Abstract
The urban world population will increase from 3 to 8.5 thousand million in the 21st century. Cities become hot spots of both demand for water and global food and for disposed used water and nutrients. Sustainability requires that resource flows through our cities are co-managed and connected to agriculture. Reduced use of harmful chemicals in consumer products facilitates treatment to a quality that allows reuse/recycling of water and nutrients. A solid and liquid waste hierarchy can assist in ordering measures. A novel flexible water balance can guide city infrastructure and keep toilet water separate. New water-saving equipment can substantially reduce water use without losing personal comfort. The combination of these new approaches ascertains access to safe urban water, and that recovered nutrients from cities can substitute half of chemical fertilisers needed in food production. Now, thousands of new cities and suburbs provide unique opportunities to develop resource-smart and sustainable flows.
Highlights
Sustainability requires that we accept the fact that Mother Earth and the embracing atmosphere are limited—despite being immense (Folke et al 1997)
The focus is on household water and nutrient flows in urban areas
The European Union waste hierarchy provides a helpful systems- and lifecycle-based tool to structure our thinking about usage and flows of water and plant nutrient resources (EU 2008)
Summary
Sustainability requires that we accept the fact that Mother Earth and the embracing atmosphere are limited—despite being immense (Folke et al 1997). Emissions of greenhouse gases, cropland use, and application of nitrogen and phosphorus have exceeded Natures capacity to provide physical resources and sinks in a sustainable way (Springmann et al 2018). This realisation has helped spark a deepened interest in sustainable management of existing resources. We urgently need to address and consider the whole value chain from exploiting natural resources via production and consumption, to management of so called waste. In this article the focus is on potentials and limits to enhance urban management of water and nutrients for perceived needs
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