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The increasing population growth, urbanization, climate change, mismanagement of water resources, and poorly planned water distribution systems with negligible integration with spatial planning are increasing water stress in many countries across the globe. Even though optimization of water distribution systems and integrated water management practices are being implemented in many cities and regions, there is a lack of an integrated study considering the urban water supply system, planning, and management. This paper identifies the various parameters and indicators to be considered along with the relevant tools and techniques for optimizing water resources, optimum water resource allocation, and integrated water supply and management. During the research, 116 indicators were identified through a literature review, followed by a three-round Delphi survey to attain consensus from 30 experts. At the end of the third round, 72 indicators achieved maximum consensus among the experts (W=0.741). The identified indicators can be used for developing an integrated model for urban water supply systems, planning, and management. The changing climate, increasing urbanization, and rampant population growth are creating multiple challenges of water quality, water scarcity, floods, and droughts all over the globe. For present and future water security, it is essential to integrate the three aspects of urban waters, i.e., water supply systems or the different water resources like surface water, groundwater, recycled water, reclaimed water, and rainwater; water supply planning, which considers the planning for the present and future water demand, a contingency plan in case of emergency and water distribution system integrating the topography and spatial planning of a city or region; and water supply management, which addresses the allocation, distribution, and management of water resources along with recycling and reuse of wastewater. For the integration of these three aspects, an integrated model needs to be developed addressing all these together. In this paper, different indicators that should be considered for the integrated model have been derived through expert opinions followed by an empirical analysis to finalize the list of indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how in‐depth interviews and content analysis of water‐related policies and plans were used to assess good governance principles (transparency, effectiveness, equity, accountability, and appropriate scale) for Lake Wausau in central Wisconsin. The purpose of the research was to support and inform development of a lake management plan. One of the key findings was that the existing system of water governance lacked transparency. In addition, responsibility for and benefits from potential improved lake conditions were distributed unevenly and inequitably among stakeholders. Local and county plans were vague and lacked strong language (e.g., "should" vs. "must" comply) to indicate which actions were required. Both barriers to and opportunities for creating a more effective system were identified. This paper offers suggestions for improving the governance system, discusses the limits of local watershed planning for overcoming watershed management issues, and provides suggestions for anyone wishing to undertake governance analyses to support water resources management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, there has been an increasing trend for water supply managers to look towards the use of water demand management ( WDM) initiatives as an alternative to other more traditional approaches for ensuring that water supply can meet demand. Despite increasing recognition of the wide range of benefits possible through these WDM initiatives, there are few published works that are readily accessible to decision makers laying out concepts and methods through which a valuation of WDM initiatives can be made. To address the issue, this paper describes a comprehensive framework to evaluate WDM and alternative initiatives. It describes the results of applying the framework ex-post to the assessment of WDM initiatives put in place by Tauranga City Council in New Zealand. This case study is one of the leading examples of the implementation of WDM in New Zealand, and provides a strong value case for investigating other possible applications of WDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change adaptation (CCA) has recently emerged as a new fundamental dimension to be considered in the planning and management of water resources. Because of the need to consider the already perceived changes in climate trends, variability and extremes, and their interactions with evolving social and ecological systems, water management is now facing new challenges. The research community is expected to contribute with innovative methods and tools to support to decision- and policy-makers. Decision Support Systems (DSSs), have a relatively long history in the water management sector. They are usually developed upon pre-existing hydrologic simulation models, providing interfaces for facilitated use beyond the limited group of model developers, and specific routines for decision making (e.g. optimization methods). In recent years, the traditional focus of DSS research has shifted away from the software component, towards the process of structuring problems and aiding decisions, thus including in particular robust methods for stakeholders' participation. The paper analyses the scientific literature, identifies the main open issues, and proposes an innovative operational approach