Managing Water Scarcity for Future Cities: What Makes Sense to Sense?

Urban water infrastructure systems must meet future challenges in managing water quantity and quality in growing cities worldwide. Information and monitoring technologies will play an important role. Within engineering and planning fields, resilient systems typically support quick returns to normal operations following outages. Other conceptions of resilience from ecology, however, recognize that current systems can undergo rapid and potentially unpredictable changes. This conception becomes increasingly important for cities facing evolving risks of extreme rainfall, flooding, or water scarcity. Metropolitan Los Angeles is promoting a significant transition to greater local reliance for water supplies, using stormwater capture, recycled water, and groundwater banking to reduce reliance on imported water sources. New information technology and monitoring capabilities will help fill information gaps created by the region's institutionalized system of water governance. For instance, new information on localized infiltration and water quality for stormwater and groundwater basins can support changes in regulations, the urban landscape, and water recycling. I will discuss on-going research within the California Center for Sustainable Communities demonstrating the importance of detailed data for creating resilient and sustainable future cities.

Speaker: Erik Porse, UCLA