Rainwater harvesting in urban areas: how can foreign experiences enhance the French approach?

Since the end of the 1990s, rainwater harvesting (RWH) has been growing in France. A first regulatory framework, constituted mainly by an Order of 21 August, 2008, helped to strengthen this practice, but also introduced some limitations to the development of RWH. Considering the growing social demand and possible issues for water resources, it is likely that this first regulatory framework will evolve. In order to anticipate these changes, foreign case studies may be very instructive. Based on a detailed analysis of eight countries in all continents (Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, Australia and Uganda), this paper draws up an international overview of RWH allowing French practices to be put into perspective. Beyond the specific and sensitive differences, the experience of these countries gives useful lessons for the French case. Comparisons have been drawn on different topics: uses of rainwater, quality standards, regulatory tools and RWH development factors. RWH, especially, in urban areas appears in France as an isolated topic. It is necessary in the future to better integrate it into overall urban water management approaches.

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Innovative Methods in Sustainable Urban Development and Water Management

TEM Journal ◽

10.18421/tem102-33 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 757-765

Author(s):

Ágnes Agócsová ◽

Zuzana Chodasová

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Sustainable Urban Development ◽

Living Standard ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Innovative Methods ◽

Sustainable Urban Water Management

Innovative methods presently affect all sectors of the national economy contributing to the progress and overall development of the economy, and the living standard worldwide. Innovations are equally necessary both in the private and in public sectors therefore, the original innovative ideas in each sector are greatly accepted. Similar concept is significant for companies dealing with urban water management. New methods are available mainly for capturing and reusing of rainwater in urban areas which leads to a positive impact on sustainable urban water management regarding today's water scarcity problems. This article describes some of the most popular innovative methods and examples used for rainwater harvesting, recycling and reuse. As a result, the evaluation of the most suitable water harvesting techniques related to sustainable water management, and their application in the city of Brno in Czech Republic are described.

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Urban-Water Harmony model to evaluate the urban water management

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2014.272 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 70 (11) ◽

pp. 1774-1781 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yifan Ding ◽

Deshan Tang ◽

Yuhang Wei ◽

Sun Yin

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Resources ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Large Scale ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Water Environment ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management

Water resources in many urban areas are under enormous stress due to large-scale urban expansion and population explosion. The decision-makers are often faced with the dilemma of either maintaining high economic growth or protecting water resources and the environment. Simple criteria of water supply and drainage do not reflect the requirement of integrated urban water management. The Urban-Water Harmony (UWH) model is based on the concept of harmony and offers a more integrated approach to urban water management. This model calculates four dimensions, namely urban development, urban water services, water–society coordination, and water environment coordination. And the Analytic Hierarchy Process has been used to determine the indices weights. We applied the UWH model to Beijing, China for an 11-year assessment. Our findings show that, despite the severe stress inherent in rapid development and water shortage, the urban water relationship of Beijing is generally evolving in a positive way. The social–economic factors such as the water recycling technologies contribute a lot to this change. The UWH evaluation can provide a reasonable analysis approach to combine various urban and water indices to produce an integrated and comparable evaluation index. This, in turn, enables more effective water management in decision-making processes.

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How Does Digitization Succeed in the Municipal Water Sector? The WaterExe4.0 Meta-Study Identifies Barriers as well as Success Factors, and Reveals Expectations for the Future

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14227709 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (22) ◽

pp. 7709

Author(s):

Günter Müller-Czygan ◽

Viktoriya Tarasyuk ◽

Christian Wagner ◽

Manuela Wimmer

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Management ◽

Water Resources ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Digital Systems ◽

