THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT

Urban Water Management involves the fields of water supply, urban drai nage, wastewater treatment and sludge handling. On the basis of the Ag enda 21, principles and guidelines for sustainable urban water managem ent are discussed. Sustainable technology leads to acceptable gradient s in state variables. New technologies departing from an analysis of r equired services rather than stepwise improvement of existing technolo gy is preferred. An efficient use of resources will lead to a minimal increase of entropy and will require an active rather than a reactive approach. The analysis of the transition period from today's to a sust ainable situation is important. An example is introduced which deals w ith global cycling of nutrients and which may be approached on a regio nal scale. (C) 1997 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.