cities and water: sinks or sponges?
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Cities and Water:Sinks or Sponges?
16th International River SymposiumBrisbane, 23 September 2013
Jeremy Bird International Water Management Institute
• More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas.
• Urban growth is most rapid in developing countries: cities gain an average of 5 million residents each month.
• There are 23 megacities, compared to 2 in 1970. By 2025, there will be 37.
Percentage of urban population and agglomerations by size class, 2011
Percentage of urban population and agglomerations by size class, 2025
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division: World Urbanization Prospects, the 2011 Revision. New York 2012
What is urban? What is rural?
Accra: the administrative boundary is outpaced by urban sprawl
Map of population density
South Asia exemplifies urbanization challenges and rural-urban tensions
http://pricetags.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/pop-density.jpg
Example: New Delhi
1974 1999 2013
Time for a new approach….
“For most of the last century, economic growth was fuelled by
what seemed to be a certain truth: the abundance of natural
resources. We mined our way to growth. We burned our way to
prosperity. We believed in consumption without consequences.
Those days are gone….. Over time, that model is a recipe for
national disaster. It is a global suicide pact.”
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon,
World Economic Forum 29th January 2012.
Urban unit
• Supply infrastructure • Sewage infrastructure
Wastewater disposal
• Receiving water bodies• Use in irrigated agriculture
Water source• River
• Groundwater• Reservoir
• Rainfall
wastewater treatment?
Sink and Sponge
Source: van Rooijen, D.J.; Biggs, T.W.; Smout, I.; Drechsel, P. 2010. Urban growth, wastewater production and use in irrigated agriculture: A comparative study of Accra, Addis Ababa and Hyderabad. Irrigation and Drainage Systems 24(1-2): 53-64
Urban expansion, Hyderabad, India
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Pulling water in from an increasing distance Hyderabad, India
Krishna River
Himayat Sagar
Osman Sagar
GW
Musi River
GW – Ground WaterNJS – Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir
HyderabadWaste water irrigation
industry
Godavari Basin
Krishna Basin
NJS
Basin Border
Musi River
P ET
Manjira
Singur
Godavari River water
Water pum
ped
Water pum
ped
Source: van Rooijen, D.; Turral, H.; Biggs, T.W. 2005. Sponge city: Water balance of mega-city water use and wastewater use in Hyderabad, India. Irrigation and Drainage 54: 81-91.
Change in water sources to satisfy urban needs
Hyderabad Water Supplies and Demands
Osman Sagar Himayat SagarGround Water
Singur
Manjira
Krishna river
Godavari
extra needed (demand - total supply)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
time (years)
Mill
ion
Cu
bic
Me
ters
pe
r M
on
th
Source: Van Rooijen et al., 2005
Informal water markets on the increase
• No Indian city has a 24/7 water supply.
• Demand for tanker supply on the increase.
• Most affected are peri-urban areas where groundwater tables are dropping.
Photo by Akshay Davis
Groundwater extraction in
India: Urban needs add to existing stress from agricultural
use
Examples of water transfers exist
…as allocation to agriculture reduced and transferred to urban use
Agricultural production levels maintained…
Reflections : Cities as a water sink• Footprint of urban expansion on water for irrigation can be extensive
- depends on water source (surface water – groundwater; basin diversion, etc.) and response measures to incentivize water productivity gains – cities like Chennai and examples from China show a major impact on
peri-urban water needs.
• Rapidly urbanizing cities need a shift to more pro-active, cross-sectoral planning capacity, e.g:– a broad multi-sector approach: managing water transfers, demand
management, rainwater harvesting, conjunctive use, etc.– explore downstream irrigation opportunities from a more continuous
supply of wastewater and increased storm runoff– promote health safeguards for wastewater re-use
What happens to the urban ‘return’ flow?
Urban unit
Wastewater disposal
Water source
wastewater treatment?
In most cities in sub-Saharan Africa, S. Asia and SE Asia, population growth has outpaced the development of sanitation infrastructure, making the management of urban waste, human excreta and wastewater ineffective.
Sewer networks collect only a tiny fraction of city wastewater.
The few wastewater treatment plants that exist are often
overloaded.