for the implementation of participatory planning and decision-making processes for CCA in the water domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, the water resources planning and management profession has seen a dramatic increase in the development and application of various types of evolutionary algorithms (EAs). This observation is especially true for application of genetic algorithms, arguably the most popular of the several types of EAs. Generally speaking, EAs repeatedly prove to be flexible and powerful tools in solving an array of complex water resources problems. This paper provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art methods and their applications in the field of water resources planning and management. A primary goal in this ASCE Task Committee effort is to identify in an organized fashion some of the seminal contributions of EAs in the areas of water distribution systems, urban drainage and sewer systems, water supply and wastewater treatment, hydrologic and fluvial modeling, groundwater systems, and parameter identification. The paper also identifies major challenges and opportunities for the future, including a call to address larger-scale problems that are wrought with uncertainty and an expanded need for cross fertilization and collaboration among our field’s subdisciplines. Evolutionary computation will continue to evolve in the future as we encounter increased problem complexities and uncertainty and as the societal pressure for more innovative and efficient solutions rises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to infrastructure and regulatory controls, safe drinking water systems require effective institutional arrangements and governance to sustain services and guard against failures. Providing these arrangements involves a complex array of legal, political, and cultural factors that confront engineers and managers with responsibility for the systems. These factors do not fit into a neat package for inclusion in educational programs, but they are of critical importance in the planning and management of complex infrastructure systems. An explanation of institutional issues is explained in the context of the 2015 Flint, Michigan, drinking water crisis, which serves as an object lesson to identify lessons learned and the need for explanation in engineering curricula. The crisis offers riveting lessons about failed water governance management systems and how a sociotechnical system failed, including the infrastructure, management, and governance systems. The focus of the paper is on tools for institutional analysis that go beyond technical topics. Current recommendations for the bachelor's degree in engineering do not address greater training in institutional analysis to any great extent. As a minimum, engineering educators can use case analysis to explain to students about the broader impacts of systems they will plan, design, and manage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human uses of land and water are directly linked and must, therefore, be managed with each other in mind. This paper puts forward an approach for integrating sustainable water resource management into local land use decision-making in the Potomac basin. The approach includes developing a clear understanding of the current regulatory, programmatic, and financial approaches to land use management; identifying opportunities from innovation; and developing a flexible, stakeholder-based framework for moving forward. Four opportunities for innovation were identified in the Potomac basin utilizing this approach, including enhancing coordination and access to information, promoting incentives to achieve desired outcomes, encouraging and promoting innovation, and integrating programs to achieve multiple objectives. The successful integration of land and water decision-making requires a sustained, long-term commitment to improvement rather than a one-time fix mentality. Initial steps for implementation include identifying and engaging diverse partners, as well as establishing channels for information dissemination. The lessons learned from this work may prove valuable to decision-makers in other regions to holistically manage diverse land and water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper describes a simulation-optimization model aimed at helping water utilities determine the best way to operate large-scale multisource water-supply systems. The operation of water systems is optimized taking into account the principal planning objectives defined for interventions that include reducing operating costs, satisfying demand, delivering water of appropriate quality, and not prompting the use of emergency sources. The model allows that these planning objectives may not be completely fulfilled in critical circumstances (e.g., droughts) when goals have to be prioritized by the water utilities. The model is a highly nonlinear programming problem and is solved with the general algebraic modeling system (GAMS), using the MINOS algorithm (GAMS/MINOS). The application of the model to the multimunicipal urban water-supply system of the Algarve shows its capabilities for optimizing the operation considering economic and noneconomic goals included in the objective function and to cope with future shortages in critical circumstances by improving the conjunctive use of the different water sources with interannual planning time horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on planning literature which include approaches to empirical work in regional economics, understanding the barriers to social adaptation, and management of large city regions.

