Related EU Projects

The CoSuDS project aimed at promoting the transition towards smart stormwater management from a collaborative perspective, bridging the gap between pilot implementation to long-term city strategy. The project co-developed a “CoSuDS Toolbox” used for defining transition pathways in cities, being applied at district level for a city in Spain and integrating multiple actors in the process through collaborative charrettes.

The CoSuDS project analysed alternatives at district scale in Castellón (approx. 170,000 inhabitants, medium-sized city in Eastern Spain) and provided local authorities with outcomes to make informed decisions in terms of energy efficiency, sustainability and risk mitigation, guiding their transition towards improved stormwater governance.

The CoSuDS project undertook collaborative charrettes involving all actors concerning urban development. (A charrette is an intensive planning session where local government, citizens, designers and other stakeholders collaborate for establishing solutions to a given challenge. It provides a forum for ideas, giving feedback to the designers.)

The CoSuDS project covered interactions among three subsystems: water (flood and pollution risks reduction and water efficiency), energy (reducing energy consumption in buildings and the urban water cycle) and built environment (providing additional social and environmental benefits).

https://www.iiama.upv.es/iiama/src/elementos/Proyectos/CKIC_COSUDS/CoSuDS_Final%20Report.pdf

The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme (WELS), introduced in July 2006, is a key program in the suite of options recently implemented by government agencies and water utilities to address water scarcity. WELS primarily influences water consumption by providing consumers with information about the water efficiency of all washing machines, dishwashers, toilets, urinals, taps and showers sold in Australia – thus enabling consumers to consider water efficiency as a factor in their purchase decisions.

However, the WELS program is not without costs. Governments, suppliers, retailers and consumers of WELS‐products potentially incur costs due to WELS activities and requirements. The Department of the Environment, Heritage, Water and the Arts, in its capacity as the WELS Regulator, commissioned the Institute of Sustainable Futures to analyse the cost‐effectiveness of WELS in contributing to the overarching objective of water security, compared to other urban water management options. Consistent with the regulatory impact statement conducted in 2003, this analysis uses a time horizon of 2005‐06 to 2020‐21.

The study found that WELS was significantly more cost-effective to achieve water security, when compared to the current or planned demand and supply options in Australia. In comparison to other water security options, WELS was found to have a relatively good cost-effectiveness. As a result, it is likely that WELS is part of a package of options to achieve water security in Australian jurisdictions. The study also suggests that at least theoretically, mandatory labelling can enable water users to respond to increases in water prices.   

Chong, J., Kazaglis A. and Giurco D. 2008, Cost effectiveness analysis of WELS – the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme. Prepared for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney.  

The study has taken the implementation of traditional drainage techniques (hard drainage systems into sewage systems or separate surface drainage systems) as a baseline, and compared the costs and benefits of replacing traditional systems with SUDS . An initial assessment of SUDS cost and benefits showed that permeable paving costs were less on a lifecycle basis than those of traditional surfaces and have reduced maintenance costs. Water butts provide economic benefits via savings in water costs. On the other hand, it was found that other types of SUDS such as swales and filter drains tend to show a cost-benefit ratio of less than 1, therefore implying that they cost more and provide fewer benefits. Where relevant, these systems were applied at the end-of-life of the current traditional systems or hard surfaces. The available data on surface areas for undertaking SUDS retrofitting came from the Generalised Land Use database from the Communities and Local Government of the United Kingdom .

Environment Agency (2007). Cost-benefit of SUDS retrofit in urban areas. [online] Environment Agency. Available at:

Link

[Accessed 14 Feb. 2018].

Control of seawater intrusion through a series of injection-extraction wells was studied using a vertically integrated, two-dimensional, sharp interface model. The model is based on the Galerkin weighted-residual technique and has been tested against the existing analytical solutions. The model is then cast in terms of the non-dimensional parameters, and a series of parametric studies are conducted to obtain the characteristic curves for the cases of a seawater extraction barrier alone and its combination with the freshwater injection barrier. These curves could be used to assess the effect of variations in the input parameters on the position of the seawater-freshwater interface toe position.

Mahesha, A. (1996). Control of Seawater Intrusion through Injection-Extraction Well System. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, [online] 122(5), pp.314-317. Available at:

Link

[Accessed 31 Jan. 2018]