OUR WATERS

The waters of Southeastern Wisconsin are vast but vulnerable.

We depend on our waters for drinking water, irrigation, industry, transportation,

power production, recreation and scenic beauty.

Understanding our regions water-related issues and future challenges can help us
protect clean, abundant water for generations to come.

Integrated Water Resources Management

By Jake Peliska, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Water is the building block of life on our planet and key to the endurance of the human race. Water is the common
denominator to our food security, economy, energy, and overall human health. According to the Global Water
Partnership (GWP), food production will need to double in the next 40 years in order to feed the planets growing
populations. Agriculture uses more water than any other human activity, making it clear that even greater stress
will be placed on water resources. Global urbanization has resulted in intensified water use in cities, stressing local
water resources. In fact, GWP estimates that more than 1.2 billion people live in river basins where absolute water
scarcity and increasing [water] shortages are serious concerns. More than ever, actions must be taken across all
governments and institutions to plan for, and invest in, efficient and effective water infrastructure.

What is Integrated Water Resources Management?

The traditional fragmented approach to water management is not working. From water shortages to severe flooding, and from contamination by humans to overuse of water resources, traditional approaches to water management have failed. Integrated water resources management (IWRM) seeks to ensure sustainable supplies of freshwater for human uses while accounting for the natural ecosystems needs. It does so by integrating policies and
management activities that emphasize equitable participation of all stakeholders, the economic value of water (i.e.
the use of water comes at a cost), and the non-renewable nature of freshwater resources. Accordingly, the UN has
declared IWRM the internationally accepted approach to the way forward fore fficient, equitable and sustainable
development and management of the worlds limited water resources and for coping with conflicting demands.

Left: IWRM seeks

to bridge the gap
between human
social and economic
needs and available
water resources. At
its core, a goal of
IWRM is to achieve
naturally sustainable
human use of
our limited water
resources.
The Integrated Water
Resources Management
Process.
Diagram Courtesy
of Florida International
University

Integrated Water Resources Management

Essentially, IWRM addresses the Triple Bottom Line, which declares
that to be truly sustainable, actions and policies must achieve a balance
between economic, environmental, and social needs.

Triple Bottom Line Diagram

Benefits of Integrated Water Resources Management

Although numerous problems are the result of current water

management processes, they are not unsolvable. This section highlights
just a few of the problems that IWRM can help solve.

Sustainability

Local and Regional Water Shortages

The growth of cities in areas with dry climates has increased the
problem of water shortages in urban areas. However, even cities
with large freshwater supplies are facing, or will be facing, shortages.
Using an IWRM approach, cities can practice water conservation,
reclamation, and reuse to achieve a sustainable water use balance.
Even at a household level, individuals can practice water conservation.
For example, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
replacing every toilet manufactured before 1992 with a WaterSense
labeled toilet (high efficiency toilet) would save nearly 2 billion gallons
of water per day in the United States.

The Triple Bottom Line measures impact

on People, Planet, and Profit. In order
to achieve true sustainability, products
and processes must address impacts and
benefits for all three categories.

Reduced Energy Consumption

The extraction, transportation, and treatment of water requires a large

amount of energy. This is an issue of much concern, because of the CO2
emissions that are a major contributor to global climate change. Water
conservation, reclamation, and reuse all reduce energy use. Some
communities have begun to power their water facilities with renewable
energy sources to offset their carbon footprint. IWRM takes energy
production into account as well because many power plants use water
as a coolant. Rather than waste the used water, these plants could
reuse it as another energy source. As a response, some cities, such as
Vancouver and Oslo, have turned to energy recovery from waste water.
In these cases, the heat from the waste water is captured and used to
provide steam heating throughout a neighborhood or city.

Flood Prevention and Pollution Control

Traditionally, stormwater is dealt with by collecting it in a series

of underground pipes that lead either to the nearest stream or to a
centralized location where the water is treated and dumped into a
surface water body, such as Lake Michigan. However, this is not the
way that the natural ecosystem works. Oftentimes, in large storm
events, our grey infrastructure, or man-made infrastructure, cannot
keep up with the high flows of stormwater, so flooding and pollution
of our waterways occurs. Today, many designers and engineers realize
the benefits of using green infrastructure to treat and keep water
where it falls. Green infrastructure helps save money and energy,
removes pollutants, helps prevent flooding, and adds aesthetic value
to neighborhoods. Cities using IWRM principles make extensive use of
green infrastructure best management practices.

Integrated Water
Resources Management
IWRM can help solve many water related
issues:

Local and regional water shortages

Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Reduce total energy consumption
Reduce likelihood of flooding,
particularly in urban areas
Climate adaptation and resilience
Provide water-centric recreation areas
Improve air quality
Maintain plant and wildlife diversity
Reduce runoff and associated pollution

Ecocities

Ecocities, like Sonoma Mountain Village

in California and Hammarby Sjostad in
Sweden, are often designed to be more
decentralized. Traditionally, entire cities
depend on one or a few facilities for water
treatment, energy, reclamation, recycling,
and stormwater management. In ecocities,
these services are spread throughout
the city in order to maximize efficiency
and better address the needs of each
neighborhood.

Integrated Water Resources Management

Case Study - New York City Bureau of Water Supply
Issue

In 1997, New York City faced deteriorating drinking water supply quality. The city determined that it had two choices: 1) build a new water
supply treatment plant for $6 billion, or 2) take long-term measures to
improve and protect water quality in the source watershed that delivered water to over 9 million people. The citys two main goals were to
protect water quality and keep water affordable to the many communities in its supply area.

