CHAPTER 2
An Integrated Perspective for Urban Water Management
Integrated urban water management (IUWM) seeks to develop efficient, flexible urban water systems by adopting a holistic view of all components of the urban water cycle (water supply, sanitation, and stormwater management) in the context of the wider watershed. The urban water shortages that are projected to get worse over the next century will require integrating solutions across scales (household, neighborhood, city, catchment, and transboundary), domains (economic, social, and environmental), and institutions (government, private sector, and civil society). IUWM is an adaptive approach in which decisions— reached by consultation with all stakeholders—are part of a long-term vision (Howe et al., 2011). It seeks to provide sustainable solutions that can respond to the increasing uncertainty about future conditions created by climate change and rapid growth (Khatri and Vairavamoorthy, 2007). The rapidly expanding cities of Africa are particularly suited to IUWM solutions because new infrastructure and management frameworks can be designed from the start using IUWM principles.
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