Applying Integrated Urban Water Management Concepts: A Review of Australian Experience

This article explores recent Australian experiences in the application of the concept of integrated urban water management (IUWM) to land development sites through the review of 15 case studies. It discusses lUWM’s emergence and comments on the success or otherwise of Australian experience in its application. The understanding of IUWM is maturing within the Australian water industry, an occurrence that has been facilitated by demonstration sites such as those reviewed. Successes include the translation of IUWM concepts into well-functioning operational urban developments, significant reductions in the impact of the urban developments on the total water cycle, and the increasing acceptance of the concept within the water and land development industries. However, there is still room for greater integration of the water supply, stormwater, and wastewater components of the urban water cycle, improved dissemination of knowledge, enhancement of skills in both public and private organisations, and monitoring the performance of systems and technologies.     

Community Capacity for Adaptation to Climate-Induced Water Shortages: Linking Institutional Complexity and Local Actors

There is growing concern for the capacity of urban and rural communities to manage current water shortages and to prepare for shortages that may accompany predicted changes in climate. In this paper, concepts relating to the notion of climate adaptation and particularly capacity building are used to elucidate several determinants of community-level capacity for water management. These concepts and criteria are then used to interpret empirically derived insights relating to local management of water shortages in Ontario, Canada. General determinants of water-related community capacity relate to upper tier political and institutional arrangements; the characteristics of, and relationships among, pertinent agencies, groups, or individuals involved in water management; and the adequacy of financial, human, information, and technical resources. The case analysis illustrates how general factors play out in local experience. The findings point to geographically specific factors that influence the effectiveness of management. Key factors include collaboration between water managers, clarification of agency roles and responsibilities, integration of water management and land-use planning, and recognition and participation of both urban and rural stakeholders, whose sensitivities to water shortages are spatially and temporally variable.     

Impediments to Integrated Urban Stormwater Management: The Need for Institutional Reform

It is now well established that the traditional practice of urban stormwater management contributes to the degradation of receiving waterways, and this practice was more recently critiqued for facilitating the wastage of a valuable water resource. However, despite significant advances in alternative “integrated urban stormwater management” techniques and processes over the last 20 years, wide-scale implementation has been limited. This problem is indicative of broader institutional impediments that are beyond current concerns of strengthening technological and planning process expertise. Presented here is an analysis of the institutionalization of urban stormwater management across Sydney with the objective of scoping institutional impediments to more sustainable management approaches. The analysis reveals that the inertia with the public administration of urban stormwater inherently privileges and perpetuates traditional stormwater management practices at implementation. This inertia is characterized by historically entrained forms of technocratic institutional power and expertise, values and leadership, and structure and jurisdiction posing significant impediments to change and the realization of integrated urban stormwater management. These insights strongly point to the need for institutional change specifically directed at fostering horizontal integration of the various functions of the existing administrative regime. This would need to be underpinned with capacity-building interventions targeted at enabling a learning culture that values integration and participatory decision making. These insights also provide guideposts for assessing the institutional and capacity development needs for improving urban water management practices in other contexts.     

Delving into the “Institutional Black Box”: Revealing the Attributes of Sustainable Urban Water Management Regimes1

van de Meene, Susan J. and Rebekah R. Brown, 2009. Delving into the “Institutional Black Box”: Revealing the Attributes of Sustainable Urban Water Management Regimes. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1448‐1464. Abstract: This paper is based on the proposition that the transition to sustainable urban water management has been hampered by the lack of insight into attributes of a sustainable urban water regime. Significant progress has been made in developing technical solutions to advance urban water practice, however it is the co‐evolution of the socio‐institutional and technical systems that enable a system‐wide transition. A systematic analysis of 81 empirical studies across a range of practice areas was undertaken to construct a schema of the sustainable urban water regime attributes. Attributes were identified and analyzed using a framework of nested management regime spheres: the administrative and regulatory system, inter‐organizational, intra‐organizational, and human resources spheres. The regime is likely to involve significant stakeholder involvement, collaborative inter‐organizational relationships, flexible and adaptive organizational cultures, and motivated and engaging employees. Comparison of the constructed sustainable and traditional regime attributes reveals that to realize sustainable urban water management in practice a substantial shift in governance is required. This difference emphasizes the critical need for explicitly supported strategies targeted at developing each management regime sphere to further enable change toward sustainable urban water management.     

