Towards Sustainable Cities and Society: Addressing the Water Security Challenge

 Towards Sustainable Cities and Society: Addressing the Water Security Challenge
Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society

This special issues addresses the water security challenges critical to achieve sustainable cities and therefore advancing SDG 6 clean water and sanitation and SDG 11.

Table of contents

Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 29, 1 February 2017
Effective communication to citizens is of prime importance during public health crises involving water. This paper takes a sequential mixed method approach to the problem of communicating drinking water risks prevention of exposure to health risks in cities.
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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 29, 1 February 2017

The expansion and operation of water supply systems under growing demands, hydrologic variability, and water scarcity requires strategic decisions on supply sources for reducing and improving reliability and flexibility. The design and operation of such supply portfolio merits decisions of what and when to expand, and how much of each source to use considering interest rates, economies of scale and hydrologic variability.

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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 28, 1 January 2017

Disasters impacts on urban environment are the result of interactions among natural and human systems, which are intimately linked each other. What is more, cities are directly dependent on infrastructures providing essential services (Lifeline Systems, LS). The operation of LS in ordinary conditions as well as after disasters is crucial. Among the LS, drinking water supply deserves a critical role for citizens. The present work summarizes some preliminary activities related to an ongoing EU funded research project.

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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 28, 1 January 2017

The sustainability of water resources depends on the dynamic interactions among the environmental, technological, and social characteristics of the water system and local population. These interactions can cause supply-demand imbalances at diverse temporal scales, and the response of consumers to water use regulations impacts future water availability. This research develops a dynamic modeling approach to simulate supply-demand dynamics using an agent-based modeling framework that couple models of consumers and utility managers with water system models.

Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 28, 1 January 2017
Urban source separation infrastructure systems have a promising potential for a more sustainable management of household food waste and wastewaters. A renewed trend of larger implementations of pilot areas with such systems is currently emerging in Northern Europe. This study investigates the drivers behind the decision of stakeholders to implement source separation systems as well as the importance of the previously existing pilot areas in the decision-making process. By means of semi-structured expert interviews, five areas with source separation were characterized and compared.
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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 28, 1 January 2017

This paper discusses the CO2 footprint of California's drought during 2012–2014. We show that California drought significantly increased CO2 emissions of the energy sector by around 22 million metric tons, indicating 33% increase in the annual CO2 emissions compared to pre-drought conditions. We argue that CO2 emission of climate extremes deserve more attention, because their cumulative impacts on CO2 emissions are staggering. Most countries, including the United States, do not have a comprehensive a nationwide energy-water plan to minimize their CO2 emissions.

Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 28, 1 January 2017
An international review of stormwater regulation and practices, especially for low-exposure, landscape irrigation schemes in urban environments, was undertaken with a view to identifying what could be used in Alberta, Canada. A general lack of clear guidance and regulation to manage stormwater quality and potential public health risks was identified, which could be hindering the uptake of stormwater schemes generally.
Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016
Ensuring future water security requires broad community support for changes in policy, practice, and technology, such as those involved in delivering alternative water schemes. Building community support for alternative water sources may involve a suite of engagement activities, ranging from information campaigns, through to grassroots and participatory approaches. There is increasing recognition that ‘social capital’—the degree of social connectedness, trust, and shared values within a community—is important for building support for pro-environmental policies.
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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) infrastructure are conventionally designed based on historical climate data. Yet, variability in rainfall intensities and patterns caused by climate change have a significant impact on the performance of an urban drainage system. Although rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a potential solution to manage stormwater in urban areas, its benefits in mitigating the climate change impacts on combined sewer networks have not been assessed yet.

Models of university-utility collaboration.
Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016
In the face of intensifying stresses such as climate change, rapid urban population growth, land use change, and public concern with rates and use restrictions, water management is becoming increasingly complex in the cities of the American West. One strategy to improve water management practices in this changing social-ecological context is to develop collaborative relationships that facilitate the engagement of multiple stakeholders at multiple scales.
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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

Increases in water treatment technology have made water recycling a viable engineering solution to water supply limitations. In spite of this, such water recycling schemes have often been halted by lack of public acceptance. Previous studies have captured the public's attitudes regarding planned reuse schemes, but here we focus on unplanned reuse (i.e. de facto reuse), present in many cities across the U.S.

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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

The study of resilience in the face of large physical and climatic change has emerged as an important area of research. But while the physical variables under study are easily identified, the notion of resilience itself remains nebulous. In recent years, it has been taken to mean both mitigation and adaptation, concepts that are often used in interchangeably or in conjunction (sometimes hyphenated as “adaptation-mitigation”).

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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

Shortages of freshwater have become a serious issue in many regions around the world, partly due to rapid urbanisation and climate change. Sustainable city development should consider minimising water use by people living in cities and urban areas. The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of water-use behaviour and to reliably predict water use. We collected appropriate data of daily water use, meteorological parameters, and socioeconomic factors for the City of Brossard in Quebec, Canada, and analysed these data using multiple regression techniques.

Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016
The detection of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), known as emerging contaminants (ECs), in the environment has attracted growing concern due to their toxicity and potential hazard to the ecosystems and humans. These contaminants are consumed at high quantities worldwide and they are released deliberately or accidentally into the water resources. The conventional treatment technologies that use biological processes cannot effectively remove these contaminants.
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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

This paper uses ‘Medieval’ drought conditions from the 12th Century to simulate the implications of severe and persistent drought for the future of water resource management in metropolitan Phoenix, one of the largest and fastest growing urban areas in the southwestern USA. WaterSim 5, an anticipatory water policy and planning model, was used to explore groundwater sustainability outcomes for mega-drought conditions across a range of policies, including population growth management, water conservation, water banking, direct reuse of RO reclaimed water, and water augmentation.

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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

Water harvesting is an ancient practice that has been used, mainly in dry environments, to increase efficiency of water collection and use by directing water from a large natural watershed or man-made collection surface into a small basin where the water can be stored in underground reservoirs or to be used directly for irrigation or domestic uses. In modern era water harvesting has been neglected, particularly at the developed countries, due to the technological achievements in the fields of water production and transport.

Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016
London's ability to remain a world-leading city in an increasingly globalised economy is dependent on it being an efficient, low-risk place to do business and a desirable place to live. However, increasing climate risk from flooding, overheating and water scarcity threatens this, creating the need for adaptation. An adaption pathway describes a structured sequence of adaptation decisions that are designed to manage climate risk in a wide range of possible future conditions.
Elsevier, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016
This study sought to assess the relationship between regulatory and educational approaches to nutrient management and homeowner behaviors, perceptions, and knowledge of best management practices (BMPs). Fertilizers, and pesticides applied in excess by homeowners and landscapers can impair stormwater ponds and cause nuisance algae blooms, eutrophication and fish kills. They can also affect water quality in downstream creeks, and bays.
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Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 27, 1 November 2016

Water reuse networks have been emerging globally for the last 50 years. This article reviews the economic, social and environmental issues related to implementing water reuse networks in cities. This is reflecting the fact that globally many cities are categorised as water scarce areas, where there is growing imbalance between water demand and availability. In this sense, there is a need for sustainable water supply solutions in the imminent future to provide and maintain service reliability, particularly in the face of climate change.