Urban Water ◽

Water Industry ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

The Future ◽

German Speaking

Water is increasingly taking center stage when it comes to coping with climate change. Especially in urban areas, negative consequences from heavy rainfall events and prolonged dry periods are rising worldwide. In the past, the various tasks of urban water management were performed by different departments that often did not cooperate with each other (water supply, wastewater disposal, green space irrigation, etc.), as the required water supply was not a question of available water volumes. This is already changing with climate change, in some cases even dramatically. More and more, it is necessary to consider how to distribute available water resources in urban areas, especially during dry periods, since wastewater treatment is also becoming more complex and costly. In the future, urban water management will examine water use in terms of its various objectives, and will need to provide alternative water resources for these different purposes (groundwater, river water, storm water, treated wastewater, etc.). The necessary technological interconnection requires intelligent digital systems. Furthermore, the water industry must also play its role in global CO2 reduction and make its procedural treatment processes more efficient; this will also only succeed with adequate digital systems. Although digitization has experienced an enormous surge in development over the last five years and numerous solutions are available to address the challenges described previously, there is still a large gap between the scope of offerings and their implementation. Researchers at Hof University of Applied Sciences have investigated the reasons for this imbalance as part of WaterExe4.0, the first meta-study on digitization in the German-speaking water industry, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Only 11% of roughly 700 identified products, projects and studies relate to real applications. For example, the surveyed experts of the water sector stated that everyday problems are considered too little or hardly at all in new solutions, which greatly overburdens users. Furthermore, they see no adequate possibility for a systematic analysis of new ideas to identify significant obstacles and to find the best way to start and implement a digitization project. The results from four methodologically different sub-surveys (literature and market research, survey, expert interviews and workshops) provide a reliable overview of the current situation in the German-speaking water industry and its expectations for the future. The results are also transferable to other countries.

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Community Involvement in Urban Water Management: The N Park Resort Condominium Rainfall Harvesting and Water Saving Project in Penang, Malaysia

Populasi ◽

10.22146/jp.67206 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 93

Author(s):

Ngai Weng Chan ◽

Jabil Mapjabil ◽

Narimah Samat ◽

Mou Leong Tan ◽

Aminuddin Ab Ghani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Private Sector ◽

Community Involvement ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

High Water ◽

Water Saving ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Average Water ◽

Monetary Savings

Community engagement and involvement is vital for the success of urban water management. However, poor public engagement, cheap water tariffs, apathetic attitude and lack of public interest are identified as the main reasons for high water wastage in Penang State, Malaysia. The N Park Resort Condominium rainfall harvesting and water saving project in Penang, Malaysia is a prime example of successful urban water management involving government, private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities. The N-Park condominium consisting of 965 units is the first condominium in the country to initiate a community water- saving project. Started in August 2009 and completed in December 2010, the project is jointly implemented by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) Malaysia (Government), Water Watch Penang (WWP) (NGO), N-Park Management Corporation (NPMC)(Community) and the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PWSC). The methodology involved installation of a rainwater harvesting system, installation of water-saving devices and a water-saving campaign. Results of the project showed that the rainwater harvesting system was most successful as the rainwater harvested was used for gardening, washing common areas and toilets, flushing toilets, and washing vehicles. The installation of water-saving devices was also successful as it resulted in substantial water savings. Results showed reduced total water usage from 8 to 25 % between September 2009 to March 2010. The greatest reduction by 50 % was between May and July 2011, followed by 47.5 % in January 2011. During the time of the project, the amount of water saved was equivalent to RM1,3971 in monetary savings per month. Over a year, this is translated to a savings of 16,818 m3 of water or the equivalent of RM 16,782. More recently, between February 2020 and April 2021, the average water saved was 5852 m3 per month or averaging 48.77 % per month, equivalent to about RM34,255. Results also showed enhanced water awareness and better relationships between neighbours. Overall, this project proved that collaboration between government-private sector-NGOs is workable, and the project can be replicated nation-wide in apartments, hotels, factories, universities, and schools.

