This book documents the various impacts of urbanization on hydrological systems and water resources. The first half of the book is focused on urbanization and surface waters, starting with the status of hydrological systems in the urban areas, i.e. the catchment characteristics and changes in rainfall dynamics. The most pronounced hydrological problems in cities are changes in runoff due to precipitation. Recently, rain events have been less frequent but more intense, sometimes leading to flash floods. Though the substantial increase in runoff causes floods in the urbanized area, it may be...