SAMUWA – The city – a hydrological system in change: Steps towards an adaptive management of the urban water balance

In the future, urban water infrastructure will be subjected changing framework conditions. General developments as demographic change and climate change will be overlaid by such urban-specific developments as a change in urban structures and socioeconomic and sociocultural developments. In addition, there will be varying and competitive claims by society with regard to the costs and risks to and the quality and usability of water resources. Here, we will need to fundamentally reconsider the design of existing systems. Of particular importance is urban drainage, with its currently extremely static and hence inflexible systems.

Online sensor in the canalized Auerbach stream as part of an integrated pollution-dependent control system in the model region Wuppertal; Photo: Pecher AG, Erkrath

The SaMuWa project will develop planning instruments for linking urban drainage to urban development and open space planning, while also taking interactive effects with the natural water cycle into account. In this way, systemic limits and the options for action are to be expanded and greater flexibility created.