1. CITY BLUEPRINT: INDICATOR FOR THE
SUSTAINABLE URBAN WATER CYCLE
Kees van Leeuwen and Annemarie van Wezel

2. Background: UN Urbanization Prospects
& Global Environmental Outlook
> 300 cities exceeding 1 million inhabitants, 21 mega cities (> 10 million
people)
50% of humans live in cities, by 2030 this will be 60%
1.8 billion people with absolute water scarcity by 2025, two-thirds of
world citizens could be subject to water stress.
3 million people (< 5 y) die from water-borne diseases; greatest single
environmental cause of human sickness and death.
Agriculture > 70 percent of global water use
Watercycle Research Institute 2

3. Cities play starring role
Cities are key to protect and restore ecosystems
outsize effect on water supplies
reduce water consumption
recycle wastewater
restore adjacent watersheds
improve engineering solutions for water supplies
Watercycle Research Institute 3

4. II Approaches
• Water Footprints
• Urban Metabolism
• Ecosystem Services
• Indicators
Watercycle Research Institute 4

5. Water Footprints
Total water footprint (as % of max./capita)
67% consumption of agricultural goods,
31% consumption of industrial goods,
2% domestic water use
Water scarcity (total water footprint to total renewable
water resources)
Water import dependency (ratio of external to total water
footprint)
Watercycle Research Institute 5

6. Urban metabolism
Watercycle Research Institute 6

7. HUMAN WELL-BEING & INDIRECT DRIVERS OF CHANGE
POVERTY REDUCTION
Demographic
Basic material for a good life
Economic (e.g., globalization, trade,
Health market,and policy framework)
Good social relations Sociopolitical (e.g., governance,
legal and institutional framework)
Security
Science and technology
Freedom of choice and action
Cultural and religious (e.g., beliefs,
consumption choices)
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES DIRECT DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Provisioning (e.g. food, water, fuel) Changes in local land use and cover
Regulating (e.g. climate regulation, Species introduction or removal
flood and disease control)
Technology adaptation and use
Cultural (e.g. spiritual, recreational,
External inputs (e.g. fertilizer use, pest
cultural and educational benefits)
control, and irrigation)
Supporting (e.g. primary production,
Harvest and resource consumption
nutrient cycling and soil formation)
Climate change
Natural, physical, and biological drivers
LIFE ON EARTH - BIODIVERSITY
(e.g. evolution, volcanoes)

8. Indicators
• Sustainable society foundation
• C40 cities (Clinton initiative)
• UN Indicators of Sustainable development
• EEA: European Common Indicators
• Millennium Development Goals
• Sustainable Cities index (Australia and UK)
• European Green Cities Index (Siemens)
• etc.
Watercycle Research Institute 8

9. Watercycle Research Institute 9

10. Preliminary conclusions
Water is a dominant material flux across (mega)cities
Scope: Indicators> ES>UM>WF
Data availability issues: simplicity matters
People matter, transparency, ease of calculation
and communication  City Blueprints
Watercycle Research Institute 10

11. City Blueprints
• Quick scan to assess priorities
• Scale 0 (serious concern) to 10 (no concern)
• Quantitative or qualitative
• Expert panel scores
• Local or national level
Watercycle Research Institute 11

12. City Blueprint; example of Rotterdam
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13. Watercycle Research Institute 13

15. Watercycle Research Institute 15

16. Future use of city blueprint
EVALUATION
(actual situation)
ACTION
(technologies)
PREDICTION
(scenarios)
Watercycle Research Institute 16

17. POLITICAL CONTEXT
• Water scarcity will be priority next EU Presidency
• European Commissioner Potočnik plans 2012 as year of
water, and will present a Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s
water resources.
• Classical approach of EU legislation (directives and
regulations) may not work as most of the challenges are in
cities
Watercycle Research Institute 17

18. NEXT STEPS
We want to publish a next report on City Blueprints for
approximately 10 European cities together with our
partners (ARC, TRUST and industry) and present it to
Commissioner Potočnik in 2012
Watercycle Research Institute 18

19. Cities covered in the European Green City
Index (2009) and additional studies by Siemens.
1 Copenhagen 9 Brussels 17 Budapest 25 Istanbul
2 Stockholm 10 Paris 18 Lisbon 26 Zagreb
3 Oslo 11 London 19 Ljubljana 27 Belgrade
4 Vienna 12 Madrid 20 Bratislava 28 Bucharest
5 Amsterdam 13 Vilnius 21 Dublin 29 Sofia
6 Zurich 14 Rome 22 Athens 30 Kiev
7 Helsinki 15 Riga 23 Tallinn The Hague
8 Berlin 16 Warsaw 24 Prague Rotterdam
Bremen Essen Frankfurt Hamburg
Hannover Koln Leipzig Mannheim
München Nürnberg Stuttgart
Watercycle Research Institute 19