Water & Waste

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

In the United States, centralized water and wastewater systems are aging, energy-intensive, and fail to remove nutrients as well as emerging pollutants that compromise ecosystem health and limit the ability for downstream water reuse for drinking or irrigation.

To address scarcity, water and wastewater utilities are engaging in water conservation campaigns and tailoring wastewater treatment to suit multiple uses, e.g., providing reclaimed (non-potable) water for electric utilities & golf courses, resulting in distributed system design. In this way, water, wastewater, energy & agriculture sectors are increasingly intertwined. This requires developing a full understanding of linkages across households, utilities, and their larger watershed. It similarly requires a (re)assessment of the institutions that govern such linkages.

In developing world cities, where water & wastewater infrastructure is often severely lacking, distributed systems are necessarily the first step, with separation of grey and black water occurring in many neighborhoods. New low cost distributed treatment technologies capable of resource recovery and of being tailored to various treatment standards (depending on the intended end use of the treated water) are needed in both the United States and India. Integrating emerging technologies with behavioral change among water users, as well as cross-water-system linkages both physical and institutional, is essential to the sustainability and resilience of existing and emerging water and wastewater treatment systems.

OUR PRODUCTS

Flooding and stormwater: how cities prepare for the future

  • May 2021
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Multiple

In this study, researchers analyzed guiding policy documents from six cities to catalog and compare their stormwater management strategies. Read the two-page journal brief here: Flooding and stormwater: how cities … Read more

Advances and Challenges in Urban Green Infrastructure

  • August 2019
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Patricia Culligan

This brief reports findings from an article considering multiple years of green infrastructure (GI) work in New York City as a basis to review the role that GI systems can … Read more

A 40-year review of food–energy–water nexus literature and its application to the urban scale

  • July 2019
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Newell, J.P., Goldstein, B., & Foster, A. (2019). A 40-year review of food–energy–water nexus literature and its application to the urban scale. Environmental Research Letters, 14(7). ABSTRACT: Essential for society … Read more

Reviewing Stormwater Utility Fees for Efficiency, Equity, Adequacy and Feasibility

  • April 2019
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Jerry Zhao, Camila Fonseca, and Raihana Zeerak

Stormwater utility fees (SUFs) are on the rise among US municipalities. What do local decision makers need to know about SUFs and how should they be thinking about SUFs in … Read more

Stormwater Utility Fees and Credits: A Funding Strategy for Sustainability

  • April 2019
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Jerry Zhao, Camila Fonseca, and Raihana Zeerak

Zhao, J.Z., Fonseca, C., & R. Zeerak. (2019). Stormwater Utility Fees and Credits: A Funding Strategy for Sustainability. Sustainability, 11(7). ABSTRACT: Lack of stable and dedicated funding has been a primary … Read more

Science-Policy Dialogue Report No. 1- Distributed and Localized Infrastructure in Cities

  • September 2018
  • Report
  • Author: Multiple

The localization and decentralization of key infrastructure systems has emerged as a potential strategy for helping cities achieve multiple sustainability outcomes spanning environment, economy, health, wellbeing, and equity. Examples of … Read more

Resource Requirements of Inclusive Urban Development in India

  • September 2018
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Ajay Nagpure and Anu Ramaswami

What are the energy and resource requirements of equitable and inclusive urban development? Understanding the resource requirements of developing more inclusive cities in India is the focus of this paper. … Read more

Urban Tree Pit Design Factors for Stormwater Management Performance

  • July 2018
  • Journal Brief
  • Author: Robert Elliott, Elizabeth Adkins, Patricia Culligan, Matthew Palmer

Street trees in the urban environment provide important ecosystem services including stormwater management, reducing pollutant discharges and flooding by lessening surface runoff. Does the design of an urban tree pit … Read more

Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Transitions in the ASEAN Region: A Resource Perspective (UN Environment and Sustainable Healthy Cities collaboration)

  • February 2018
  • Report
  • Author: Multiple

The ASEAN nations are a hot spot for rapid urbanization over the next 30 years: Between 2015 and 2050, ASEAN cities are projected to add 205 million new urban residents … Read more

Estimating the potential for industrial waste heat reutilization in urban district energy systems

  • December 2017
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles

Tong, K., Fang, A., Yu, H., Li, Y., Shi, L., Wang, Y., Wang., S., & A. Ramaswami. (2017). Estimating the potential for industrial waste heat reutilization in urban district energy … Read more

Considerations for Reducing Food System Energy Demand while Scaling Up Urban Agriculture

  • December 2017
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Author: Multiple

Mohareb, E., Heller, M., Novak, P., Goldstein, B., Fonoll, X., & L. Raskin. (2017). “Considerations for Reducing Food System Energy Demand while Scaling Up Urban Agriculture.” Environmental Research Letters, 12(12).  ABSTRACT: There … Read more

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