Clean Water, Green Infrastructure

Handbook on Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure is well recognized as providing multiple functions and delivering a wide range of benefits. The potential benefits span the environmental, economic and socio-cultural spheres; from reducing flood risk (and the associated costs of flood damage) and cooling high urban temperatures (see Chapter 2), to providing natural areas for wildlife (see Chapter 5), recreation and local amenity (see Chapter 1). Many definitions of green infrastructure also include considerations of blue infrastructure, but this chapter will focus the lens more specifically in this direction. In the context of urban water management, green infrastructure can refer to a process, e.g. using vegetation and soil to manage rainwater at the site as it falls, or to 'an approach that communities can choose to maintain healthy waters, provide multiple environmental benefits and support sustainable communities' (EPA, 2012). We can thus use the 'green' to help us in dealing with a number of contemporary problems with water, the 'blue', hence the phrase 'blue-green infrastructure'. Water is essential to society and to human life; too much, too little or too poor a quality can make life difficult or impossible for millions of people, as well as destroying billions of pounds-worth of infrastructure and weakening countries' economies and societies. Water is also essential for establishing and maintaining green infrastructure, and so effective management of the 'blue' needs to be one integral element within the management and development of the 'green'. Green infrastructure can refer to a wide range of installations using plant and soil systems to collect, retain, reuse, treat or encourage the evapotranspiration of stormwater, with an ultimate aim to reduce incidences of flooding and sewer system exceedance, whilst simultaneously providing numerous additional social and environmental benefits. Using green infrastructure for urban water management may offer innovative, cost-effective, socially preferable and environmentally sustainable solutions. There are numerous examples of where green infrastructure is utilized in strategies to meet urban water management goals. These include green roofs across many UK and European cities; bioswales (a form of vegetated rain garden or soakaway) across cities throughout the United States, and constructed wetlands in Australia. As Fletcher et al. (2015) outline quite comprehensively, green infrastructure used in water management has gained a range of nomenclature and acronyms defining different, or sometimes very much the same, elements, designs and purposes: Low Impact Development (LID); Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD); Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM); Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) or Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS); Best Management Practices (BMPs); Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs); Alternative Techniques (ATs) or Complimentary Techniques (CTs); Source Control, and Stormwater Quality Improvement Devices (SQIDs). Fletcher et al. (2015, p. 9) refer to an 'approximately exponential growth' in the use of such terminology in the academic literature from the early 1980s onwards, and the growing interdisciplinarity of these references as the field of interest has expanded from civil engineering to include landscape architects, planners, ecologists and social scientists. A further term 'blue-green infrastructure', which has evolved from the concept of WSUD (Brown et al., 2009) and describes green infrastructure that temporarily turns 'blue' during rainfall events and floods, is the focal point in this chapter. This chapter will first outline the many challenges water poses in modern society, considering the increasing frequency and severity of flooding and droughts as inevitable outcomes of potential climate change and increasing impermeable ground-cover through urbanization and economic development. It will secondly consider recent suggestions of a

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Urban landscapes have serious impacts on water quality through the disruption of the hydrologic cycle. The Purdue University course, Environmental and Ecological Engineering 49500: Urban Water Projects, seeks to use student-led service-learning projects to improve both water quality and quantity in the Wabash River water-shed. This year, students investigated and implemented strategies to guarantee that previous implementations succeed well into the future. Two students, Victoria Chillscyzn and Madeline McIntosh, were part of a team working with the local nonprofit Home with Hope. Through interviews, a survey, and site visits, the team determined action items to improve the form and function of the installations. A grant was submitted and accepted through Purdue Student Service-Learning Grant Program for Community Service/Service-Learning Projects to fund an additional rain barrel and an edible garden at the nonprofit. Additionally, educational materials and a maintenance schedule w...

