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21st Century Water Municipal Issues and Concerns (WERF Report INFR5SG09a)
Citation:
Weinstein, N. AND E. Clifton. 21st Century Water Municipal Issues and Concerns (WERF Report INFR5SG09a). Water Environment Research Foundation, Alexandria, VA, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
This report discusses the water challenges currently facing local governments and municipalities. Topics addressed include key regulatory, financial, and technical issues related to the adoption of green infrastructure technologies. A summary of the inaugural Clean Water America Alliance Urban Water Sustainability Council meeting is provided. Practical challenges are identified for evaluating the benefits of green infrastructure. Approaches are discussed for integrating cost-effective, high-performance urban water infrastructure practices with other environmental, social, and economic goals. Examples of completed life-cycle cost and triple-bottom-line analyses are provided.
Description:
Communities are increasingly looking to green infrastructure as a means of meeting not only stormwater management objectives, but multiple environmental, social, and economic goals. Rather than viewing water infrastructure in isolation or as an after-the-fact means of responding to a flooding or public health crisis, today’s urban planners are striving to integrate urban water into their sustainable development goals. This report summarizes a review of the literature on the most pressing water issues currently facing urban communities, supported by insights gained from a meeting held in association with the December 2010 Clean Water American Alliance (CWAA) Urban Water Sustainability Council (UWSC) conference on green infrastructure approaches to utility operations. In addition, this report reviews the criteria, metrics, and protocols being used to measure such integrated systems. [NOTE: The link below connects to a WERF site where the Final Report can be downloaded for free, after registering at the WERF site. For some projects the Executive Summary is available and can be downloaded for free without registering on the WERF site.]
