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Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects
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Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2025 | Viewed by 2436

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Nelson Carriço

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Barreiro School of Technology, Rua Américo da Silva Marinho, 2839-001 Lavradio, Portugal
Interests: multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA); infrastructure asset management (IAM); hydraulic modeling; digitalization of urban water systems; water and energy efficiencies and circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Maria Céu Almeida

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC), Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: energy; performance assessment; urban water systems; water-energy nexus; infrastructure asset management; systems analysis, monitoring & modeling; management of inflows to urban water systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We cordially invite you to submit a manuscript to our Special Issue, entitled “Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects”. This Special Issue will focus on the following topics:

  • Water-sensitive urban design;
  • Urban water management planning;
  • Smart technologies for water monitoring and management;
  • Green infrastructure for urban drainage and stormwater management;
  • Urban flood risk management.

We welcome submissions that address innovative solutions, emerging challenges, and prospects in urban water management. Your valuable research and insights would be an excellent addition to this Special Issue.

Dr. Nelson Carriço
Dr. Maria Do Céu Almeida
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban water infrastructure
  • sustainable water management
  • urban drainage systems
  • resilient water systems
  • climate change adaptation
  • green infrastructure
  • smart water technologies
  • urban water governance
  • circular water economy

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 6302 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Low-Impact Development (LID) Parameters Using SWMM and Response Surface Methodology at the Community Scale
by Ersong Wang, Guojun Li, Yan Li, Peng Chen, Ge Meng and Yongwei Gong
Water 2025, 17(8), 1165; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17081165 - 14 Apr 2025
Viewed by 333
Abstract
The parameters of Low-Impact Development (LID) facilities significantly influence their operational performance and runoff control effectiveness at the site. Despite extensive research on LID effectiveness, limited studies have focused on optimizing design parameters at a community-wide scale, integrating both hydrological and statistical methodologies. [...] Read more.
The parameters of Low-Impact Development (LID) facilities significantly influence their operational performance and runoff control effectiveness at the site. Despite extensive research on LID effectiveness, limited studies have focused on optimizing design parameters at a community-wide scale, integrating both hydrological and statistical methodologies. A novel approach to optimizing LID design parameters was presented in this study. This study established a community-scale SWMM model, identified the key parameters by the Morris screening method, and determined the reasonable parameter ranges based on runoff control effects. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the key parameters under different return periods and impervious area ratios. The results showed that key LID parameters for runoff volume control were the berm height of the surface layer of sunken greenbelt (SG_Surface_H), the conductivity of the soil layer of sunken greenbelt (SG_Soil_I), the permeability of the pavement layer of permeable pavement (PP_Pavement_I), and the thickness of the storage layer of permeable pavement (PP_Storage_T). The reasonable ranges were 50–265 mm, 5–80 mm/h, 50–140 mm/h, and 100–165 mm, respectively. The key LID parameters for peak flow reduction were SG_Surface_H, SG_Soil_I, PP_Pavement_I, and the berm height of the surface layer of vegetated swale (VS_Surface_H). The reasonable ranges were 50–260 mm, 5–50 mm/h, 50–195 mm/h, and 50–145 mm, respectively. The optimization results of LID parameters showed that for the runoff volume control rate, the optimization strategy involved increasing SG_Surface_H as the return period increased and when the impervious area ratio was large, especially in the rehabilitation of old communities. Meanwhile, the optimal value of SG_Soil_I for runoff volume control was greater than that for peak flow reduction. In contrast, the optimal value of PP_Pavement_I was larger for peak flow reduction. This study provides a significant reference for LID planning and design by emphasizing the optimization of LID design parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects)
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16 pages, 45740 KiB  
Article
Urban Development with Gentrification Traces and Its Effects on Drinking Water Consumption in San Luis Potosí City
by Abraham Cardenas-Tristan, Sergio Alfredo Galvan-Medina, Oscar Reyes-Cardenas, Hao Wu, Rodolfo Cisneros-Almazan and Maria Guadalupe Galindo-Mendoza
Water 2025, 17(8), 1111; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17081111 - 8 Apr 2025
Viewed by 614
Abstract
In the last 50 years, the metropolitan area of the capital city of San Luis Potosí has experienced, like other cities in the world, a rapid growth in urban settlements due to various causes. In this context, vertical housing developments, both residential and [...] Read more.
In the last 50 years, the metropolitan area of the capital city of San Luis Potosí has experienced, like other cities in the world, a rapid growth in urban settlements due to various causes. In this context, vertical housing developments, both residential and for living purposes, have been emerging successively in different parts of the metropolis, while at the same time a water deficit is increasing, from which it becomes insufficient to meet the demands for the coming years. Using several case studies with such characteristics, as well as other aspects like gentrification traits, and through a comparative qualitative analysis that incorporates empirical socioeconomic observations, along with processes in geospatial analysis, this article investigates the impact these types of urban developments have on the distribution of drinking water among the different sectors served by the municipal water utility in order to gain a clear understanding of water volumes accessible to the population of San Luis Potosí City, considering the looming impact of increasing traces of the gentrification phenomenon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects)
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19 pages, 7042 KiB  
Article
Hydrological Effects of Bioretention Facilities in an Environment with a High Groundwater Table and Their Impacts on Groundwater