城市水资源承载力研究现状及其趋势

水资源是人类生存与生活、社会经济持续发展不可缺少的自然资源,也是保证生态环境良性循环的控制性要素.区域能否实现持续发展,很大程度上取决于水资源的保障程度.城市是地区经济的核心,因此对城市水资源承载力进行深入研究,其意义重大.简要阐述了城市水资源承载力研究的现状和发展趋势.     

Local Government Conservation and Management of Native Vegetation in Urban Australia

Reflecting a worldwide trend of devolution of power and responsibilities to local authorities, metropolitan local governments in Australia now have a role in protecting and managing native vegetation (bushland). Reporting on questionnaire and interview results for Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Adelaide, this research examines the main disturbances in local government bushlands, local governments efforts in bushland conservation, and universality of issues and responses among the cities and between urban and urban–rural local authorities. A number of disturbances in bushlands are common among the cities, with weeds, development impacts, and urban run off perceived to be the most threatening. Management efforts focus on weed control, whereas other main disturbances are receiving less attention. Community involvement in management is prevalent, although regional coordination among local governments is limited. Local governments are willing to be involved in biodiversity conservation and their capacity would be enhanced with increased funding, staffing, and regional coordination.Published online Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

Criteria for the Assessment of Sustainable Water Management

Pressure on the world’s water resources is increasing, restraining social and economic development in many countries, and threatening ecological values in others. In order to manage water resources in a more sustainable manner, new planning methodologies/processes for river basin management need to be developed. This study attempts to construct a set of useable normative criteria for the analysis and evaluation of such processes. The criteria were designed as a response to the lack of deductive approaches in the evaluation of methodologies and working procedures used in the context of river basin management, making it possible to highlight their potential for sustainable development. The criteria are based on the twin concepts of participation and integration. These concepts function as well-established dimensions of both sustainable development and sustainable river basin management, and they are of significant methodological relevance. A synthesis of the key aspects connected to the two concepts is undertaken, based on a broad literature review. Focus is laid on how in methodological terms, and in relation to regional water management, to achieve participation and integration in a decision-making or planning process. The criteria are concerned with how knowledge and values are integrated into the planning process and how commitment, legitimacy, or acceptance for the resulting plan is generated.     

重庆城市可持续发展能力的综合评价

城市是否可持续发展已成为人们关注的焦点,但如何测度和评价城市发展的可持续性尚无统一认识.从系统功能角度设计了城市可持续发展的指标体系,运用改进的熵值法对重庆市可持续发展能力进行了定量分析,结合递阶多层次综合评价模型得到相应的变化曲线,并评价了重庆市1994～2003年这10年间的可持续发展能力.     

Urban Environmental Management in Shanghai: Achievements, Problems, and Prospects

This article critically reviews the evolution of urban environmental management in Shanghai since 1978. Established in a transitional postsocialist economy and shaped by a spectacular urban redevelopment process, the current environmental management framework of Shanghai has succeeded in mitigating major industrial pollution and improving urban amenities with unprecedented pace and magnitude. However, it generally failed to take social equity and environmental justice issues into consideration. Based on Haughton’s models of sustainable urban development, this article proposes four priorities and five principles within the framework of a fair shares cities model for the future environmental management of Shanghai and briefly discusses their policy implications and implementation issues. The authors argue that Haughton’s approach is relevant to Shanghai’s case because the essence of his argument—the multidimensional equity principles—is the core of the concept of sustainable development.     

