Top 5 Solutions for the Decade
Moving into the new decade, these are the top 5 solutions to greening the economy, lowering emissions, and enhancing resilience to climatic extremes.
1. Green Building Blocks of Cities
Many cities around the world are turning to Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to enhance their resilience to climate change while creating livable spaces for their residents.
NBS is strategically planned and managed networks of green spaces and other environmental features and technologies that manage water, as well as temperature and air quality, to create resilient, healthier, and more beautiful environments for residents. A variety of NBS is being implemented across Amsterdam, all with different spatial scales, including green pocket parks and neighborhood parks, green play streets, and sidewalk gardens.
2. Turning Wastewater into Resourcewater
In Stockholm, the two sewage treatment plants, Henriksdal and Bromma, serve more than one million people and industries in the city plus surrounding municipalities. Rather than viewing the city’s wastewater as waste, it is being turned into a resource.
In total, the two plants produce around a million tons of sludge per year. When the sludge is digested biogas is formed, providing a steady stream of vehicle fuel: currently, around 17 million cubic meters of crude gas is produced which is sold to Scandinavian Biogas, who then transform the raw gas into vehicle gas.
3. Low-Carbon Water Management
Climate change is a direct challenge to water managers as it can induce severe droughts and floods, affecting groundwater and surface availability and quality. At the same time, providing water and wastewater services can contribute to further emissions.
To decouple water consumption from energy usage, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission offers a grant for non-residential customers to upgrade or replace their existing on‐site indoor water‐using equipment. The grants can be used for fixed water‐saving retrofit projects (use of standardized equipment that results in predictable water savings) and custom retrofit projects (unique or site‐specific equipment retrofits that result in project‐specific water savings).
4. Smart Water, Smart Metering
With rapid urbanization and growing water scarcity from climate change, cities are being challenged to deliver water as efficiently as possible as well as balance rising demand with limited supplies. To manage limited water supplies efficiently, cities and their water utilities are turning to smart meters.
Singapore’s Public Utilities Board is trialing a smart water network in which the utility will collect detailed data on household water consumption to build customer consumption profiles and identify consumption patterns and trends. The data will then be analyzed and provided to customers enabling them to monitor their water usage patterns and better manage water consumption.
5. Water-efficient Urban Farming
By 2050, two-thirds of the global population will be living in cities, concentrating demand for both food and water. Recognizing these challenges, many cities, at all levels of development, are addressing the water-food nexus.
Kansas City’s KC Grow: Water Access Program provides grants to help community groups and farmers access water for their gardens and farms. Before small grants can be provided, a water audit is conducted to analyze the garden’s or farm’s water use, plot size, and the area’s average annual rainfall. The completed audit will recommend ways to increase water access and affordability. It will also provide soil improvement and conservation recommendations, best mulching practices, and water budget estimates.