by Yuhui Wang, Yilan Yang, Haolang Liu, Zizhen Qi, Siyu Tian, Xiangjing Mo, Hanbo Chen and Yongwei Gong
Water 2025, 17(7), 1096; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17071096 - 6 Apr 2025
Viewed by 294
Abstract
With urbanization accelerating, low-impact development (LID) facilities, particularly bioretention facilities, play a crucial role in urban water management. However, rising groundwater tables present challenges for their application in high-water-table areas. This study experimentally evaluated the impact of shallow groundwater tables on the hydrological [...] Read more.
With urbanization accelerating, low-impact development (LID) facilities, particularly bioretention facilities, play a crucial role in urban water management. However, rising groundwater tables present challenges for their application in high-water-table areas. This study experimentally evaluated the impact of shallow groundwater tables on the hydrological performance of bioretention facilities. The experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of different groundwater table levels, soil media types, runoff ratios, and rainfall characteristics on hydrological responses. It also examined their impact on drainage pipe design and groundwater recharge. Results showed that as the groundwater table rose from 0.2 m to 0.5 m, the drainage pipe discharge increased (Facility #1: 52%→76%, Facility #3: 31%→58%) while the groundwater recharge decreased (Facility #1: 44%→17%, Facility #3: 63%→39%). This indicates that a higher groundwater table intensifies the diversion effect of the drainage pipe, increasing the proportion of stormwater discharged while reducing the proportion infiltrating to recharge the groundwater. Under moderate to heavy rainfall, sandy loam reduced the drainage time by 41–43% and increased the groundwater recharge by up to 80%. Without drainage pipes, sandy loam enhanced the recharge rates (α = 0.87), and #3 exhibited superior infiltration. Rainfall intensity and interval significantly influenced the hydrological performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects)
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19 pages, 10038 KiB  
Article
Forecasting Evaporation Trends Amid Climate Change for Sustainable Water Management in Semi-Arid Regions
by Ban Al-Hasani, Mawada Abdellatif, Iacopo Carnacina, Clare Harris, Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi and Muthanna M. A. Al-Shammari
Water 2025, 17(7), 1039; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17071039 - 1 Apr 2025
Viewed by 485
Abstract
Evapotranspiration plays a vital role in the design of irrigation systems, water resource management, and hydrological modeling, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. This study focuses on projecting evaporation rates using three machine learning models: a Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), [...] Read more.
Evapotranspiration plays a vital role in the design of irrigation systems, water resource management, and hydrological modeling, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. This study focuses on projecting evaporation rates using three machine learning models: a Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), in combination with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction. Meteorological data from 1980 to 2022, including the minimum and maximum temperatures, rainfall, and solar radiation, were used to train and test the models. Projections were made for Kirkuk Governorate by downscaling five global climate models under two climate scenarios: SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5. These scenarios were used to predict future evaporation rates at a rainwater harvesting site for four future periods (P1, P2, P3, and P4) and compare them to the historical reference period (RP). The performance of the models was evaluated using three statistical metrics: Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), and the regression coefficient (R2). Among the models, the MLP demonstrated superior predictive accuracy, with values of MAE = 0.02 mm, RMSE = 0.10 mm, and R2 = 0.95. The SVM model showed a slightly lower performance, with MAE = 0.21 mm, RMSE = 0.13 mm, and R2 = 0.92. The GPR model’s performance was comparable, yielding MAE = 0.22 mm, RMSE = 0.37 mm, and R2 = 0.91. The historical reference period (RP) showed an average evaporation rate of 1370.9 mm per year. Under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, evaporation is projected to increase by 57.2%, while under SSP5-8.5, the increase is projected to be 85.9%. Under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, the evaporation rate for period P1 (2031–2050) showed a slight increase of 1.61%, while for periods P2 (2051–2070) and P3 (2071–2090), the increases were smaller, at 1.89% and 1.93%, respectively. The highest increase occurred in P4 (2091–2100), with a rate of 2.68%, compared to an observed value increase of 1.33%. These findings suggest that climate change will significantly elevate evaporation rates in the region, emphasizing the need for adaptive water resource management strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects)
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12 pages, 2550 KiB  
Article
Assessing Air Pocket Pressure Pulses in Sealed Manholes of Urban Drainage Systems Under Pressurisation Conditions
by Oscar E. Coronado-Hernández, Javier A. Mouthón-Bello, Alfonso Arrieta-Pastrana, Modesto Pérez-Sánchez and Helena M. Ramos
Water 2025, 17(7), 984; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17070984 - 27 Mar 2025
Viewed by 382
Abstract
An entrapped air pocket can induce pressure surges in sewer systems. Previous studies on entrapped air in these systems have focused on analysing its effects under conditions where air is expelled. This research introduces a mathematical model to calculate pressure surges caused by [...] Read more.
An entrapped air pocket can induce pressure surges in sewer systems. Previous studies on entrapped air in these systems have focused on analysing its effects under conditions where air is expelled. This research introduces a mathematical model to calculate pressure surges caused by air pocket compression in a sealed manhole (without an orifice size) that may occur at the output of a pumping station. The model is based on the rigid water column theory, the polytropic law, and the continuity equation. The proposed model is validated using a 7.3 m long experimental facility equipped with a sealed chamber simulating a sealed manhole cover. It is demonstrated to accurately predict the peak pressure head of 18.9 metres and the associated pressure oscillations. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to assess variations in model behaviour. Furthermore, the model effectively captures the system’s final conditions. Lastly, a case study illustrates the model’s applicability to a water installation with a length of 250 m. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Management: Challenges and Prospects)
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