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.

大型集中式系统提供全民覆盖并利用规模经济，数十年来一直主导着全球市政供水服务。加拿大大多数城市都依赖单一水源，蒙特利尔 88 立方米/秒的废水处理设施可能是世界上最高的最大流量，很好地体现了这一范例。然而如今，许多城市污水处理系统都在最大容量或超出最大容量的情况下运行，限制了城市发展并造成了不利的环境影响。为了避免巨大的系统扩展成本，越来越多的人建议采用完全分散的废水系统（如化粪池）来服务新的城市开发，但由于运行条件不足，可能会造成灾难性的长期环境和公共健康影响。在这两个极端之间，中小型“卫星”废水系统可以纳入大型城市计划中。事实上，为了支持城市供水系统 (UWS) 的战略规划，需要通过新颖的替代方案、多尺度 UWS 选项重新审视集中式与完全分散式的范式，并且需要新的分析方法和工具来指导设计未来可持续和有弹性城市的决策。本研究探讨了 UWS 新“混合”配置（即以混合规模运行）的技术、经济、环境和社会潜力。为此，将开发未来情景分析、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 在以下方面效率的城市化模式：(i) 提供供水服务的成本效益和规模经济； (ii) 废水排放和合流下水道溢流对环境的影响； (iii) 不同用途和接触改善的水质所带来的最大社会和公共卫生效益 (O1)。在位于魁北克省南部的一个案例研究城市中，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，形成为 UWS 发展 (O2) 提供信息的情景分析的基础。满足案例研究城市未来系统容量需求的新混合配置将使用废水处理和污水系统建模工具（O3）进行建模，并将使用新的空间多标准决策分析框架在可持续性方面与传统选项进行比较，该框架将被开发并集成到空间规划工具（O4）中。这种高度跨学科的方法将增强 UWS 科学稳健、创新的空间规划，有可能克服技术锁定和路径依赖。提出这样一种新的 UWS 规划范式具有创新性，这种管理模式的现场评估尚未在城市规模上实施，利益相关者的参与也具有挑战性；然而，预期的社会、环境和经济效益是巨大的。