Reshaping the urban water management paradigm: towards a new decision-support framework for the sustainable design of hybrid systems

重塑城市水管理范式：建立混合系统可持续设计的新决策支持框架

• 批准号: 571422-2021
• 负责人: Bichai, FrançoiseF
• 金额: $ 3.28万
• 依托单位: École Polytechnique de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754620
• 关键词: Reshaping; urban; water; management; paradigm

Large centralized systems, providing universal coverage and taking advantage of economies of scale, have dominated municipal water services worldwide for decades. Most cities in Canada rely on a single water source, and Montreal's 88-m3/s wastewater treatment facility, with probably the highest maximal flowrate capacity in the world, exemplifies this paradigm very well. Yet today, many municipal wastewater systems operate at maximum capacity or beyond, limiting urban development and causing adverse environmental impacts. To avoid large system expansion costs, fully decentralized wastewater systems (like septic tanks) are increasingly proposed to serve new urban developments, causing potentially disastrous long-term environmental and public health impacts due to inadequate operating conditions. Between both extremes, small and medium scale 'satellite' wastewater systems can be incorporated into large urban schemes. In fact, to support strategic planning of urban water systems (UWS), the centralized versus fully decentralized paradigm needs to be revisited with novel alternative, multiscale UWS options, and new analytical approaches and tools are needed to guide decision making in designing future sustainable and resilient cities. This study examines the technical, economic, environmental, and social potential of new 'hybrid' configurations of UWS, i.e., that operate at a mix of scales. To this end, a mixed methodology of future scenario analysis, system modelling and integrated assessment tools will be developed. An analysis of existing UWS across the provinces of Québec and Ontario will be performed to identify urbanisation patterns that affect UWS's efficiency in terms of (i) cost-effectiveness in delivering water services and economies of scale; (ii) environmental impacts from wastewater effluents and combined sewer overflows; and (iii) maximal social and public health benefits from different uses and exposure to improved water quality (O1). In a case study city located in Southern Quebec, stakeholder and community preferences for future UWS will be assessed according to the three dimensions of sustainability, forming the basis for a scenario analysis that informs UWS development (O2). New hybrid configurations to meet future system capacity needs in the case study city will be modelled using wastewater treatment and sewage system modelling tools (O3) and will be compared with traditional options in terms of sustainability using a new spatial multicriteria decision analysis framework that will be developed and integrated into a spatial planning tool (O4). This highly interdisciplinary approach will enhance scientifically robust, innovative spatial planning of UWS that has the potential to overcome technology lock-in and path-dependency. Proposing such a new UWS planning paradigm is innovative, field evaluations of such a management model have not yet been implemented at city scale and stakeholder engagement is challenging; yet, the expected social, environmental and economic benefits are huge.

几十年来，大型中央系统提供普遍覆盖并利用规模经济优势，主导了全世界的市政供水服务。加拿大的大多数城市都依赖单一水源，蒙特利尔的88 m3/s污水处理设施可能是世界上最大的流量，很好地证明了这一点。然而，今天，许多城市废水系统以最大容量或超过最大容量运行，限制了城市发展并造成不利的环境影响。为了避免大规模的系统扩建成本，越来越多的人建议使用完全分散的废水系统（如化粪池）来服务于新的城市开发，由于操作条件不佳，可能会造成灾难性的长期环境和公共卫生影响。在这两个极端之间，小型和中型的“卫星”废水系统可以纳入大型城市计划。事实上，为了支持城市水系统（UWS）的战略规划，需要重新审视集中式与完全分散式的范式，采用新的替代方案，多尺度UWS选项，并需要新的分析方法和工具来指导未来可持续和弹性城市的决策。本研究探讨了UWS新的“混合”配置的技术、经济、环境和社会潜力，即，在不同的尺度上运作。为此，将制定一种未来情景分析、系统建模和综合评估工具的混合方法。将对魁北克省和安大略省现有的UWS进行分析，以确定影响UWS效率的城市化模式，这些模式包括：（i）提供供水服务的成本效益和规模经济;（ii）废水排放和合并下水道溢流的环境影响;以及（iii）不同用途和暴露于改善水质（O 1）的最大社会和公共卫生效益。在位于南部魁北克的一个案例研究城市，利益相关者和社区对未来UWS的偏好将根据可持续性的三个维度进行评估，形成一个情景分析的基础，告知UWS的发展（O2）。新的混合配置，以满足未来的系统容量需求的案例研究城市将使用废水处理和污水处理系统建模工具（O3）建模，并将与传统的选项在可持续性方面进行比较，使用一个新的空间多标准决策分析框架，将开发和集成到一个空间规划工具（O 4）。这种高度跨学科的方法将增强UWS的科学稳健性和创新性空间规划，有可能克服技术锁定和路径依赖。提出这样一个新的UWS规划模式是创新的，这种管理模式的实地评估尚未在城市规模和利益相关者的参与是具有挑战性的，然而，预期的社会，环境和经济效益是巨大的。