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A System Innovation-Oriented Integration of Management Information Systems in Urban Water Management

Handbook of Research on Hydroinformatics ◽

10.4018/978-1-61520-907-1.ch019 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 389-405 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tagelsir Mohamed Gasmelseid

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Capacity Building ◽

Water System ◽

System Innovation ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Changing Environment ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Management Processes ◽

Management Approaches

The scarcity of water resources exhibited in different parts of the world and the dysfunctional consequences associated with urban water processes and services are encouraging countries to adopt transformative innovative thinking. The movement from the “visions” of urban water management to ‘actions” demands more emphasis on the development of relevant platforms and frameworks that enable effective transitions and sustainability of actions and good practices. Within the context of a changing environment, urban water management processes need to be “shifted” from the “conventional” approach to a wider context capable of addressing the growing urban water management lock-ins. Complexities in urban water management originate from the difficulty of maintaining sector-based balances (mainly supply-demand balances) governing internal functionality as well as from the intensity and uncertainty of the dynamics of both the entire water system and the wide range of change agents interacting in its external environment. Such lock-ins are affecting the capacity of urban water managers and policy makers to develop suitable strategies and implementation pathways and improve the overall resource utilization and service provision capacity and efficiency. While conventional approaches continued to be widely used to address such lock-ins, little improvement tend to be gained with regards to the dynamics of the “problem domain” and the feasibility of “solution spaces”. Over years, emphasis continued to be on advocating “nesting” urban water management processes into the context of integrated water management, but without ensuring the availability of relevant change management strategies, tools and agents. Issues relating to water governance, decentralization of water management processes and authorities, involvement of stakeholders, development and adoption of appropriate information platform, and capacity building are moving to the front line agenda of urban water managers and policy makers. In the absence of relevant tools and integrated frameworks, the capacity of conventional urban water management approaches to address such a new context remains questionable. The complexity exhibited across the entire urban water subsystem (both in scale and magnitude) calls for not only the development on new or modified “program sets” but also transformed and enriched ‘mind sets”. Such migration can be envisioned through the adoption of system thinking, innovation and strategic niche management. This will improve the capacity of the overall urban management “sub-system’ to orchestrate its functionalities with the overall water system using a holistic approach. This contribution focuses on the imperativeness of capacity building in urban water management in a changing environment and the importance of developing sustainability framework and approach in accordance with the principles of system innovation and thinking.

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Institutional capacity and policy options for integrated urban water management: a Singapore case study

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2010.073 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 53-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Deh Chien Chen ◽

Cedo Maksimovic ◽

Nikolaos Voulvoulis

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

World Health ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Mode Water ◽

Services Delivery ◽

Integrated Urban Water Management

Singapore is an exemplary model of integrated water management, according to the World Health Organization, and its experiences can be shared with others. Water security is not just the government's responsibility but has become everyone's business. Singapore has been selected as a case study for integrated urban water management (IUWM), and the methodologies used in Singapore, a developed city state, may be applicable elsewhere. An integrated regulatory framework, sound policies to control and implement programmes, public-private partnership in water services delivery, and stakeholder participation at all levels are necessary to make integrated water resource management successful. This paper demonstrates how Singapore has successfully turned its vulnerability with regard to water into a strength. Singapore can achieve greater sustainability if it promotes rooftop rainwater harvesting as a decentralized, dual-mode water supply system for non-potable use.

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Green infrastructure for flood-risk management in Dar es Salaam and Copenhagen: exploring the potential for transitions towards sustainable urban water management

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2014.047 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 126-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

P. Mguni ◽

L. Herslund ◽

M. B. Jensen

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Dar Es Salaam ◽

Flood Risk Management ◽

Urban Drainage ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Sewer Systems ◽

Sustainable Urban Water Management

The risk of flooding in urban areas could be better approached by complementing conventional sewer systems with sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) for storm-water management. This may be the case for developing world cities like Dar es Salaam with incomplete sewer services, as well as cities like Copenhagen with fully developed sewer systems. This paper explores some theories relevant to understanding how the implementation of SUDS may be one option for supporting a transition towards sustainable urban water management (SUWM). Using interviews, document analysis and observation, a comparison of the opportunities and barriers to the implementation of SUDS in Dar es Salaam and Copenhagen is presented. The results indicate that a bottom-up approach in Dar es Salaam is important, with the community level taking the lead, while in Copenhagen the top-down approach currently employed is promising. The ability of the institutional frameworks of both cities to support the implementation of SUDS is also discussed.

