Welcome to the Module on Integrated Urban Water Management: Sustainably Managing the Urban Water Cycle. My name is Lizmara Kirchner, and I am a Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist with the World Bank Group, based in Washington, DC. In this module, we will introduce some systematic ways to understand and analyze complex water issues in urban areas through integrated urban water management, a holistic approach to managing the urban water cycle, which brings diverse actors, services and sectors together around common goals for sustainable outcomes. Integrated Urban Water Management is an integral component of sustainable cities and metropolitan areas. In this module we explore the challenges in urban water management and how Integrated Urban Water Management can contribute with sustainable solutions. We cover basic concepts, key principles, common drivers, and building blocks that can be used to apply an integrated urban water management approach in a city. The world is currently facing an urban water crisis. 54% of the world’s population resides in urban areas, and by 2050 two thirds of the population in the world will be living in urban settings, adding 2.5 billion people to cities, 90% of whom will be in Asia and Africa. Economic development and rapid urbanization dramatically increase the demand for water for municipal, domestic, industrial, agricultural, energy, environment & recreational uses. Water pollution is increasing in developing country cities due to rapid changes in land-use patterns, inadequate wastewater collection and treatment, poor solid waste and storm water management and aging infrastructure. Climate change imposes additional stress on urban water sources due to increased variability and uncertainty of both floods and droughts. Traditional approaches to urban water investments are often fragmented and frequently unsustainable since they generally do not take into consideration the multiple dimensions and cross cutting issues of urban water management. Integrated Urban Water Management, or IUWM, is a flexible, participatory and iterative process, which integrates the elements of the urban water cycle, such as water supply, sanitation, storm water management, and solid waste management, within the context of a city’s land use, urban development and river basin management, in order to maximize economic, social and environmental benefits. IUWM offers a holistic way of undertaking strategic planning by considering the management of competing water uses at the level of the watershed, while recognizing the needs of the city as well as those upstream and downstream users. IUWM takes into account the needs of all users within the basin while working across vertical and horizontal administrative boundaries in order to overcome the traditional fragmentation of the Urban Water Cycle as well as to allow the consideration and integration of interdependent sectors both urban and related sectors, shown in green, and the different water subsectors, shown in blue. International experience shows that the transition to an integrated urban water management approach is an incremental process triggered by one or several drivers that could be: social, such as population growth and rapid urbanization; economic, for instance when there is an urgent need for livable space; or environmental, such as water quality issues, water scarcity or extreme climate events. Cities in developed countries have transitioned through these phases, motivated by socio-political drivers. Fast-growing cities in developing economies could ‘leap-frog’ some or all of these earlier phases so that they can become water-sensitive cities more quickly, thus avoiding the mistakes that developed cities made while following this path. We will now present practical guidance on building blocks and potential activities that may be considered when engaging with a city under an Integrated Urban Water Management approach. The activities listed are to be taken as general guidance, as their application in each case will vary depending on local conditions and drivers, as well as on the city’s experience in applying an integrated approach, the level of interest of its key stakeholders, and their capacity. Assessments undertaken using an integrated urban water management framework should include the evaluation of urban and water investments over a longer-term period of 20 to 50 years. In line with this long-term strategic planning, specific investment projects and programs can be designed and implemented that may deal with a smaller number of complementary urban and water interventions. The main objectives of the engagement phase are to determine whether: an Integrated Urban Water Management Approach is appropriate to deal with the city's challenges and development goals, and to determine whether there are appropriate drivers and a suitable enabling environment for embarking upon an Integrated Urban Water Management planning process. Activities to be undertaken in this phase can include: Conducting a data review of the urban and water sectors in the city covering the aspects listed on the screen in order to gain a better understanding of the city profile and of the water and urban issues it faces; identifying and mapping stakeholder and analyzing the related institutional and regulatory framework as well as the political economy in the city and whether these are favorable to an IUWM approach; making the case for integrated urban water management with the identified stakeholders, and undertaking a rapid field assessment of the urban and water challenges in the city in order to refine the desk review analysis with the stakeholders to gain a better understanding of the water challenges the city faces and the processes and systems in place to deal with them. Based on the data gathered and the stakeholder consultation carried out during the previous phase, the main objectives of the diagnostic phase are to determine which challenges urban and water sectors are facing, or will face; analyze the links between water use in the watershed and other sectors, including those listed here ; consider existing integrated practices or lack thereof; assess the resilience of the urban water sector to future demographic change, water resource constraints and climate change impacts. It is important to look not only at data but also at the modus operandi of the involved institutions. Technical studies should be carried out next with the objective of: Determining whether the proposed IUWM measures make economic and financial sense; assessing the financial feasibility of solutions identified as suitable during the diagnostic phase; identifying the resulting structural and non-structural IUWM measures to be implemented, where structural measures are the infrastructure interventions and non-structural measures cover the regulations, legal frameworks, tariffs, and education and capacity building. A number of technical studies will be required to inform the next phase of strategic planning, including those listed on the screen. The objectives of the strategic planning phase are to: Validate with stakeholders the proposed IUWM framework and options considered; clarify institutional responsibilities for implementing the proposed solutions; put mechanisms in place to manage and share data across sectors and institutions; develop and apply an appropriate monitoring and evaluation framework for the strategic plan. Once stakeholders have decided to move forward with an IUWM approach, a vision can be developed for the long-term integration of urban water management in the city to include the following elements: Agreement on a set of proposed outcomes for the city, on institutional responsibilities and cost sharing arrangements; milestones and a monitoring framework for the tracking of the implementation of activities to reach the proposed outcomes; mechanisms for review, feedback, knowledge management and course correction. To summarize, in this module we have seen that integrated urban water management is about improving the way water resources and related services are managed across the urban water cycle by: promoting resource diversification, system efficiency and conservation, while taking into consideration all water users in the city and in the wider catchment through broad stakeholder participation. IUWM offers a holistic approach to strategic planning and implementation which considers the management of competing water uses and urban service provision in the city, in the context of the watershed, while recognizing the water needs of the city as well as those of upstream and downstream users. An approach to integrated urban water management encompasses: initial engagement and mapping of stakeholders; the undertaking of diagnoses to analyze the city’s urban and water challenges; strategic planning to identify objectives and outcomes, priorities and costs, institutional responsibilities, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and feedback mechanisms.
