Evaluation of Parameters for Sustainability Assessment of Green Infrastructure in the Urban Water System

Urban water systems face severe challenges such as urbanisation, population growth and climate change. Traditional technical solutions, i.e., pipe-based, grey infrastructure, have a single purpose and are proven to be unsustainable compared to multi-purpose nature-based solutions. Green Infrastructure encompasses on-site stormwater management practices, which, in contrast to the centralised grey infrastructure, are often decentralised. Technologies such as green roofs, walls, trees, infiltration trenches, wetlands, rainwater harvesting and permeable pavements exhibit multi-functionality. They are capable of reducing stormwater runoff, retaining stormwater in the landscape, preserving the natural water balance, enhancing local climate resilience and also delivering ecological, social and community services. Creating multi-functional, multiple-benefit systems, however, also warrants multidisciplinary approaches involving landscape architects, urban planners, engineers and more to successfully create a balance between cities and nature. This Special Issue aims to bridge this multidisciplinary research gap by collecting recent challenges and opportunities from on-site systems up to the watershed scale.

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Experimenting Transition to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems – Identifying Constraints and Unintended Processes in a Tropical Highly Urbanized Watershed

10.20944/preprints202011.0680.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Fernando Chapa ◽

María Pérez ◽

Jochen Hack

Keyword(s):

Green Infrastructure ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Urban Systems ◽

Urban Water ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Urban Water System ◽

Local Decision

Green Infrastructure promotes the use of natural functions and processes as potential solutions to reduce negative effects derived from anthropocentric interventions such as urbanization. In cities of Latin America, for example, the need for more nature-sound infrastructure is evident due to its degree of urbanization and degradation of ecosystems, as well as the alteration of the local water cycle. In this study, an experimental approach for implementation of a prototype is presented. The experiment took place in a highly urbanized watershed located in the Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. Initially, understanding the characteristics of the study area at different scales was achieved by applying the Urban Water System Transition Framework to identify the existing level of development of the urban water infrastructure, and potential future stages. Subsequently, preferences related to spatial locations and technologies were identified from different local decision-makers. Those insights were adopted to identify a potential area for implementation of the prototype. The experiment consisted on an adaptation of the local sewer to act as a temporal reservoir to reduce the effects derived from rapid generation of stormwater runoff. Unexpected events, not considered initially in the design, are reported in this study as a means to identify necessary adaptations of the methodology. Our study shows from an experimental learning-experience that the relation between different actors advocating for such technologies influences the implementation and operation of non-conventional technologies. Furthermore, the perception of security associated to green spaces was found as a key driver to increase the willingness of residents to modify their urban environments. In consequence, those aspects should be carefully considered as factors of designs of engineering elements when they are related to complex socio-ecological urban systems.

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Emergy approach for the environmental sustainability assessment of the urban water system of Genoa (NW Italy)

The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability ◽

10.2495/sc060491 ◽

2006 ◽

Author(s):

P. Vassallo ◽

C. Paoli ◽

N. Bazzurro ◽

C. Masciulli ◽

M. Fabiano

Keyword(s):

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water System ◽

Nw Italy

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Developing sustainability criteria for urban infrastructure systems

Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering ◽

10.1139/l04-072 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 72-85 ◽

Cited By ~ 159

Author(s):

Halla R Sahely ◽

Christopher A Kennedy ◽

Barry J Adams

Keyword(s):

Energy Use ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Social Systems ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Infrastructure ◽

Urban Water ◽

Infrastructure Systems ◽

Criteria And Indicators ◽

Sustainability Criteria ◽

Urban Water System

Research in the area of sustainable urban infrastructure reflects the need to design and manage engineering systems in light of both environmental and socioeconomic considerations. A principal challenge for the engineer is the development of practical tools for measuring and enhancing the sustainability of urban infrastructure over its life cycle. The present study develops such a framework for the sustainability assessment of urban infrastructure systems. The framework focuses on key interactions and feedback mechanisms between infrastructure and surrounding environmental, economic, and social systems. One way of understanding and quantifying these interacting effects is through the use of sustainability criteria and indicators. A generic set of sustainability criteria and subcriteria and system-specific indicators is put forward. Selected indicators are quantified in a case study of the urban water system of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Key words: sustainable infrastructure, sustainability criteria and indicators, energy use, urban water systems.

