Potential of nature-based solutions for creating resourceful circular cities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günter Langergraber ◽  
Natasa Atanasova
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Waste Water Treatment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Farming

<p>The COST Action Circular City (CA17133; "Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city") aims to establish a network testing the hypothesis that a circular flow system that implements nature-based solutions (NBS) for managing nutrients and resources within the urban biosphere will lead to a resilient, sustainable and healthy urban environment. To date, most NBS are implemented serving only one single purpose. Adopting the concept of circular economy by combining different types of services and returning resources to the city, would increase the benefits gained for urban areas.</p><p>The Action's main output will be a guideline on combined NBS and circular economy possibilities within the urban environment. The work to achieve this will be carried out in five working groups (WGs):</p><ul><li>WG1 "Built environment" investigates the NBS - circular economy aspect on building and settlement level with the main focus on vegetated building materials and resources to be obtained from the corresponding NBS.</li> <li>WG2 "Sustainable urban water utilization" considers the implementation of a save and functional water cycle within the urban biosphere, defines available resources within the water flow, performs risk assessment on urban water and evaluates NBS for storm water management and waste water treatment.</li> <li>WG3 "Resource recovery" aims to transform implemented NBS for mitigation or treatment purposes to sources for a variety of resources to be harvested, used, reused and recycled.</li> <li>WG4 "Urban Farming" facilitates the implementation of urban farming with main purpose of food production within a city, but additionally paying close attention to other resources available from urban farming, usually considered waste.</li> <li>Last but not least, WG5 "Transformation tools" coordinates and leads the interdisciplinary activities between the WGs with the main aim to facilitate implementation of NBS in circular cities by 1) investigate performance-based assessment tools, 2) developing simplified tools and information for stakeholders, and 3) establish public relations strategies and approaches.</li> </ul><p>The contribution will present the results already achieved by the WGs by summarizing main results from the review papers each WG has produced.</p>

Wastewater Tariffs in Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marián García-Valiñas ◽  
Fernando Arbués
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Waste Water Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Waste ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Water Tariffs ◽  
Urban Water Cycle

Urban water cycle services culminate in wastewater services; that is, with the collection, transport, and treatment of wastewater. Wastewater management in Spain is not a straightforward issue. In fact, the European Commission has initiated infringement procedures against Spain for not fully complying with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. Yet, appropriate collection and treatment would require a large monetary investment that is increasingly difficult to carve out of existing government revenues. In this context, wastewater pricing emerges as a significant tool for achieving cost recovery and environmental protection aims. In Spain, local governments are responsible for providing wastewater services in urban areas and for setting the prices for those services. Spanish regional governments are in charge of specific pollution taxes on wastewater, which are included in the individual users’ water bills. Moreover, in most Spanish cities, the urban water tariffs for wastewater services (like water supply tariffs) are different for different users, representing the most common distinction between residential and nonresidential users. Additionally, specific tariffs are frequently imposed for different customer groups within both categories. In this respect, it is common to include pollution charges for industrial users, increasing their water prices according to the environmental impact of their wastewater discharges. The result is a very complex map of water-pricing and taxing in Spain.

scholarly journals Urban Green Space Arrangement for an Optimal Landscape Planning Strategy for Runoff Reduction

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 897
Author(s):  
Byungsun Yang ◽  
Dongkun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Urban Green Space ◽  
Space Distribution ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Stormwater Treatment ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Water Cycle

Increased impervious surfaces due to urbanization have reduced evaporation and infiltration into the soil compared with existing natural water cycle systems, which causes various problems, such as urban floods, landslides, and deterioration of water quality. To effectively solve the urban water cycle issue, green infrastructure using urban green space has emerged to reduce runoff and increase evaporation. It has the advantage of restoring the water cycle system of urban areas by complementing the failure of conventional stormwater treatment systems. However, urban areas under high-density development have limited green space for stormwater treatment. Hence, it is necessary to efficiently utilize street trees and small green spaces to improve the urban water cycle through green space. In this study, we simulated different green space distribution scenarios in the virtual domain to find the optimal strategy of green space planning. Compared to clustered scenarios, dispersed green space distribution scenarios and placing green space downstream were more effective in reducing the runoff amount. The paper provides insights into the considerations for determining green space spatial plan and zoning regulations for stormwater treatment by green infrastructure.

