Urban Water Management

Urban water management takes into consideration the total water cycle, facilitates the integration of water factors early in the land planning process, and encourages all levels of government and industry to adopt water management and urban planning practices that benefit the community, the economy and the environment.

Urban water refers to all water that occurs in the urban environment and includes consideration of natural surface water and groundwater, water provided for potable use, sewage and other 'waste' waters, stormwater, flood services, recycling of water (third pipe, stormwater harvesting, sewer mining, managed aquifer recharge, etc.), techniques to improve water use efficiency and reduce demands, water sensitive urban design techniques, living streams, environmental water and protection of natural wetlands, waterways and estuaries in urban landscapes.

Wastewater Management

Wastewater is any water that requires cleaning after it is used. This includes water that has been used for laundry, bathing, dishwashing, toilets, garbage disposals, and industrial purposes. Wastewater also includes rainwater that has accumulated pollutants as it runs into oceans, lakes, and rivers. Pollutants are unwanted chemicals or materials that contaminate air, soil, and water.

The goal of wastewater management is to clean and protect water. This means that water must be clean enough so that it can be used by people for drinking and washing, and by industry for commercial purposes. It also must be clean enough to release into oceans, lakes, and rivers after it has been used.

Waste Management

Waste can be solid, liquid, or gasses and each type has different methods of disposal and management. Waste management deals with all types of waste, including industrial, biological, household, municipal, organic, biomedical, radioactive wastes. In some cases, waste can pose a threat to human health. Health issues are associated throughout the entire process of waste management. Health issues can also arise indirectly or directly. Directly, through the handling of solid waste, and indirectly through the consumption of water, soil and food. Waste is produced by human activity, for example, the extraction and processing of raw materials. Waste management is intended to reduce adverse effects of waste on human health, the environment, planetary resources and aesthetics.

The aim of waste management is to reduce the dangerous effects of such waste on the environment and human health. A big part of waste management deals with municipal solid waste, which is created by industrial, commercial, and household activity.

Wasted Energy Solutions

Reducing wasted energy is good for the environment and good for the bottom line. There are many ways to reduce energy waste, but what they all have in common is that they will cut your utility bills and your greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. For example, reducing energy waste in manufacturing and improving production line efficiency is essential if manufacturers are to comply with mandatory greenhouse gas emissions regulations. As more and more industries transition to renewable energy in order to meet their sustainability goals, flexibility in the way electricity is generated combined with energy conservation and storage techniques can help you reduce power consumption and save energy. Services such as Demand Response are a way to increase flexibility and reduce energy waste.

Natural Environment Protection

The natural environment gives us a wealth of services that are difficult to measure in dollars.

Natural areas help clean our air, purify our water, produce food and medicines, reduce chemical and noise pollution, slow floodwaters, and cool our streets. We call this work ‘ecosystem services’.

Trees help reduce the ‘heat island’ effect – that’s when heat is absorbed by hard surfaces in urban areas (such as unshaded pavements, roads and buildings). This heat is then radiated back out, making urban areas significantly hotter than surrounding regions.