Groundwater is the only significant source of water in the Gaza Strip. Currently, special attention has been paid to improve the water resource situation in the regional level. Reuse of wastewater could be one of the main options to develop the water resource in the region. This strategy will lead to reducing the gap of water deficit between supply and demand. The limited reliable data on existing situation and absence of clearly defined reuse policy for wastewater based on economic and health basis make the reuse of wastewater dream more than a reality in Gaza Strip. The paper provides adequate data on wastewater reuse planning. It evaluates the status of wastewater quality and quantity, treatment faculties and reuse applications. In the same time, the paper gives some regional experiences and recommendations for future management of wastewater reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing social equity has been implicitly and explicitly central to water resources policy for decades. Yet, equity remains largely outside of standard water resources planning and management practices. Inclusion of equity within water resources infrastructure is inhibited by barriers including an incomplete conceptual understanding of equity, a perceived lack of quantitative and qualitative equity metrics, unclear connections between equity and standard project planning frameworks, and the absence of concrete examples. To facilitate greater practical inclusion of social equity in water resources practices, we describe equity relative to dimensions of distribution, procedure, and recognition and identify metrics associated with each. We then map these dimensions of equity onto different stages of a water resources project life cycle. We discuss how inequities are often perpetuated by current approaches and highlight case studies that promote one or more of the facets of equity. Rather than providing a prescriptive solution to "achieve" equity within water resources practices, we emphasize the need for contextualized approaches that include pragmatic steps toward more equitable practices and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water and resource availability in sufficient quantity and quality for anthropogenic needs represents one of the main challenges in the coming decades. To prepare for upcoming challenges such as increased urbanization and climate change related consequences, innovative and improved resource management concepts are indispensable. In recent years we have developed and applied the urban harvest approach (UHA). The UHA aims to model and quantify the urban water cycle on different temporal and spatial scales. This approach allowed us to quantify the impact of the implementation of water saving measures and new water treatment concepts in cities. In this paper we will introduce the UHA and its application for urban water cycles. Furthermore, we will show first results for an extension to energy cycles and highlight future research items (e.g. nutrients, water-energy-nexus). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent decades, there has been an intensification of the use of water resources to meet the various demands of the society and, in this bias, groundwater has been used with a greater frequency and volume, due to the lesser influence of meteorological variations on its availability. On the other hand, the collection of groundwater is more expensive when compared to the surface water, since it depends on geological surveys for its use. In the surroundings of the Furnas reservoir, located in the south of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, there are demands for the use of groundwater resources such as irrigation, industry and, human consumption, among others. In this sense, the study aims to understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of underground grants granted in the Hydrographic Circumscription of the Surroundings of the Furnas reservoir in the period from 2001 to 2020, in order to subsidize decision support actions to the management bodies in the various administrative spheres. Therefore, data from underground grants from the Minas Gerais Institute for Water Management were used, where they were processed through electronic spreadsheets and descriptive statistics techniques. On the other hand, the Geographic Information System was used to obtain continuous density surfaces of deferred grants, as well as consumed flows. Results show that 624 underground grants were granted in the study area between 2001 and 2020 and that, from 2013 onwards, there was a significant increase in the amount granted, and the user segments that had the greatest demands represented the supply of public/human consumption and irrigation/agribusiness consumption respectively. In this context, it is essential that the managing body, as well as the Hydrographic Basin Committee around the Furnas Reservoir, carries out the planning and the management in relation to the groundwater resources, in order to avoid future scenarios of conflicts due to the multiple uses of the underground water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on topics related to history and planning including attitudes towards menstruation in Elizabethan England, sexual fantasy in modern America, and feminism.

