Placing ecosystem services at the heart of urban water systems management

Current approaches have failed to deliver a truly integrated management of the different elements of the urban water system, such as freshwater ecosystems, drinking water treatment plants, distribution networks, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. Because the different parts of urban wate...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Garcia Acosta, Xavier, Barceló i Cullerés, Damià, Comas Matas, Joaquim, Corominas Tabares, Lluís, Hadjimichael, Antonia, Page, T.J., Acuña, Vicenç
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/13274
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/13274
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Ecosistemes -- Gestió
Ecosystem management
Ecologia d'aigua dolça
Freshwater ecology
Aigües residuals -- Depuració
Sewage -- Purification
Descripción
Sumario:Current approaches have failed to deliver a truly integrated management of the different elements of the urban water system, such as freshwater ecosystems, drinking water treatment plants, distribution networks, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. Because the different parts of urban water have not been well integrated, poor decisions have been made for society in general, leading to the misuse of water resources, the degradation of freshwater ecosystems and increased overall treatment costs. Some attempts to solve environmental issues have adopted the ecosystem services concept in a more integrated approach, however this has rarely strayed far away from pure policy, and has made little impact in on-the-ground operational matters. Here, we present an improved decision-making framework to integrate the management of urban water systems. This framework uses the ecosystem service concept in a practical way to make a better use of both financial and water resources, while continuing to preserve the environment