可持续发展与环境教育

可持续发展是一种全新的社会发展观。也是世界各国共同选择的发展道路,可持续发展的关键问题是生态环境保护而环境保护大计,教育为本,本文全面阐述了可持续发展和环境教育的关系,可持续发展观下环境教育的特征和策略以及环境教育怎样才能适应社会可持续发展的需要。     

城市污水污染控制技术和发展重点

文章分析了我国城市污水污染和处理现状,论述了我国城市污水处理应从工艺技术、工程和设备产业化、设施运营产业化三方面重点发展,以解决城市污水污染问题。     

济南市可持续发展状况评价研究

构建了济南市可持续发展指标体系,对济南市1999—2004年的可持续发展状况进行了评价分析,发现济南市在2002年以前可持续发展保持较好;2002年以后经济继续保持较快发展,但资源环境指数和社会发展指数出现下滑趋势,社会发展和环境改善未能与经济的发展保持同步,可持续发展出现出一定程度的不协调,并对济南市的可持续发展提出了对策和建议。     

乌鲁木齐水资源评价分析及城市持续发展对策

本文系统地分析了乌鲁木齐市水资源开发利用的现状,针对水资源短缺的问题,提出了以节流、开源为主的城市持续发展对策。     

基于能值分析的苏州市城市生态系统可持续发展评估

本文利用能值分析的方法,分析了苏州城市生态系统的各种生态流,并建立了苏州城市生态系统可持续发展能值评价指标体系,评估其可持续发展程度,并对其能值指标的发展进行了预测。研究结果显示,2007年苏州市系统利用总能值达到616.71×1021sej,能值自给率仅为35.5%,环境负载率达到61.67。与其他国家和地区能值指标对比得出,苏州市是一个高度外向型生态经济系统,其系统的发展高度依赖于外界资源的输入,面对现在不稳定的世界经济发展和外部环境,苏州市必须加大系统自身的供给能力,提高系统自身的稳定性;发展循环经济,降低系统环境负载率;加强高科技和人才投入,提高系统可持续发展潜力。     

Toward Integrated Environmental Management for Challenges in Water Environmental Protection of Lake Taihu Basin in China

Lake Taihu is the third largest freshwater lake in China. It serves many social, economic, and ecological purposes in the drainage basin. Unfortunately, the water has been heavily polluted due to rapid industrialization and urbanization during the last two decades. Notwithstanding great efforts made so far to improve the water quality, the environmental situation is still far from being optimistic. The basin and the lake are facing a range of severe environmental challenges: rapid socio-economic development continues to place great pressures on the environment, current pollution control projects have many problems from the viewpoint of effectiveness and efficiency of their implementations, and the non-point sources of pollution such as agricultural fields, for which control is more difficult than for industrial point sources, have become the main contributors to serious eutrophication of the lake. Considering the characteristics of the environmental challenges and problems confronting the basin and the lake, we focus on integrated environmental management (IEM) as a promising and effective approach to overcome these predicaments. Current practices and problems of environmental management in the basin are examined, and potential future developments are discussed. Three aspects of the IEM are emphasized: institutional cooperation, public participation, and internalization of environmental externalities. We think these are the most critical for not only the basin but also for the whole of China to achieve a sustainable society.     

干旱区城市水资源的可持续利用--以包头市为例

分析、评述了包头市城市水资源开发、利用状况,揭示出开发、利用中存在的主要问题,并用供需平衡法预测了2005年、2010年规划年包头市城市水资源供需水平及水量余缺情况,提出了合理利用水资源的对策、措施.     

云南水资源可持续利用问题与对策

云南省是一个水资源总量丰富但又相对缺水的特殊省份。本文主要分析了云南省水资源开发利用中面临的挑战,提出了促使该省水资源可持续开发利用的对策     

宜宾市水资源保护与可持续发展问题的探讨

本文从近几年来宜宾市工业及生活废水等排放情况及水环境质量的监测资料,阐述了我市流域水污染状况与可持续发展面临的主要问题,提出了水资源保护对策,以促进社会经济可持续发展。