Participation of stakeholders in planning processes is increasingly seen as an essential element in adaptive and integrated water management and sometimes a policy requirement from higher-level governance bodies. Despite an extensive literature on the advantages and disadvantages of public participation and criteria for effective participation, not much is known about how water managers should proceed in a given context. Water-management agencies have to face the challenge of effectively involving stakeholders in developing their water-management plans and must design and implement a balanced process approach among the available time, finances, organization, and facilitation without compromising their authority. This article presents a participatory planning process designed and implemented at Water Board "Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden" (HDSR) in the center of The Netherlands. For a period of 2 yrs, these three groups were involved in various ways, participating in different types of meetings and workshops, using a range of participatory tools and techniques. The process and results of the three groups were monitored and evaluated using a tailored evaluation strategy. This paper analyzes the way the design and implementation of the process is perceived by both the conveners and participants and suggests practical lessons for water managers. Based on our case, it is argued that a careful process design, a thorough and continuous stakeholder analysis, building reflective workshops within and after the process, and ensuring experienced and qualified process leaders can greatly enhance the adaptive capacity and successful outcome of the participatory planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water governance occurs at multiple levels, from the local to the supra-national, which are often highly fragmented. The interconnected nature of water requires interactions among these multiple governance levels. Public participation may foster such interactions. Thus, many water management reforms involved decentralization and public participation worldwide over the last decades. Yet, it is not demonstrated how these reforms may improve water resources sustainability. Their analysis in the literature does not show concretely how interactions among multiple levels materialize and are influenced by participation. As such, the question addressed is how interactions among multiple levels of water governance manifest over time in a participatory intervention. Using a case study in the Rwenzori region in Uganda, this article compares the multi-level interactions before and during a participatory process. The latter has been purposely implemented to bridge gaps between local and provincial levels through a participatory planning process centred on the provincial level. Four types of flows were analyzed: information and knowledge, hydrosocial, financial and human. Our analysis shows that using artefacts like the role-playing game and planning matrix fostered bi-directional information and knowledge flows. Hydrosocial flows did not change in depth but the legitimacy of the two organizations implementing the participatory process was reinforced. Project financial flows were injected through a provincial academic institution, who is not a regular budget recipient. They were therefore superimposed on existing budgeting process. We conclude by providing suggestions for the engineering of participatory processes in order to foster more collaborative and effective multi-level water governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of this study was to assess the Oregon public's risk perception concerning Oregon's water resources. The state has a long-held reputation of having an overabundance of water; however, water shortages, droughts, and impaired water bodies throughout reveal this is not an accurate perception. Climate change models and population growth are projected to exacerbate Oregon's water situation. A 2010 survey questionnaire was distributed to 1,563 randomly selected Oregon households to elicit the risk perception of ten water-related activities. With a response rate of 51%, the study found the public perceived agricultural and forestry practices as the two greatest risks and private wells as the lowest risk activity. A Risk Perception index found on average the public view the state's water resources at a moderate risk. These findings can assist water resource managers throughout the Western United States as they develop and implement management strategies in response to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir operations must respond to changing conditions, such as climate, water demand, regulations, and sedimentation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) can reallocate reservoir storage to respond to such changes. We assembled and analyzed a database of reservoir reallocations implemented and proposed by the Corps. While only a small portion of total reservoir storage nationwide has been reallocated, there are substantial differences in reallocation frequency and magnitude across the nation: some Corps Districts and Divisions use reallocation while others do not, relying more on discretion and small‐scale adaptation of operations. This difference illustrates how water resource agencies like the Corps decentralize management decisions to allow responding to disparate conditions. Decentralized decision‐making provides a responsive approach to water management, while centralized and hierarchical decision‐making is a slower, more deliberative approach. Decentralized decision‐making may lead to the accumulation of short‐term, local decisions over time to the point that the system is managed differently than anticipated. Reallocation, which is a form of planned adaptive management, can be accommodating of multiple competing demands and different stakeholders, yet expensive and less temporally responsive. The challenge for any large water resource management agency is to balance between local‐level, responsive discretion vs. centralized, planned decision‐making. Research Impact Statement: The Corps of Engineers reallocates reservoir storage to adaptively manage water infrastructure. Different districts of the Corps reallocate differently, illustrating federal decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, in the wake of a severe, statewide drought, the Texas Legislature passed an omnibus water bill that, among other things, fundamentally changed how Texas develops its state water plans. The resulting 5-year, bottom-up regional approach to planning has since formed the basis of the last 4 state water plans. Nearly a generation after the regional water planning process began, we can now point to some significant achievements and identify key factors in the success of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pacific Northwest is expected to witness changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change. In this study, we enhance the Snake River Planning Model ( SRPM) by modeling the feedback loop between incidental recharge and surface water supply resulting from surface water and groundwater extraction for irrigation and provide a case study involving climate change impacts and management scenarios. The new System Dynamics-Snake River Planning Model ( SD- SRPM) is calibrated to flow at Box Canyon Springs located along a major outlet of the East Snake Plain Aquifer. A calibration of the model to flow at Box Canyon Springs, based on historic diversions (1950-1995) resulted in an r2 value of 0.74 and a validation (1996-2005) r2 value of 0.60. After adding irrigation entities to the model an r2 value of 0.91, 0.88, and 0.87 were maintained for modeled vs. observed (1991-2005) end-of-month reservoir content in Jackson Lake, Palisades, and American Falls, the three largest irrigation reservoirs in the system. The scenarios that compared the impacts of climate change were based on ensemble mean precipitation change scenarios and estimated changes to crop evapotranspiration ( ET). Increased ET, despite increased precipitation, generally increased surface water shortages and discharge of springs. This study highlights the need to develop and implement models that integrate the human-natural system to understand the impacts of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on planning-related topics which include an examination of the popularity of dancing in New Zealand during the 1920s and 1930s, an examination of how religious diversity in community affects church membership in a period of high growth and social change and an examination of child labor in urban industries in the Dutch Republic.

