Urban water systems for sustainable development

Abstract

An urban water system is an interface between water in thenatural environment and an urban community. In this paper, how to direct the functioning of the urban water system for sustainable development was examined in four studies. The first two studies focused on challenges to sustainable development; population growth and climate change. A survey of Grand River basin municipalities established that urban community growth is indeed an issue. Major municipalities are expected to grow by 70% - 86% between 1991 and 2041. A study of the effect of climate change in the Grand River basin investigated possible seasonal changes in river flows, with implicationsfor water supply and wastewater assimilation. The study indicated that river flows in fall and early winter could be lower by 28% - 47%. Two studies were concerned with planning with these challenges in mind. One case study of water supply, water demandmanagement, andwastewater treatment in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo identified several areas where integration of these issues would result in improved planning. The fourth study involved thedevelopment of acomputer model for urban water use forecasting which incorporates the effect of price elasticity of demand. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.