This leads to severe water pollution in peri-urban areas
Wastewater
Piped water
Also an opportunity?
Due to the proximity of markets and lack of refrigerated transport and storage, a whole irrigation sub-sector specialized in perishable exotic vegetables is emerging in and around growing cities.
In the economically important rural–urban interface, it is difficult to find a reliable unpolluted water
source.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Dilutedwastewateror polluted
water
Untreatedwastewater
Groundwater Treatedwastewater
River Othersurface
water bodies
Rainfed Irrigationcanal
Opendrainage
Num
ber o
f citi
es
Source: IWMI, RR 127
Global survey of irrigation source in urban and peri-urban areas:
In and around three of four cities in the developing world, farmers use polluted irrigation water for the production of high-value crops
Water quality improves over 40 km along the Musi River
Hyderabad
Sources: IWMI/J. Ensink
IWMI works closely with WHO and FAO on safe wastewater reuse
• Assessing the extent of reuse, risks and benefits.• Developing and testing low-cost options for microbial risk reduction
(multi-barrier approach from farm to fork).• Supporting international guidelines and capacity building.
• health risk mitigation measures have a RoI of U$4.9 for each dollar invested.
Mitigating risks where wastewater treatment remains a challenge
Australia: National target of 30% of wastewater being recycled by 2015
%
Source: Marsden Jacob Associates 2012
Reflections II : Cities as sponges
• Wastewater reuse can minimize risks of urban areas becoming water sinks and contribute to water needs at basin scale.
• Treatment important: 80% of the contamination of India’s surface water is due to the lack of treatment facilities.
• Where conventional treatment remains limited, pathogenic risks can be controlled through safer irrigation practices.
• Reducing nutrient loss is becoming a major environmental driver of change
Urban food demands and waste generation mirror the same challenges
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Source: IWMI
!?
Import/Export
Livestock
FoodFood crops and fodder plants
Soil nutrients
Organic solid waste, sludge & wastewater
Controlled and un-controlled disposal
Fertilizer
Urban pollution and nutrient wasting
Peri-urban and rural nutrient mining
Production
Consumption/Processing
Cities = vast nutrient sinks
Challenge:Closing the
nutrient loop
Closing the loop is no easy endeavor in the rural-urban context
Technical solutions for resource recovery are available, but:
• transport costs are high,
• too dependent on public subsidies,
• projects rarely survive their pilot periods, and
• big gaps in business thinking.
Resource Recovery & Reuse (RRR)A research flagship of CGIAR-WLE using a business approach to
attract private capital
Old challenges require new thinking
New understandings required to close the loop
RRR program for water, nutrient and energy recovery from domestic and agro-industrial waste
Database of 150+ inspiring RRR business cases Selection of 60 cases for in-depth analysis (see map) So far 20 promising business models extracted Feasibility studies of models starting in 9 cities Business model implementation targeting 5 cities
Example of a business model currently being implemented in Ghana as a Public-Private Partnership:
Fecal Sludge Valorization(returning nutrients and reducing pollution)
Other options combine biogas and nutrient recovery
Introducing business models to turn waste into an asset
• Solid waste and fecal sludge
composting in Asia and Africa
could save billions of US$ per
year, assuming a market for only
25% of the urban organic waste.
• Not a new concept, but many
pilots not viable or sustainable
• Business models for resource
recovery & reuse (RRR) target
private and public investors and
business schools.
Some ‘nexus’ implications
Energy reduction in • Water treatment• Chemical fertilizer
production and transport
Environmental benefits• Reduced pollution of
water bodies• Reduced nitrogen and
phosphorous demand • Reduced GHG emissions
Addressing water challenges of rapid urbanization
• Analysis: expand inter-sectoral perspective at basin scale to include nutrient and carbon emission considerations.
• Peri-urban areas: responsive research, policy and development focus required to reflect the rapid pace of urban transformation
• Urban management: support to closed loop processes to avoid cities becoming sinks for valuable resources.
• Agriculture-sanitation interface: exploit new approaches, win-win solutions and incentive mechanisms.
• Agriculture water productivity: innovations needed to release freshwater for other sectors needs – who pays?
www.iwmi.org/Topics/RRR http://wle.cgiar.org/RRR
Closing the loop
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