Urbanization and Water Resources

Abstract

The world is slowly becoming urban as a result of economic development and distribution of jobs. In developed countries, population is stabilized and the urban population is already a large one, but in countries under development, the urban population is increasing and by 2050 the world’s population should be of about nine billion with the majority of the growth occurring in the cities. Urbanization increases the competition over the same natural resources (air, water and land) within a small space, for all human needs of life, production and recreation. The environment, formed by natural space and by the population, is a living and dynamic being that generates interconnected effects, which if not controlled, can lead the city to chaos. In the urban environment, the modifying force is urbanization. Water infrastructure usually includes water and sanitation. Commonly, sanitation refers only to the collection and treatment of domestic and industrial effluents, and do not include drainage and solid wastes. The services of Urban Waters, supplied by the city should include water supply, sewage system and treatment, draining and solid wastes. These are components of a sustainable urban environment that takes into consideration environmental conservation, health and socioeconomic aspects of urban development. The main problems related to the city and to these elements have been managed in a fragmented way. The Urban Master Plan usually does not associate all the infrastructures to urban waters. The management of urban waters is also fragmented since there is not an integration of services, or a unique company managing the set of services. The results are poor with no indication of efficiency. This article presents a vision of unity of the main aspects related to the development of urban waters and its sustainability. Based on the problems found, we have presented the guidelines for an Integrated Urban Water Management and the necessary elements to plan for these services aiming at obtaining the main goals of water management, which are, basically to improve the quality of life and protect the environment.