2 The Future of Water in African Cities
urban water management challenges worldwide. It addresses the key technical and institutional aspects of planning and design. The key to IUWM is integration at each stage of the planning process. Thus planners should consider the full range of challenges related to water management and their interactions within cities and the wider watershed, addressing issues such as: • How is upstream land use and irrigation impacting water availability and quality downstream? • How will future urban development impact water management challenges? • Are pit latrines and poor sanitation conditions contaminating groundwater? • Is solid waste clogging drains and thus causing flooding? Decision makers must also consider a broad range of solutions to these problems, including the following: • Do institutions adequately consider urban needs and impacts in terms of the broader watershed? • Can alternative water sources such as rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, and groundwater be harnessed in addition to traditional surface-water sources? • Is water quality optimized for its intended use (such as drinking, irrigation, and manufacturing)? • Can wastewater be exploited to produce cost-efficient energy? Because both the challenges and solutions cross geographic and institutional boundaries, IUWM can only be implemented if institutions agree to work together. Examples of concerns that span such boundaries include making sure building codes do not impede rainwater harvesting, addressing health regulations that prevent greywater reuse, and ensuring that urban planners consider water management issues. IUWM understands that both the devil and the angel are in the details: each plan is formulated in consultation with local stakeholders—including the end users—to ensure that solutions are adapted to local conditions. Solutions are designed to be flexible—to handle the diversity of current conditions—and adaptive—to respond to the uncertain conditions of the future. In other words, IUWM is about doing things differently, rather than about doing different things.