Written by Albert Jansen WIC, Wilfred Appelman & Hans Moor
Centralized water systems in urban areas are under threat. Drinking water supply is worldwide stressed by both an increasing demand and diminishing sources, fouling of sources (salination, micro pollutants and agro/industrial waste) and climate change. Sewage systems are not designed for the heavy rainfalls occurring more often due to climate change and leading to urban flooding’s. Centralized waste water treatment has little opportunities for sustainable reuse of water, components and energy. In addition to these challenges diminishing biodiversity and the transfer to green and renewable energy are additional problems which could be treated together with the water problems. A new vision on establishing urban water autarky is presented based on Nature Based Solutions (NBS) addressing all issues. Several cases (drinking water from rain, green roofs, black water treatment for energy recovery and the removal of minor components from waste water) are presented to underline the vision of smart urban water grids for future resilient water systems.