Integrated Urban Water Management: Improve Efficient Water Management and Climate Change Resilience in Cities

Abstract

Today, more than half of the world’s population is living in cities that are often centres of production, prosperity and development, but when it comes to handling water in urban areas, a number of challenges exist related to providing safe and efficient solutions to urban water issues. Challenges urban water managers face include flooding and extreme weather events, which will increase in severity because of climate change. Cities located in coastal and delta areas already face the risk of increased flooding and other extreme events, which climate change will further aggravate. In Denmark, the Ministry of the Environment envisages that a sea level rise of 0.7 m on average will lead to increased flooding similar to a 400-year event taking place every 1–2 years; thus, cities must do their utmost to improve climate change resilience. Introducing integrated urban water management (IUWM) as a concept for planning to improve water management by linking different elements such as spatial planning, stormwater management and urban environment provides a more holistic input to planning. In this chapter, we examine definitions of IUWM and global experiences. Furthermore, we look at experienced barriers to moving towards more integrated water management and a number of solutions in order to overcome the barriers to integrated approaches. Finally, we describe how solutions based on innovative and integrated approaches are efficient and contribute to improved water management even though not every single element of urban water management can be a part of integrated solutions.