Quick Scan

Urban Water Challenges

Urban areas all over the world are exposed to a set of drivers and pressures affecting urban water management, including:

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Urban growth and sprawl

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Increase of heavy rainfalls and extended droughts due to climate change

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Non-sustainable industrial and agricultural activities in urban areas and within catchment

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Lack of funding for water infrastructure operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and extension

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Unevenly distributed benefits of economic growth

The range of possible impacts resulting from these drivers and pressures concerns a number of different aspects, including:

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Deteriorating water infrastructure

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Water shortages

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Overexploited, deteriorated groundwater aquifers in urban areas

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Deteriorated protection of cities against floods

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Difficulty to guarantee water quality standards

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Financial losses due to floods and drought

IUWM

Our integrated perspective

From our experience, improving urban flood risk management or increasing resilience of urban water supply systems cannot be tackled efficiently as a discrete problem.

The main reason is that urban water management challenges are strongly interconnected, both with the wider hydrological cycle and with the wider society and economy.

Therefore, we embrace a holistic, integrated perspective when addressing urban water challenges, considering for instance:

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Infrastructural and operational interdependencies between different urban water sectors

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Spatial interdependencies on catchment level, e.g. rural-urban linkages

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Long-term development scenarios and climate change and their effects on urban water management

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Different stakeholders in the water sectors, placed at different levels of jurisdiction within the governance system

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Level of coordination between water sectors, in day-to-day business or as reflected in urban planning instruments

To support our clients, we pursue the following objectives:

Focus on the core questions

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Focus on the status within three key water domains: water supply, wastewater management, and flood management

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Focus on concrete problems which can be addressed with concrete measures

Contribute to informed decisions

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Improve knowledge about the current state and its challenges within urban water domains and at their interfaces

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Combining a participatory, self-reflecting method on the ground with international experiences of senior water experts

Increase urban resilience

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Identify key fields of action to improve urban water management

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Move from single-discipline-oriented water management towards water-sensitive and thus sustainable urban planning and water management

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Increase resilience of urban infrastructure and social systems towards external shocks and developments

Quick Scan Tool

General approach of the Quick Scan Tool

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Systematic, web-based questionnaire as the core assessment tool

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Problem-focused questions

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Focus on three key urban water domains: water supply, sanitation, and stormwater management

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Establish current situation based on typical problems and its causes

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Participatory validation of results and development of further steps

Key benefits for our clients

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Quick but holistic analysis of the urban water management situation including the extent of an integrated approach

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Provides immediate overview on key fields of action and related priority intervention topics or investments

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Ideal starting point to initiate a transformation towards integrated urban water management

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Requires limited time effort, depending on the service scope (see below)

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Possibility of modular application of the Quick Scan Tool, e.g. only for one specific water domain

Adding value

The Quick Scan Tool can add value in the following ways:

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To initiate or support a water sector analysis or evaluation

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To verify the relevance of a project proposal or an investment plan

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To complement a qualitative assessment, e.g. by a team of experts

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To guide an interview as a comprehensive check-list

Screenshot of the Questionnaire

Screenshot of the Quick Scan Tool, by EBP Schweiz AG

Key Features of the Questionnaire

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Mostly multiple-choice questions with ratings (based on a Likert scale)

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User-friendly layout e.g. numerated questions and progress status

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Often with possibility to provide justification for the answer, or to give a personal/customized answer

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Possibility to provide relevant documents (through secure web upload) or enter information on a GIS application

Identify the best suited respondents

The respondents ...

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should be different persons for each of the three water domains

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should have a similar responsibility and seniority level within their organization.

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need to be knowledgeable about their specific domain but also about the general urban water challenges in the particular urban area.

Apply the questionnaire correctly

The respondents ...

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need to clearly understand the purpose of the exercise e.g. know how results will be used.

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need to take 2 to 3 hours time per water domain to keep the focus on the questions. Taking a break is possible any time, the respondent can always continue from the last answered question.

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require a sufficiently good internet connection, specifically when uploading support documentation or contributing information through the GIS interface.

Services

Option 1

Questionnaire

Status Visualization

Step 1 - Questionnaire

Identify the three respondents

Provide respondents with instructions and credentials for the web-based questionnaire:

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Respondent works through questionnaire alone; the respondent's questions can be answered by an EBP expert remotely

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Respondent works through questionnaire together with an EBP expert; the respondent's questions can be answered immediately and supplementary information can be collected by the EBP expert

Step 2 - Status visualization

EBP determines the status of three urban water domains and the IUWM status with its Quick Scan Tool, based on the answers from the questionnaires.

Example "Water Supply"

The water supply status is described along 8 indicators which describe the system in a comprehensive way. The sanitation domain has 8 indicators, the stormwater domain 6 indicators.

The rating of each indicator is determined by a set of 15 to 20 distinct questions in the Quick Scan Tool.

High ratings equal a good status, low ratings a poor status.

Example "IUWM Status"

The IUWM status is described by 5 distinct indicators.

The rating of each indiactor is determined by a set of distinct questions in the Quick Scan Tool.

The IUWM status is assessed by each of the three repondents by responding to the exact same questions. Hence there are three ratings of each indicator.

Ratings illustrate the perceived level to which an integrated approach is currently pursued.

Option 1

Questionnaire

Status Visualization

Option 2

Questionnaire

Status Visualization

Validation Workshop

Fields of Action

Step 3 - Validation workshop

Propose priorities for the fields of action including key measures: within the three urban water domains and to improve the integrated approach

Discuss priorities and measures during a stakeholder workshop

Step 4 - Fields of action

Refine discussed priorities

Finalize a set of actionable measures in a set of key fields of actions, with a time frame of 5 to 10 years

Option 1

Questionnaire

Status Visualization

Option 2

Questionnaire

Status Visualization

Validation Workshop

Fields of Action

Option 3

Questionnaire

Status Visualization

Validation Workshop

Fields of Action

Roadmap

Roadmap Workshop

Step 5 - Roadmap

Propose strategic actions to define a roadmap towards a more integrated urban water management,
based on stakeholder interviews and possibly preparatory workshops

Step 6 - Roadmap workshop

Discuss implementation strategies during a stakeholder workshop

Finalize the outline of a sector roadmap document, with a time frame of 10 to 20 years

Integrated
Urban Water
Management

We will be pleased
to advise you.

Martin Rauber

Christian Willi

Risch Tratschin

We will be pleased to advise you.

Martin Rauber

Christian Willi

Risch Tratschin

We will be pleased
to advise you.