Dynamic performance metrics to assess sustainability and cost effectiveness of integrated urban water systems

Abstract

A comprehensive set of metrics quantifying sustainability and cost effectiveness of urban water systems is required to rigorously inform policy, design and management decisions, as cities all over the world face the combined pressures of drought and flood, climatic uncertainty, rising population, and an increasingly complex wastewater. These metrics need to be generated using an integrated system approach covering the whole urban water cycle, be capable of assessing a wide range of scenarios including innovations, be able simulate system metric dynamics at a range of time steps including sub-daily, and to create a comprehensive set of technical, economic and environmental variables. A dynami..