Publisher Description

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.

Back Cover

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.

Flap

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.

Author Biography

Gary Grant is a Chartered Environmentalist, Member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, an Academician at the Academy of Urbanism, Member of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on Biodiversity, thesis supervisor at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, Chair of the Judges of the Integrated Habitats Design Competition and Director of the Green Roof Consultancy Ltd. After graduating from Nottingham University in 1980 with a degree in Biology, he worked for the London Wildlife Trust (LWT), campaigning for and managing urban wildspace. He conceived the London Wildlife Garden Centre which won a RIBA/Times Award. Later he led the Wildlife in Docklands Project, a joint venture between the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and LWT, which promoted nature as part of the redevelopment of London's Docklands. In the early 1990s he participated in the Royal Fine Art Commission's River Thames Study and worked on the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Garden. From the early 1990s he has designed green roofs, including the CUE Building at the Horniman Museum. Based in Hong Kong during the much of the 1990s, he worked on housing, tourism and infrastructure projects. In 2003, Gary wrote English Nature's Research Report on green roofs and followed that in 2006 with Green Roofs and Facades published by BRE Press. From 2006 to 2009 he was a Director of EDAW and then AECOM Design + Planning, where he worked on large scale planning projects including the London 2012 Olympic Park, the Bedford Valley River Park, the Whitehill-Bordon Eco Town, Education City, Qatar and Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi.

Table of Contents

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 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 HeatIsland Effect 70 Smog 70 Solving the AirPollution 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 HeatRelated 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 WaterSensitive City 87 Impacts and Responsibilities 88 Limits 88 CityScale 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. NearNatural Drainage 105 RainGarden 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 LoadBearing 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 WaterSensitive 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 BlueGreen 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

Long Description

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.

Details