Services 91

Regulating Services 91

Provisioning Services 91

Cultural Services 92

Economics and Ecosystems 92

8. Rivers and Coasts 95

The Source 95

A River of Life 95

Transport Revolution 96

Regeneration 96

Water Quality and Regeneration 97

The Idea Spreads 97

A More Natural Approach 98

River Restoration and Urban Regeneration 99

Greening the River Wall 99

Coastal Cities 100

Beach Life 101

Fun in the Sun 101

The Front Line 102

An Uncertain Future 103

9. Near –Natural Drainage 105

Rain–Garden Origins 105

Scotland Takes Up the Challenge 106

England & Wales 106

Working with Nature 106

Management Train 107

Source Control 108

Green Roofs 108

Holding Water on the Roof 109

Rain Gardens 110

The Idea Spreads 111

Other Permeable Load ]Bearing Surfaces 112

Underground Voids 113

Trees and Water 114

Stockholm Tree Pits 115

Conveyance 115

Rills 116

Ponds 116

Detention Ponds 116

Attenuation Ponds 117

Floating Wetlands 117

Larger Water Bodies 118

Make Space for Water 119

10. Reduce 121

A Worthwhile Effort 121

Reduce Leaks 121

Monitor 122

Check for Leaks 123

Less Flush 123

Toilets are Not for Trash 123

Composting Toilets 124

Showers 124

Washing Machines 124

Dishwashers 125

Garden Irrigation 125

The Workplace 126

Behaviour Change 126

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning 126

Vehicle Washing 127

Urban Farming and Recycled Water 128

Diet and Water 128

Soft Drinks 128

Clothing 129

Reduction Targets 129

11. Collect 131

Reduce Reliance on Abstraction 131

When Sealed Surfaces are Useful 131

Rainwater Harvesting 132

How Rainwater is Tainted 132

First Flush 133

Novel Methods 133

Filters and Tanks 134

Siting a Tank 134

Materials 135

Treating Rainwater 135

Sizing Tanks 136

City Centre Rainwater Harvesting 137

Potsdamer Platz 137

District Collection 138

Singapore Wants Every Drop 138

Legal Problems 139

Dew 140

Lanzarote 140

Air Wells 140

Lightweight Fog Catchers 141

Foil Collectors 141

Biomimicry: Desert Beetle 142

Potential in Towns 142

Condensate 142

Collecting Alone is Insufficient 143

12. Recycle 145

Huge Potential 145

Treated Wastewater 146

The Big Dry 146

Greywater 146

Treating Greywater 147

Microbes and Membranes 148

Regulations 148

Standards 149

German Pioneers 150

Jordan 150

Domestic Greywater Recycling 151

13. Water Quality 153

Nature Cleans 153

Safe to Drink? 153

Microbes 154

Which Pathogens to Monitor? 156

Bacteria 156

Protozoa 157

Treatment 157

Chemical Contaminants 159

Nitrates 159

Pharmaceutical Contaminants 161

Radioactive Substances 161

Smell and Taste 161

Standards 162

United States 162

Europe 162

China 163

Clean Water Act 163

Water Framework Directive 164

Earlier Legislation 165

The Struggle for Compliance 165

Nonpoint Source Pollution 165

Dust in the Streets 166

Urban Runoff 166

A Continuing Problem 166

14. Future Water ]Sensitive Cities 169

Waste Not 169

Measure 170

Water Collection 170

Recycling and Cooling 170

Smart Plumbing 171

Water and Power 171

Water and Roofs 172

Water and Walls 173

Blue ]Green Infrastructure 173

Making Room 175

A More Permeable City 175

Green Streets 175

Street Life 175

Sparkling Streets 177

Urban Food Revolution 177

Urban Farms 177

Agricultural Reform 178

Relax and Play 178

Swimming and Boating 178

Encounters with Nature 179

Rediscovering Urban Waterways 179

A Greener Looking City 180

Living with Climate Change 180

Tough Decisions 181

Younger and Wiser 181

Hope 182

Useful Resources 183

Notes 191

Index 207

Blurb

This book sets out a
path for a sustainable relationship between cities and water and brings together theory, practical application
and case studies.

Water is essential for
life but is taken for granted. It s now becoming clear that the Victorian
approach to urban water will not solve problems associated with growing
population, migration of people to cities and climate change.

The current use of water
by cities is unsustainable. Cities in particular need to change the existing
linear model of water consumption and use to a more circular one in order to
survive. Aquifers all over the world, including some that have taken millions
of years to form, are predicted to dry up in the coming decades. Reservoirs
like Lake Mead near Las Vegas, once believed to have permanently solved water
supply problems, are falling to dangerously low levels.

In The Water Sensitive City, the author advocates a more thoughtful approach
to urban water management, including for example, exponents of the Water
Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) approach in Australia and Low Impact Development
in the US.

This new approach
involves reducing water consumption, harvesting rainwater, recycling rainwater
and adopting Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) where surface water is not
sent straight to drains but is intercepted by features like green roofs, rain
gardens, swales and ponds.  This
conserves water, reduces flooding, cleans water – and therefore streams, rivers
and seas and is compatible with the greener city and green infrastructure
agendas, developed by policy makers worldwide to make cities more liveable.

Urban water management
can no longer be left to the specialists; it must be addressed by today s designers
(engineers, architects and landscape architects); urban planners and managers; as
well as by environmental managers and policymakers.