Native Science Report, 2023

In a world where access to clean drinking water is often taken for granted, the plight of the Navajo people stands as a stark reminder of the challenges faced by marginalized communities. Navajo Technical University Professor Abhishek RoyChowdhury is leading an effort to bring ‘clean, safe, and reliable’ water to the Navajo Nation. Access article here: https://nativesciencereport.org/2023/06/building-a-sustainable-water-infrastructure/

2012

This IWMI-Tata Highlight is based on research carried out under the IWMI-Tata Program (ITP). It is not externally peer-reviewed and the views expressed are of the authors alone and not of ITP or its funding partners-IWMI, Colombo and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), Mumbai.

Water Intelligence Online, 2012

The Water Environment Research Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, funds and manages water quality research for its subscribers through a diverse public-private partnership between municipal utilities, corporations, academia, industry, and the federal government. WERF subscribers include municipal and regional water and wastewater utilities, industrial corporations, environmental engineering firms, and others that share a commitment to cost-effective water quality solutions. WERF is dedicated to advancing science and technology addressing water quality issues as they impact water resources, the atmosphere, the lands, and quality of life.

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. The contents of Parts 2 and 3 were contributed by the UN-Water Members and Partners listed on the title pages of the chapters therein. UNESCO and the United Nations World Water Foreword by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations iv Foreword by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO v Foreword by Michel Jarraud, Chair of UN-Water and Secretary-General of WMO vii Preface by Michela Miletto, WWAP Coordinator a.i. and Richard Connor, WWDR 2014 Lead Author viii Acknowledgements x Photo credits xii Executive Summary 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5. Infrastructure 5.1 Infrastructure and development 5.2 Opportunities for synergies in water and energy infrastructure 5.3 Moving forward 6. Food and agriculture 6.1 The water-energy-food nexus 6.2 The effects of increasing food demand on water and energy 6.3 Water for energy and the linkages to food security 6.4 Energy use in agrifood systems 6.5 Biofuels, water and food security linkages 6.6 Energy-smart agriculture 6.7 Towards a nexus approach 7. Cities 7.1 Global urbanization trends 7.2 Urban water ansd energy demands 7.3 The water-energy nexus in the urban context 7.4 Rethinking urban development in terms of water and energy 8. Industry 8.1 The relationship of water and energy with industry 8.2 The status of water and energy in industry 8.3 Water and energy metrics in industry 8.4 Forces influencing the use of water and energy in industry 8.5 Opportunities and trade-offs 9. Ecosystems 9.1 Ecosystems as the foundation of the water-energy nexus 9.2 Energy, water and ecosystems: Dependencies and impacts 9.3 An ecosystems approach to the water-energy nexus 10. Europe and North America 10.1 Hydropower 10.2 Conflicts over water use between energy and other sectors, and across borders 10.3 Coping with water scarcity 10.4 Climate change outlook and effects of water scarcity on thermoelectric power plants 10.5 Extraction of natural gas and oil from unconventional sources 11. Asia and the Pacific 11.1 Hydropower 11.2 Coal 11.3 Biofuels

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2021

Water infrastructures have been central to anthropological theory and practice for many decades. Early research tended to focus on infrastructures related to agriculture, such as irrigation systems, and often emphasized their consequences for social and political organization. While these and other studies (e.g., on hydroelectric dams) continue, work since the early 2000s considers household and community plumbing networks for both

2006

In most communities, sourcing, treating, and distributing potable water and collecting, treating and reclaiming wastewater-what may be called the water enterprise-is a large user of electricity. The water enterprise uses 3 to 4 percent of total electricity in the United States. With increasingly stringent standards and declining water availability, many in the water and wastewater community predict that the energy intensity of the water enterprise could rise significantly in coming decades. This trend may be avoided by improving the energy efficiency of pumping and of treating potable water and wastewater and by supporting the entry of alternative technologies that are inherently more energy efficient. If we rethink the accepted technologies for water and wastewater and understand how they were supported by inexpensive electricity, we are likely to find alternatives that could reduce energy use, improve environmental performance, and extend service in the water sector. This paper will review current municipal water and wastewater practices and their related energy use, look at the state of art, the state of the infrastructure, energy efficiency opportunities and alternative technologies and models. The energy and sustainability implications for communities of choosing these alternative paths will be discussed.

The Water-Sustainable City