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

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 1838-1846 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT IN IMPLEMENTING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN ROMANIA

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Marcela Danu ◽  
Elena Nechita ◽  
Liliana Rozemarie Manea
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Municipal Waste ◽  
Recycling Rate ◽  
Consumption Expenditure ◽  
Low Level

In the present paper we analyzed the position of the Romanian urban environment in the process of implementing the circular economy, with the correlations and interdependences between the phenomena and demo-economic processes and the forms for the application of the circular economy. The poor implementation of the circular economy in the urban areas in Romania is conditioned by the low level of income, the expenditure, the consumption expenditure and the degree of low urbanization, the low level of labour productivity, etc., and by the psychology of the decision makers that is still not adjusted to the requirement to make the best choices for sustainable development of the economic system. We have highlighted the correlations between: the municipal waste recycling rate and the resource productivity in Romania; the total income of the population in the urban areas of residence in Romania and the waste recycling rate; the total average expenditure per person in urban areas and the municipal waste recycling rate; the monthly average consumption expenditure per person, in urban areas and municipal waste recycling rate; the employed population rate in urban areas and the municipal waste recycling rate; the urban population living in the 41 counties of Romania and Bucharest and the municipal waste recycling rate.

scholarly journals An Urban Water Simulation Model for the Design, Testing and Economic Viability Assessment of Distributed Water Management Systems for a Circular Economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
A. Liakopoulou ◽  
C. Makropoulos ◽  
D. Nikolopoulos ◽  
K. Monokrousou ◽  
G. Karakatsanis
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Economic Viability ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Plant Nursery ◽  
Water Simulation ◽  
The Eu

The concept of Circular Economy, although not entirely new, has in recent years gained traction due to growing concern with regards to the Earth’s natural reserves. In this context, Sewer Mining, a wastewater management method based on extracting wastewater from local sewers for reuse applications, presents an interesting option that lies in the interplay between reuse at a household scale and centralized reuse at a wastewater treatment plant. As part of the EU-funded program NextGenWater, a new unit is being prepared for operation in Athens’s Plant Nursery, in Goudi. This paper examines the water flow within the proposed installation, using the Urban Water Optioneering Tool (UWOT). Further research is focused on the economic viability of Sewer Mining and the proposed investment. The results produced are promising regarding Sewer Mining’s capabilities and benefits, as well as its future prospects, in the hopes that this technology can provide an attractive alternative to conventional water sources within the urban water cycle.

The Urban Water Cycle

2010 ◽  
pp. 31-43
Author(s):  
Les Dawes ◽  
Jim Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Wastewater Infrastructure ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Sustainable Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Resources

The increasing scarcity of water in the world, along with rapid population increase in urban areas, gives reason for concern and highlights the need for integrating water and wastewater management practices. The uncontrolled growth in urban areas has made planning, management and expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure systems very difficult and expensive. In order to achieve sustainable wastewater treatment and promote the conservation of water and nutrient resources, this chapter advocates the need for a closed-loop treatment system approach, and the transformation of the traditional linear treatment systems into integrated cyclical treatment systems. The recent increased understanding of integrated resource management and a shift towards sustainable management and planning of water and wastewater infrastructure are also discussed.

Assessment of the role of green infrastructure in sustainable urban water management

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ágnes Gulyás ◽  
Ákos Csete
Keyword(s):  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Water Management ◽  
Sustainable Urban Water Management ◽  
Harvesting Systems

<p>Due to the climate change caused uncertainty, the urban areas face new challenges. In addition to mitigating the negative effects, it is important the developments need to implemented in a sustainable manner. The problem of urban areas is substantial on account of their growing spatial size and population, furthermore the inadequate infrastructure. Urban districts with inadequate infrastructure can be a major source of water pollution, but also have a significant impact on the well-being of the citizens. In modern urban planning the sustainable urban water management based on the usage of green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is an important tool to make urban water cycle sustainable by linking artificial, engineered elements (gray infrastructure) with the services provided by vegetation. Green infrastructure can help to make the urban water cycle sustainable in many ways. Its primary role is the mitigating effect, such as reducing and retaining surface runoff with the process of interception and evaporation. Due to the complex structure of vegetation, it can also play an important role in infiltration (by root system), thus also reducing surface runoff.</p><p>Providing adequate data on the role of green infrastructure <strong>–</strong> even on a city-wide scale <strong>–</strong> can help decision makers. To accomplish this, hydrological models can play an important role. If these models (i-Tree Hydro) based on appropriate meteorological and land cover data, they can help to estimate the runoff and infiltration of study areas and the reducing effect of vegetation (interception, evaporation). In our study, we attempted to compare two significantly different urban district based on these aspects and to analyze the differences. Analyzes in the two study areas of Szeged (Hungary) all suggest the vegetation can significantly contribute to the reduction of surface runoff. Differences between these urban districts can be quantified so these data can serve as a basis for decision making in urban planning processes.</p><p>As another element of our research, we analyzed the relationship between surface runoff and infiltration in modeling study (SWMM) of rainwater harvesting systems in public institutions (kindergartens). In this part of the research, besides the efficiency of the rainwater harvesting systems, we got data about the extent of surface runoff, evaporation and infiltration on yard of kindergartens.</p>

