Global water crisis is a challenge to the security, political stability and environmental sustainability of developing nations and with climate, economically and politically, induces migrations also for the developed ones. Currently, the urban population is 54% with prospects that by the end of 2050 and 2100 66% and 80%, respectively, of the world's population will live in urban environment. Untreated water abstracted from polluted resources and destructed ecosystems as well as discharge of untreated waste water is the cause of health problems and death for millions around the globe. Competition for water is wide among agriculture, industry, power companies and recreational tourism as well as nature habitats. Climate changes are a major threat to the water resources. This book intends to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in integrated assessment of water resource management in the urbanizing world, which is a foundation to develop society with secure water availability, food market stability and ecosystem preservation.

The books provides a timely analysis in support of a paradigm shift in the field of wastewater management, from ‘treatment for disposal’ to ‘treatment for reuse’ by offering a variety of value propositions for water, nutrient and energy recovery which can support cost savings, cost recovery, and profits, in a sector that traditionally relies on public funding. The book provides new insights into the economics of wastewater use, applicable to developed and developing countries striving to transform wastewater from an unpleasant liability to a valuable asset and recasting urbanization from a daunting challenge into a resource recovery opportunity. “It requires business thinking to transform septage and sewage into valuable products. A must read for water scholars, policy makers, practitioners, and entrepreneurs". Guy Hutton, Senior Economist, Water and Sanitation Program, Water Global Practice, World Bank “This book provides compelling evidence and real solutions for the new ‘resource from waste’ approach that is transforming sanitation, boosting livelihoods, and strengthening urban resilience”. Christopher Scott, Professor and Distinguished Scholar, University of Arizona “This book shows how innovative business thinking and partnerships around resource recovery and reuse fit well within an inclusive green economy and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies”. Akiça Bahri, Coordinator of the African Water Facility, Tunisia, and award-winning researcher

The urban landscape has many impacts on the local climate such as reduced average wind speed due to the blocking effect of buildings and greater frequency of flash flooding owing to the higher proportion of ground sealed with concrete and asphalt and a corresponding reduction in natural drainage. Detailed estimate of climate change impacts and landscape modifications on water resources at the regional and local level are currently inaccurate due to inadequate data for water cycle and hydrogeology relations. Physical planning though equipped with modern means and best technologies is still lagging behind from the hands of urban planners due to their insufficient knowledge of natural systems and their correlations. Physical development as part of regional development such as construction of buildings, housings, roads, bridges and public utilities are continuously increasing due to the development in all sectors. Physical developments require land space and give positive impacts for the benefits of the people. However, it also creates negative impacts to the physical environment. It can be understood since a physical development is directly related to the land where constructions stand on, where water occurs as a source for water supply of men living on it and where the air is available for supporting life.

Cities place enormous pressures on freshwater quality and availability because they are often located some distance from the water sources needed by their populations. This fact compels planners to build infrastructure to divert water from increasingly distant outlying rural areas, thus disrupting their social fabric and environment. In addition, increasing urbanization due to population growth, economic change, and sprawl places huge burdens upon the institutions, as well as the infrastructure, that deliver, protect, and treat urban water. This book assesses the challenges facing the world’s cities in providing reliable, safe, and plentiful supplies through infrastructural, economic, legal, and political strategies.

Rural–Urban Water Struggles compiles diverse analyses of rural–urban water connections, discourses, identities and struggles evolving in the context of urbanization around the world. Departing from an understanding of urbanization as a process of constant making and remaking of multi-scalar territorial interactions that extend beyond traditional city boundaries and that deeply reconfigure rural–urban hydrosocial territories and interlinkages, the chapters demonstrate the need to reconsider and trouble the rural–urban dichotomy. The contributors scrutinize how existing approaches for securing urban water supply – ranging from water transfers to payments for ecosystem services – all rely on a myriad of techniques: they are produced by, and embedded in, specific institutional and legal arrangements, actor alliances, discourses, interests and technologies entwining local, regional and global scales. The different chapters show the need to better understand on-the-ground realities, taking account of inequalities in water access and control, as well as representation and cultural-political recognition among rural and urban subjects. Rural–Urban Water Struggles will be of great use to scholars of water governance and justice, environmental justice and political ecology. This book was originally published as a special issue of Water International.

This book presents water insecurity issues in urban areas while developing a water security index and explores the innovative approaches to water development and management with examples from Asian cities. The urban water crisis is a global phenomenon, but it is more obvious in the megacities of the developing world. Urban drought, although not a familiar term, will pose a significant threat to humankind in the near future, especially in the context of increasing population in cities. Many cities are already unable to provide safe, clean water for their citizens. Some of the world’s largest cities depend heavily on groundwater for their water supply. It is unlikely that dependence on aquifers, which take many years to recharge, will be sustainable. As urban populations grow, water use will need to shift from agriculture to municipal and industrial uses, making decisions about allocating between different sectors difficult. Inefficient water-use practices by households and industries, fragmented management of water between sectors and institutions, climate-induced water shortages, environmental degradation of water sources, and inadequate use of alternate sources are also issues of major concern. Despite recent advances in the literature, there exists a considerable gap in attempting an integrated water-resource management approach. Covering all aspects of urban drought and water insecurity, this book is a valuable resource for students, researchers, academics, policy makers, and development practitioners.

Coping with increasing water demand of rapidly-growing cities in Sub-Saharan Africa will require new and innovative planning and management solutions. This book presents Integrated Urban Water Management, an innovative and holistic approach for all components of the urban water cycle to better adapt to current and future urban water challenges.