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Sponge-city-based urban water system planning: a case study of water quality sensitive new area development in China

Blue-Green Systems ◽

10.2166/bgs.2021.022 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yijian Xu ◽

Yanhong Kong

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Water ◽

System Planning ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Sponge City ◽

Urban Water System ◽

Planning Methods

Abstract In recent years, sponge city has been booming in China aiming to alleviate urban flooding and improve water quality of natural water bodies. LID/green infrastructure has been gradually introduced to urban planning and urban water system planning. Efficient deployment of LID facilities is critical, which requires modeling and evaluation to develop rational planning. A case study of Guian New Area was presented to show the application of SWMM and the planning methods in sponge-city-based urban water system planning for water quality sensitive new areas development. Based on SWMM, two river network water quality models, the Dongmenqiao River and the Chetian River, were established through a systematic analysis of the case study area. Baseline scenarios were simulated and analyzed, and assimilation capacities of the two river basins were calculated by a trial-and-error method. Finally, two LID scenarios were carefully designed, simulated, and analyzed to support the planning. The simulations showed that in order to meet the strict water quality requirements in Guian New Area, large scales of LID facilities are required to cut down the rainfall-runoff pollution. Moreover, measures such as more frequent cleaning to reduce pollutants accumulation on the ground should also be taken to mitigate the maximum buildups of pollutants.

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Urban Water System Dynamics and Conflict Resolution

Urban Water Engineering and Management ◽

10.1201/b15857-11 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 427-461

Keyword(s):

Conflict Resolution ◽

System Dynamics ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water System

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Managing Apparent Loss and Real Loss from the Nexus Perspective Using System Dynamics

Water ◽

10.3390/w14020231 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 231

Author(s):

Seo Hyung Choi ◽

Bongwoo Shin ◽

Eunher Shin

Keyword(s):

System Dynamics ◽

Water Loss ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Water System ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Water Utilities ◽

Urban Water ◽

Water Losses ◽

Urban Water System ◽

Apparent Loss

When water utilities establish water loss control programs, they traditionally focus on apparent loss rather than real loss when considering economic feasibility in the water sector. There is an urgent need for new management approaches that can address complex relationships and ensure the sustainability of natural resources among different sectors. This study suggests a novel approach for water utilities to manage water losses from the water-energy (WE) Nexus perspective. The Nexus model uses system dynamics to simulate twelve scenarios with the differing status of water loss and energy intensities. This analysis identifies real loss as one of the main causes of resource waste and an essential factor from the Nexus perspective. It also demonstrates that the energy intensity of each process in the urban water system has a significant impact on resource use and transfer. The consumption and movement of resources can be quantified in each process involved in the urban water system to distinguish central and vulnerable processes. This study suggests that the Nexus approach can strongly contribute to quantifying the use and movement of resources between water and energy sectors and the strategic formulation of sustainable and systematic water loss management strategies from the Nexus perspective.

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Stress-Testing Framework for Urban Water Systems: A Source to Tap Approach for Stochastic Resilience Assessment

Water ◽

10.3390/w14020154 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 154

Author(s):

Dionysios Nikolopoulos ◽

Panagiotis Kossieris ◽

Ioannis Tsoukalas ◽

Christos Makropoulos

Keyword(s):

Water Distribution ◽

Stress Testing ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Water System ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Distribution Model ◽

Generation Model ◽

Urban Water ◽

Testing Framework ◽

Urban Water System

Optimizing the design and operation of an Urban Water System (UWS) faces significant challenges over its lifespan to account for the uncertainties of important stressors that arise from population growth rates, climate change factors, or shifting demand patterns. The analysis of a UWS’s performance across interdependent subsystems benefits from a multi-model approach where different designs are tested against a variety of metrics and in different times scales for each subsystem. In this work, we present a stress-testing framework for UWSs that assesses the system’s resilience, i.e., the degree to which a UWS continues to perform under progressively increasing disturbance (deviation from normal operating conditions). The framework is underpinned by a modeling chain that covers the entire water cycle, in a source-to-tap manner, coupling a water resources management model, a hydraulic water distribution model, and a water demand generation model. An additional stochastic simulation module enables the representation and modeling of uncertainty throughout the water cycle. We demonstrate the framework by “stress-testing” a synthetic UWS case study with an ensemble of scenarios whose parameters are stochastically changing within the UWS simulation timeframe and quantify the uncertainty in the estimation of the system’s resilience.

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