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Delivering sustainable urban water management: a review of the hurdles we face

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2009.028 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 59 (5) ◽

pp. 839-846 ◽

Cited By ~ 188

Author(s):

R. R. Brown ◽

M. A. Farrelly

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Community Resources ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Barriers To Change ◽

Sustainable Urban Water Management ◽

Management Approaches

Sustainable urban water management (SUWM) requires an integrated, adaptive, coordinated and participatory approach. Current urban water policies are beginning to reflect this understanding yet the rhetoric is often not translated to implementation. Despite the ‘new’ philosophy, urban water management remains a complex and fragmented area relying on traditional, technical, linear management approaches. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the barriers to change, there has been little systematic review of what constitutes the scope of such barriers and how these should be addressed to advance SUWM. To better understand why implementation fails to occur beyond ad hoc project interventions, an extensive literature review of observed and studied barriers was conducted. Drawing on local, national and international literature from the field of integrated urban water management and other similar fields, 53 studies were assessed, resulting in a typology of 12 barrier types. The analysis revealed the barriers are largely socio-institutional rather than technical, reflecting issues related to community, resources, responsibility, knowledge, vision, commitment and coordination. Furthermore, the meta-analysis demonstrated a paucity of targeted strategies for overcoming the stated institutional barriers. Evaluation of the typology in relation to capacity building suggests that these systemic issues require a sophisticated programme of change that focuses on fostering social capital, inter-sectoral professional development, and inter-organisational coordination.

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The application of a Web-geographic information system for improving urban water cycle modelling

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2014.327 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 70 (11) ◽

pp. 1838-1846 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

M. Mair ◽

C. Mikovits ◽

M. Sengthaler ◽

M. Schöpf ◽

H. Kinzel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Urban Areas ◽

High Performance ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Research Areas ◽

Desktop Computers ◽

High Knowledge ◽

The Impact

Research in urban water management has experienced a transition from traditional model applications to modelling water cycles as an integrated part of urban areas. This includes the interlinking of models of many research areas (e.g. urban development, socio-economy, urban water management). The integration and simulation is realized in newly developed frameworks (e.g. DynaMind and OpenMI) and often assumes a high knowledge in programming. This work presents a Web based urban water management modelling platform which simplifies the setup and usage of complex integrated models. The platform is demonstrated with a small application example on a case study within the Alpine region. The used model is a DynaMind model benchmarking the impact of newly connected catchments on the flooding behaviour of an existing combined sewer system. As a result the workflow of the user within a Web browser is demonstrated and benchmark results are shown. The presented platform hides implementation specific aspects behind Web services based technologies such that the user can focus on his main aim, which is urban water management modelling and benchmarking. Moreover, this platform offers a centralized data management, automatic software updates and access to high performance computers accessible with desktop computers and mobile devices.

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A conceptual framework for addressing complexity and unfolding transition dynamics when developing sustainable adaption strategies in urban water management

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2012.442 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 66 (11) ◽

pp. 2393-2401 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

C. F. Fratini ◽

M. Elle ◽

M. B. Jensen ◽

P. S. Mikkelsen

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Management ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Urban Areas ◽

System Optimization ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Management ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Transition

To achieve a successful and sustainable adaptation to climate change we need to transform the way we think about change. Much water management research has focused on technical innovation with a range of new solutions developed to achieve a ‘more sustainable and integrated urban water management cycle’. But Danish municipalities and utility companies are struggling to bring such solutions into practice. ‘Green infrastructure’, for example, requires the consideration of a larger range of aspects related to the urban context than the traditional urban water system optimization. There is the need for standardized methods and guidelines to organize transdisciplinary processes where different types of knowledge and perspectives are taken into account. On the basis of the macro–meso–micro pattern inspired by complexity science and transition theory, we developed a conceptual framework to organize processes addressing the complexity characterizing urban water management in the context of climate change. In this paper the framework is used to organize a research process aiming at understanding and unfolding urban dynamics for sustainable transition. The final goal is to enable local authorities and utilities to create the basis for managing and catalysing the technical and organizational innovation necessary for a sustainable transition towards climate change adaptation in urban areas.

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