Integrated Water Resources Management in Cities in the World: Global Challenges

Chloé Grison; Stef Koop; Steven Eisenreich; Jan Hofman; I-Shin Chang; Jing Wu; Dragan Savic; Kees van Leeuwen

doi:10.1007/s11269-023-03475-3

Integrated Water Resources Management in Cities in the World: Global Challenges

Chloé Grison, Stef Koop, Steven Eisenreich, Jan Hofman, I-Shin Chang, Jing Wu, Dragan Savic, Kees van Leeuwen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Water scarcity and accessibility remain persistently amongst the most prominent global challenges. Although there is a wide agreement among international organizations that Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and water governance are key to overcome water-related challenges, global assessments of the progress made by cities is lacking. This paper for the first time analyses the challenges of water, wastewater, municipal solid waste and climate change in cities. We used empirical studies (125 cities) based on the City Blueprint Approach and developed a statistical estimation model to estimate IWRM performances of another 75 cities. These 200 cities in total represent more than 95% of the global urban population. This comprehensive global picture enables us to evaluate the existing gaps in achieving water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). The best performing cities were Amsterdam and Singapore. Unfortunately, most cities do not yet manage their water resources wisely and are far from achieving the SDGs. For instance, targets regarding drinking water supply are still a challenge for many cities in Africa and Asia and challenges regarding sanitation are high in cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The same holds for solid waste management, climate adaptation, and people living in informal settlements. In another paper we will address the solution pathways to these global challenges.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2787-2803
Number of pages	17
Journal	Water Resources Management
Volume	37
Issue number	6-7
Early online date	Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03475-3
Publication status	Published - May 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank all master students from Utrecht University, the young professionals from UNESCO, and all volunteers in our urban network for their efforts to participate in the City Blueprint efforts to analyse IWRM in cities. We thank Sharon Clevers (KWR Water Research Institute) for her assistance in the preparation of Fig. 4. Last but not least we want to thank the management board of KWR who has stimulated this research as part of the global Watershare activities.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

Keywords

Blue City Index
Estimation model
Integrated water management
Sustainability indicators
Water governance

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1007/s11269-023-03475-3Licence: CC BY

s11269-023-03475-3Final published version, 1.12 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Water scarcity and accessibility remain persistently amongst the most prominent global challenges. Although there is a wide agreement among international organizations that Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and water governance are key to overcome water-related challenges, global assessments of the progress made by cities is lacking. This paper for the first time analyses the challenges of water, wastewater, municipal solid waste and climate change in cities. We used empirical studies (125 cities) based on the City Blueprint Approach and developed a statistical estimation model to estimate IWRM performances of another 75 cities. These 200 cities in total represent more than 95% of the global urban population. This comprehensive global picture enables us to evaluate the existing gaps in achieving water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). The best performing cities were Amsterdam and Singapore. Unfortunately, most cities do not yet manage their water resources wisely and are far from achieving the SDGs. For instance, targets regarding drinking water supply are still a challenge for many cities in Africa and Asia and challenges regarding sanitation are high in cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The same holds for solid waste management, climate adaptation, and people living in informal settlements. In another paper we will address the solution pathways to these global challenges.",

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Integrated Water Resources Management in Cities in the World: Global Challenges

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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