WATER FOCUS 137
Cities of the Future
T
he next generation in wet infrastructure master planning, the Cities of the Future initiative from the IWA is designed to bring new concepts in water management to utility professionals in an urban environment, and also to unite water professionals with the other planning, designing and engineering professionals responsible for an urban environment. “The most efficient water infrastructure is infrastructure that is built into the city, so water professionals need to be at the table as city plans are developed and city policies are developed,” explains Daigger. Pioneering the Cities of the Future programme in the MENA region, Turkish cities Istanbul, Kayseri and Trabzon are implementing the initiatives over the next three years. Experts from Turkish universities, as well as water professionals from the IWA, will collaborate to provide models, technologies and approaches that meet the highest global standards in urban water management. “Cities of the Future represents an acknowledgement by leaders in the water sector that the current, most predominantly used techniques for water supply, wastewater treatment and stormwater management do not reflect the growing realities of a changing global context. Human population growth, rising incomes and increased urbanisation are colliding with resource limits and global warming to create an imperative for change in both the developing and developed regions. “Cities of the Future is about learning by doing. Turkish and international experts will combine the facts on the ground with emerging global best practice gleaned from leading-edge projects from around the world.”
points out, the average daily consumption of potable water – water used for drinking, or in food preparation – is in the region of 10 to 20 litres a day, while the total water consumption, even in more efficient and developed countries, is somewhere around 130-150 litres a day. “I go through the numbers just to illustrate that not every drop of water needs to be of drinking quality,” he highlights. Indeed, this point paves the way for water treatment to be a widely utilised solution to the shortage in the region. To treat all water to the standard it would need to be in order to be consumed safely would incur significant, and largely unnecessary, costs. Brown points out the downsides. “There is significant capital and operating costs associated with treatment technologies that might not be appropriate for the region. The plants are also energy intensive.” With more and more utility and water professionals in the region, and the world over, calling for a specific approach to water treatment, it would seem that solutions are beginning to be uncovered. Daigger points out that: “If we’re treating every drop of water to the highest standard, and if we have poor quality water resources, then one can get into very expensive treatment. If we treat only water for
Water Feature 137
Istanbul
MENA region has 6% of the world’s people, and 1% of the world’s water
potable uses to the highest standard, then the amount of energy that’s needed is going to be reduced.” As the issue of numbers is raised, it is only natural to look then to the economic effects of water treatment systems and wet infrastructure. And undoubtedly, the 10-to-one metric that Daigger laid down poses a very real argument for investing in water infrastructure. The energy expenditure involved, both in human and industrial terms, is neither economically viable nor sustainable; and the long-term health of the population is negatively affected by the lack of a comprehensive water management system. “People have to have water,” adds Daigger. “You have to have water to live. People who don’t have a modern system put a tremendous amount of energy either into purchasing water at a much higher price than would be provided by a modern system, or in the time taken to walk kilometres to get water.” Ultimately he says, the problem lies in the management of water. “We have water shortages based on continuing to manage water in the way we have in the past. But it’s clear that we have approaches in which we can manage water in a much more productive fashion.”
16/09/2010 11:12