A decision support framework for sustainable urban water planning and management in new urban areas

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 451-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.K. Makropoulos ◽  
M. Morley ◽  
F.A. Memon ◽  
D. Butler ◽  
D. Savic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Decision Support Tools ◽  
Decision Support Framework ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Initial Results

The paper discusses issues of decision support within the context of sustainable development and more specifically sustainable water cycle management to provide a context and a rationale for the decision support approach adopted within an on-going UK EPSRC-funded project, WaND. The paper proposes a set-up for a flexible, upgradeable, efficient and modular decision support framework and associated tools. Furthermore, the paper presents early prototypes of three decision support tools developed within the proposed framework including initial results for one of them.

scholarly journals Reusing Treated Waste-Water from a Circular Economy Perspective—The Case of the Real Acequia de Moncada in Valencia (Spain)

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joep Hagenvoort ◽  
Mar Ortega-Reig ◽  
Salut Botella ◽  
Carla García ◽  
Ana de Luis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Water ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Waste Water Treatment ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Water Treatment Plant ◽  
Waste Water Treatment Plant ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
The Real ◽  
Treated Effluent

One of the most important challenges that agriculture faces is sustainable water management and its adaptation to climate change. This adaptation is more important in regions where recurrent draughts and overexploitation of water resources happen. However, historical irrigation systems, such as the Real Acequia de Moncada (RAM) in Valencia, have found innovative approaches to deal with this phenomenon. This paper analyzes the case of Massamagrell and Puçol, which reused the treated waste-water of the closest waste-water treatment plant (WWTP). The study focused from a circular economy perspective on the technological, agronomical, and social implications of this decision. Results show that there are clear benefits for both farmers and WWTP managers. On the one hand, additional nutrients and regularity in their water supply benefit farmers. On the other, WWTP managers can reuse the treated effluent in the system, contributing to the closure of the water cycle and avoiding pumping the treated water into the sea. However, more detailed information and coordination is needed among the different stakeholders. Questions regarding the illegal connection of waste pipes with the traditional irrigation or the payment of pumping costs for reuse have gone unanswered, and there is a need for better reflection from all stakeholders.

Management of Water Cycle: An Approach to Urban Ecology

1992 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Ripl
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Balance Sheet ◽  
River System ◽  
Soil Restoration ◽  
Environmental Damage

Abstract Densely populated urban areas, which have developed over the last century, depend heavily on centralized water supply, sewage treatment plants, and hydroelectric or thermal power generation with vast demand of cooling water. Considerable areas have been drained or sealed, and the short-circuited water cycle has been distorted. Large rivers have been converted to shipping canals with the permanent risk of accidental pollution. Technical means such as sewage treatment, air filters, emission control and lake and soil restoration measures have contributed to correct the environmental damage. However, a balance sheet for irreversible matter losses (mainly base cation charges) from the urbanized areas and the surrounding landscape into the sea shows ever-increasing trends. These losses are destabilizing the ecosystems. In this paper, management of the water cycle in urban areas, together with the coupled matter cycles, is discussed. Particular reference is given to Metropolitan Berlin, with a network of shipping canals, which move biologically treated waste, containing base cations and nutrients to the surrounding rural areas. This could create manageable productive wetlands and re-establish soil fertility. At the same time, the natural cooling system close to the urban areas will be improved by providing more areas with permanent vegetation. In addition, reduction of the present large oscillations of the groundwater table, resulting from groundwater pumping and its recharge with less polluted surface water, is contemplated. The widely used shoreline infiltration of the Havel River should then be eliminated and the severe damage of the littoral vegetation in large sections of the Havel River system be avoided.

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