Water demand management in the city of the future : selected tools and instruments for practitioners

Many urban water service providers, especially those situated in low-income countries face major challenges in meeting residents' needs and demands for water, such as escalating urban populations; expanding economic activities and raising standards of living; impacts of climate change; and requirements for higher environmental standards. In response, water professionals need to move away from overreliance on supply options and include water demand management (WDM) as one of the strategic urban water management options. This book presents examples of tools and instruments that can be adapted by urban water professionals to mainstream WDM in the cities' strategic planning process. It reports on research undertaken as part of the EU-funded SWITCH project on Managing Water for the City of the Future, in which WDM was considered under a conceptual framework of Integrated Resource Planning, a process that embraces wider strategic planning principles and fits well within the integrated urban water resources management paradigm. The book presents concepts and case studies from both industrialised and low-income countries, with an emphasis for application to cities of low-income countries. [authors abstract]