Water management, the challenge of the future

Water poses two major threats in tomorrow’s world. Parts of the globe will suffer from inadequate supplies of clean drinking water whereas other parts will suffer an excess of water as a result of climate changes. Therefore effective water management is a key issue at the international scale.

Yet water management also presents challenges at a regional scale. In Western Europe urbanisation is proceeding apace and this is making specific demands on how water is managed. The far more intensive use of the available land and the increase in surface impermeability mean that the space left for water is reducing. Yet this smaller area is having to cope with the increasingly large quantities of rainwater that need to be routed within a short space of time. Although town dwellers greatly appreciate the amenity value of visible water in the urban environment, the inconvenience experienced from sewer overflow, flooded cellars and washed out streets is a clear source of annoyance.