Ecological approach for more efficiently urban water management and improvement

Abstract

     Retention and storage of available water resources is a prime concern in water-starved urban cities, such as Singapore, Sydney (Australia) or some cities in Southern Central Vietnam. For efficient management of the water resources and ecosystems, it is necessary to have maximum water harvesting, improved water quality and aesthetics. To this end, we have: i) identified ways to improve retention capacity through peak flow reduction and runoff delay using green roofs; ii) found good biosorbents such as crabshell and Sargassum that is low cost and locally available; iii) identified tropical, terrestrial plant species that can adapt to an urban freshwater habitat and remediate nutrients and heavy metals from water bodies; iv) studied possible flooding risks posed by the introduction of plants in our waterways in relation to plant density and degree of submergence through flume experiments; v) used chip-based technologies to understand the microbial diversity and their functional roles in urban aquatic environments. Our approach involves knowledge creation through modelling and data collection in the laboratory and field after which results are integrated to define interdisciplinary urban water management strategies. Our integrated approach, which encompasses macro- to micro-level perspective, would contribute towards improving urban water management.