The article presents abstracts of planning. They include "The Fall and Rise of the Local Community: A Comparative and Historical Perspective," by Hellmut Wollman, "The Compact Versus the Dispersed City: History of Planning Ideas on Sofia's Urban Form," by Sonia Hirt, and "A Paradigm for Practice," by Ronald D. Brunner.

Presents abstracts of environmental planning research. They include "Integrating a performance-based approach into practice: A case study," "Local commitment to state-mandated planning in coastal North Carolina" and "Fiscal consequences of concentrated poverty in a metropolitan region."

Presents several abstracts of studies concerning land use planning. "North American Urban History: The Everyday Politics and Spatial Logics of Metropolitan Life," by Mary Corbin Sies; "The Myth of Liberty Place: Race and Public Memory in New Orleans," by Jacob A. Wagner; "Planned Industrial Districts in Chicago: Firms, Networks, and Boundaries," by Robert Lewis.

Effective water resources management requires assessments of water availability within a framework of complex institutions and infrastructure employed to manage extremely variable stream flow shared by numerous, often competing, water users and diverse types of use. The Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) modeling system is fundamental to water allocation and planning in the state of Texas in the United States. Integration of environmental flow standards into both the modeling system and comprehensive statewide water management is a high priority for continuing research and development. The public domain WRAP software and documentation are generalized for application any place in the world. Lessons learned in developing and implementing the modeling system in Texas are relevant worldwide. The modeling system combines: (1) detailed simulation of water right systems, interstate compacts, international treaties, federal/state/local agreements, and operations of storage and conveyance facilities, (2) simulation of river system hydrology, and (3) statistical frequency and reliability analyses. The continually evolving modeling system has been implemented in Texas by a water management community that includes the state legislature, planning and regulatory agencies, river authorities, water districts, cities, industries, engineering consulting firms, and university researchers. The shared modeling system contributes significantly to integration of water allocation, planning, system operations, and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review evaluates Minoan and Indus Valley hydro-technologies in southeastern Greece and Indus Valley Pakistan, respectively. The Minoan civilization first inhabited Crete and several Aegean islands shortly after the Late Neolithic times and flourished during the Bronze Age (ca 3200–1100 BC). At that time, the Minoan civilization developed fundamental technologies and reached its pinnacle as the first and most important European culture. Concurrently, the Indus Valley civilization populated the eastern bank of the Indus River, its tributaries in Pakistan, and the Ganges plains in India and Nadia (Bangladesh), spreading over an area of about one million km2. Its total population was unknown; however, an estimated 43,000 people resided at Harappa. The urban hydro-technologies, characteristics of a civilization can be determined by two specific aspects, the natural and the social environment. These two aspects cover a variety of factors, such as climate and social conditions, type of terrain, water supply, agriculture, water logging, sanitation and sewerage, hygienic conditions of communities, and racial features of the population. Therefore, these factors were used to understand the water resources management practices in early civilizations (e.g., Minoan and Indus Valley) and similarities, despite the large geographic distance between places of origin. Also discussed are the basic principles and characteristics of water management sustainability in both civilizations and a comparison of basic water supply and sanitation practices through the long history of the two civilizations. Finally, sustainability issues and lessons learned are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]