Cities worldwide are experiencing significant, multi-faceted challenges as the rivers they rely on and live beside become threats due to flooding, pollution and sedimentation. On Thursday, October 18th The Water Center at Penn held a networking reception to welcome innovative water professionals from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Philadelphia to discuss solutions to our shared water problems.
Cities worldwide are experiencing significant, multi-faceted challenges as the rivers they rely on and live beside become threats due to flooding, pollution and sedimentation. On Thursday, October 18th The Water Center at Penn held a networking reception to welcome innovative water professionals from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Philadelphia to discuss solutions to our shared water problems.
Howard Neukrug, Executive Director of The Water Center at Penn, kicked off the program by noting that throughout much of history, cities have attempted to protect themselves from water. He suggested that instead of trying to keep nature at bay, creating water management strategies that work with, instead of against nature will not only be more effective, but will produce additional benefits for cities and their residents.
Carter Craft, Senior Economic Officer at the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, agreed and noted that another critical factor in creating sustainable water management solutions is making connections. Connections and collaborations between organizations like The Water Center at Penn and the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will be essential to finding solutions for cities worldwide.
Han Dijk, Urban Designer at Posad, a spatial design and strategy firm, picked up the connection theme when discussing how his firm approaches design for cities like Rotterdam, one of the world’s busiest port cities. Diijk explained how urban planners find solutions that address and connect social, mental and physical health and environmental issues.
Key to finding these solutions is understanding residents’ concerns, values and perspectives. For Rotterdam residents, while the river defines the city’s history and culture, it is also seen as a dividing line, fracturing the city into two groups – one that is struggling economically and suffers more health issues and one that is better off.
This understanding helped Dijk and his colleagues find nature-based water management solutions that changed residents’ perception of the river from a divider of the city to a connector between communities. Creating tidal parks along the river not only addressed needed water management issues, such as providing a way to reuse silt that is constantly dredged from the river, but also provided common areas and networks of trails for recreation and socializing. In addition, the conversion of hardscapes into green space created new ecological habitats and positively impacted people’s health by reducing\ noise and stress and improving air and water quality.
These types of nature-based solutions helped change the river from a threat to an asset.
Gerda Roeleveld, Expert Advisor in Spatial Planning at Deltares, a leading global water research institute, began her presentation by noting that climate change will be felt most intensely in cities in the form of increased heat, related system stresses, river and sea level rise and storm water issues. How can cities adapt to these climate change impacts? Roeleveld and her team at Deltares provide water system analysis as a critical part of the adaptation puzzle.
Deltares creates multi-dimensional water and soil models that simulate past and current situations to predict future scenarios. While these models can provide a wide variety of functions, such as analyzing a city’s vulnerability by calculating whether or not reservoirs have enough water for a region’s irrigation needs, or showing how and where water will rise based on precipitation rates, one of the key distinctions of these models is that many of them are designed to bring stakeholders together to find optimal solutions.
One example of this type of modeling tool is the Circle Tool, designed to help a variety of stakeholders understand and discuss the vulnerability of critical infrastructure such as hospitals or the power grid in order to prioritize water management efforts. Another
example is the Adaptation Support Tool, intended to create a dialogue among stakeholders regarding the effectiveness of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) strategies, like green roofs and permeable parking spaces. Stakeholders can click on GSI strategies to see their impact, such as how much each strategy helps minimize stormwater run off or store water, then compare different strategies to determine which ones provide maximal benefit.
Roeleveld noted that, “Measuring is knowing. Another way to say it is that data tells the tale.” Modeling will be an important part of solving water management problems, both because of its ability to connect disparate pieces of data to help make better decisions as well as its ability to connect stakeholders to ensure greater understanding and participation in order to build more resilient cities.
Consul General for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dolph Hogewoning, closed the program by reiterating the need for rapid adaptation in the face of acute climate change. ‘The world is looking urgently for solutions. I think we all agree that Planet Earth has sort of exhausted her patience with us.,” he said. “For a healthier future we must expand our idea of infrastructure. It’s wonderful to see how we have shifted from infrastructure that is purely engineerial – nuts and bolts, concrete, dams and dikes –
toward green infrastructure concepts that nature has given us. We must learn to work with nature, to use nature, to give way to nature and accept water instead of keeping our feet dry.” To do this, we must work together, to share our challenges, ideas and new technologies. These challenges are simply too big to do otherwise.
Left to right: Nick Bijlsma, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Han Dijk, PosadMaxwan; Dolph Hogewoning, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Gerda Roeleveld, Deltares; Howard Neukrug, The Water Center at Penn; Carter Craft, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
