The Water Sensitive City

This book sets out apath for a sustainable relationship between cities and water and brings together theory, practical applicationand case studies.Water is essential forlife but is taken for granted. It's now becoming clear that the Victorianapproach to urban water will not solve problems associated with growingpopulation, migration of people to cities and climate change.The current use of waterby cities is unsustainable. Cities in particular need to change the existinglinear model of water consumption and use to a more circular one in order tosurvive. Aquifers all over the world, including some that have taken millionsof years to form, are predicted to dry up in the coming decades. Reservoirslike Lake Mead near Las Vegas, once believed to have permanently solved watersupply problems, are falling to dangerously low levels.In The Water Sensitive City, the author advocates a more thoughtful approachto urban water management, including for example, exponents of the WaterSensitive Urban Design (WSUD) approach in Australia and Low Impact Developmentin the US.This new approachinvolves reducing water consumption, harvesting rainwater, recycling rainwaterand adopting Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) where surface water is notsent straight to drains but is intercepted by features like green roofs, raingardens, swales and ponds. Thisconserves water, reduces flooding, cleans water - and therefore streams, riversand seas and is compatible with the greener city and green infrastructureagendas, developed by policy makers worldwide to make cities more liveable.Urban water managementcan no longer be left to the specialists; it must be addressed by today's designers(engineers, architects and landscape architects); urban planners and managers; aswell as by environmental managers and policymakers.