Urban Hydroinformatics
Data, models and decision support for integrated urban water management
Hydroinformatics is the study and application of the flow of information and the transformation of knowledge for integrated water resources management. Ever since hydroinformatics was first promoted by Prof. Mike Abbott (Abbott 1991) it has had an important application to urban water systems. This is largely because of the significant investment by the many municipalities and/or water companies world-wide in their water supply systems, water distribution, wastewater and storm water networks and wastewater treatment works, and because of the associated concern about the management of flooding in urban areas and the impact on receiving waters of polluted discharges from outfalls, overflows or treatment works. Cost-effective design, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and extension of urban water networks demand careful and reliable information management. This involves making the best integrated use of the latest data acquisition and handling techniques coupled with sophisticated modelling tools including uncertainty analysis and optimisation facilities to provide support for decision making by professionals and non-professional stakeholders alike to the benefit of society and the sustainability of water resources and the associated urban water assets.
Content Table
Introduction
Urban hydroinformatics is the application of the insights and understanding of hydroinformatics to the study and practice of urban water management. The importance of the application is reflected in the growing need to manage the different phases of the urban water cycle, including the interaction with rainfall and flood flows in rivers and coastal waters, in an integrated manner, knowing that in so doing there are benefits to be gained in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Further, advances in modelling tools and communication and information technologies continue unabated, and increasingly they enable the different phases to be modelled safely and reliably and to use such models to optimise each phase locally and the performance of the integrated system. In addition, the technologies facilitate the involvement of different stakeholders in the specification, operation and improvement of urban water systems assisted by appropriate decision support systems. As stakeholders become more involved, society holds the urban water professionals accountable within the context of particular institutional arrangements including legislation and standards, and regulators and investors.
Some of the practical applications where hydroinformatics plays a critical role are: asset management, integrated modelling of the urban water cycle, rehabilitation of distribution and collection networks, urban flood management, and minimising the impact of polluted overflows on receiving waters.
Resources
The Issues in this article are addressed in the book Urban Hydroinformatics by Roland Price and Zoran Vojinovic.
Urban Hydroinformatics is the first text book that addresses the integrated management of urban water in both developed and developing countries. Although it is written mainly as a text book for post-graduate students who have a strong interest in hydroinformatics applied to urban water systems, practicing engineers and researchers involved in design, modelling and decision support will find it useful as a reference. The book uses examples from real world case studies to support and demonstrate the key issues explained in the text. A DVD is available from UNESCO-IHE to complement the book. This contains exercise materials and video lectures given by the authors and other contributors.
In outline, urban hydroinformatics addresses the following issues:
· The imperative for urban water management
· The services provided and failures of service for the different UWSs
· The nature and application of hydroinformatics
· Data acquisition, analysis and management for UWSs
· Modelling paradigms for analysing the performance of UWSs
· Decision support for modelling UWSs
· Asset management for UWSs
· Society and urban water management
· Water supply and distribution networks
· Wastewater and storm water collection networks
· Wastewater treatment
· Receiving waters impact
· Urban flood management
· Organisations and the water industry
· Management of urban water in developing countries
· Future of urban water management
References
Abbott, M. (1991). Hydroinformatics: Information technology and the aquatic environment, Avebury Technical Brookfield, USA.
Related Articles
- Hydroinformatics
- Computational Methods in the Management of Hydro-Environmental Systems
- Data Modelling
- Decision Support Systems
- Systems Modelling
- Numerical Analysis
- Numerical Weather Prediction
- Hydrological Optimization
- Fuzzy Logic
- Knowlege Engineering
Related Publications
Flood Risk
Publication Date: Jul 2012 - ISBN - 9781780404561
Flood Risk and Social Justice
Publication Date: Mar 2012 - ISBN - 9781843393870
Urban Hydroinformatics: Data, Models and Decision Support for Integrated Urban Water Management
Publication Date: Jan 2011 - ISBN - 9781780401362
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