IWRM Actions

NYC decided that protecting the quality of its waters was most important. Therefore, it developed several programs to balance agriculture,
urban and rural wastewater and storm drainage infrastructure. This
balance helped to protect the environment, including 19 reservoirs and
3 controlled lakes. The city acquired land for protection, put regulations
in place for the entire watershed, committed to several environmental
and economic partnerships, and upgraded its wastewater treatment
plants. Many of these actions would have been difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish had NYC acted alone. However, the city developed
partnerships with the state of New York, the Environmental Protection
Agency, and environmental and public interest groups from all around
the watershed. From these partnerships, the Bureau of Water Supply
was able to address the concerns and needs of a wide range of stakeholders.

Impacts

Since the plans implementation, over 350 farms have put best management practices in place to reduce pollution loads, over 150 square miles
of land has been protected, and 2000 septic systems have been fixed.
These actions, in combination with the completion of its wastewater
treatment plant upgrades, have resulted in more than a 50% reduction
in fecal coliform, phosphorus, and several other major contaminants in
receiving waters. In addition to a higher performing, more sustainable
watershed, by using IWRM techniques rather than a traditional approach, New York City and its residents saved over $4.4 billion (United
Nations).

Photo Courtesy of the Metropolitan

Planning Council

Above: Water reuse systems

such as the one above collect
rainwater for use at a later time.
The rainwater is stored in a
cistern (above or below ground)
and treated through filters to
minimum quality standards to
ensure the safety of the user.
Water reuse systems come in a
variety of types and sizes, capable
of serving individual households
or entire communities. Currently,
such systems are only legal in
Wisconsin for lawn and garden
irrigation. However, several
communities in the United States
have recently changed their laws
to allow for private systems such
as the one above.

Opportunities for IWRM in Southeastern Wisconsin

Steps have been taken in Southeastern Wisconsin to restore and protect the regions watersheds. Many private
agencies, governmental departments, and interest groups have partnered on multiple occasions to address topics
such as river restoration, green infrastructure, and flood prevention. But, many opportunities for improvement using the IWRM model remain.

Water Reuse

Presently, the reuse of collected rainwater is legal for irrigation uses, but the reuse of grey water is illegal in the
state of Wisconsin. However, water reuse could play a major role in achieving sustainability in the region. Southeast
Wisconsin benefits from several river systems and Lake Michigan, but a majority of our surface waters are impaired
and we are not the only region dependent on Lake Michigan. In other words, water is not an entirely renewable
resource. As population grows in the Great Lakes region, our water sources face more stress and potential pollution
sources, thus making the treatment and transport of water increasingly more difficult and expensive. Practicing
water reuse could reduce our dependency on large treatment facilities by treating water at the point of use.

Integrated Water Resources Management

Some communities, like Waukesha, are dependent on groundwater supplies and would benefit even more from
water reuse. Communities throughout the region could begin to practice water reuse for uses such as irrigation,
toilet flushing, heating and cooling, and even potable water reuse after a high level of treatment. Not only
would reuse decrease the demand from area waters, it would also reduce energy use, air pollution, and water
contamination throughout the region. Importantly, it will take a high degree of cooperation between
public and private agencies and the general public to
adjust laws and regulations that will allow water reuse
while providing water quality protections.

Below: The Southeast False Creek Neighborhood Energy

Utility in Vancouver, BC eliminates over 60% of carbon
emissions associated with heating buildings by using a
sewage heat recovery system. The system recovers heat
from area residents wastewater to provide space heating
and hot water throughout the district.

Future Possibilities in Southeastern

Wisconsin

One of the pillars of Integrated Water Resources Management is planning and managing for the future. As
we become increasingly less reliant on fossil fuels, our
region will need to find other sources for energy. One
source of interest is wastewater. Sewage carries a large
amount of unseen energy (in the form of heat). In recent
years, technology has been developed that allows for
unused heat to be extracted from the sewage. In turn,
this heat can be used to supply heat and hot water to
the neighborhood, with minimal carbon emissions. Sewage heat recovery can reduce energy costs and reduce
water consumption for energy purposes. Moreover, it
is designed for decentralization, making it more responsive to its users needs. This is just one step among
many that IWRM can help the region take to become
sustainable in the years to come.

Photo Courtesy of the Canadian District Energy

Association

References

Definitions

City of Vancouver, . Neighbourhood Energy Utility. Home, Property, and Development.

City of Vancouver, 14 2012. Web. 23 Nov 2012. <https://vancouver.ca/home-proper

ty-development/neighbourhood-energy-utility.aspx>.
Frank, Nancy. Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust. Inside the Greater Milwaukee

Watersheds. Milwaukee: , 2007. Web. <http://www.swwtwater.org/home/docu

ments/Final_Reg_Water_Quality_Summ.pdf>.
Novotny, Vladimir, Jack Ahern, and Paul Brown. Water Centric Sustainable Communities.

Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. 75, 98-100. Print.
United Nations, . Integrated Water Resources Management. UN Water. United Nations.

Web. 23 Nov 2012. <http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/iwrm.shtml>.
UN-Water (2008). Status Report on IWRM and Water Efficiency Plans

for CSD16
What is IWRM?. . Global Water Partnership, 2012. Web. 29 Oct 2012. <http://www.gwp.org/

The-Challenge/What-is-IWRM/>.

Water Conservation - Reducing water use by

improving the efficiency of various uses of water
Carbon Footprint - the total set of greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization,
event, product or person
Ecoblock - Small, semiautonomous cluster of
water and energy management utilities
Green Infrastructure - An adaptable term used
to describe an array of products, technologies,
and practices that use natural systems (or engineered systems that mimic natural processes)
to enhance overall environmental quality and
provide utility services. As a general principal,
green infrastructure techniques use soils and
vegetation to infiltrate, evapotranspirate, and/or
recycle stormwater runoff.