Upgrading to urban water system 3.0 through sponge city construction

doi:10.1007/s11783-017-0960-4

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2017, Vol. 11

Issue (4) : 9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0960-4

FEATURE ARTICLE

Upgrading to urban water system 3.0 through sponge city construction

Nanqi Ren¹, Qian Wang^1,², Qiuru Wang¹, Hong Huang¹, Xiuheng Wang¹(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
². Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing 100035, China

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Abstract

Cities in China confront full-scale and serious water crises due to urbanization.

System 2.0 with fragmented gray engineering measures showed inadaptability.

A novel water-cycling system is developed to systematically solve water crises.

Multi-purpose system 3.0 with integrated strategy shows powerful vitality.

Urban water system 3.0 (Blue, gray, brown and yellow arrows represent water flow, wastewater flow, resource and energy respectively)

Facing the pressure of excessive water consumption, high pollution load and rainstorm waterlogging, linear and centralized urban water system, system 2.0, as well as traditional governance measures gradually exposed characters of water-sensitivity, vulnerability and unsustainability, subsequently resulting in a full-blown crisis of water shortage, water pollution and waterlogging. To systematically relieve such crisis, we established healthy urban water-cycling system 3.0, in which decentralized sewerage systems, spongy infrastructures and ecological rivers play critical roles. Through unconventional water resource recycling, whole process control of pollutions and ecological restoration, system 3.0 with integrated management measures, is expected to fit for multiple purposes which involve environmental, ecological, economic and social benefits. With advantages of flexibility, resilience and sustainability, water system 3.0 will show an increasingly powerful vitality in the near future.

Keywords Water crisis Urban water system Spongy city Decentralized system Multi-purpose

Corresponding Author(s): Xiuheng Wang

Issue Date: 23 June 2017

Cite this article:

Nanqi Ren,Qian Wang,Qiuru Wang, et al. Upgrading to urban water system 3.0 through sponge city construction[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2017, 11(4): 9.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-017-0960-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2017/V11/I4/9

Fig.1 Urban water system 2.0 (Blue, gray, brown and yellow arrows represent water flow, wastewater flow, resource and energy respectively)

Tab.1 Fragmented engineering measures in water system 2.0 and outlook for future water system

Fig.2 Urban water system 3.0 (Blue, gray, brown and yellow arrows represent water flow, wastewater flow, resource and energy respectively). In this system, unconventional water resources gained through rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling not only meet social demands and ecological supply, but also reduce the pollution load. Microcirculations are formed by linking different sections of wastewater treatment plant, ecological urban river, wetland and spongy city with each other, which ensure healthy and sustainable water system. Additionally, future wastewater treatment plants are expected to realize energy self-reliance and resource recovery such as nutrients returning to farmland

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