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Urban Environmental Issues:
Water

Summary of Urban Environmental Issues and Options

Problem area
Effects
Causes
Management options
WATER-RELATED PROBLEMS
SURFACE WATER POLLUTION
  • health problems
  • Economic costs (additional treatment, new sources of supply, health costs)
  • amenity losses
  • pricing policies
  • unclear property rights
  • poor regulations and/or enforcement
  • municipal and industrial waste disposal practices
  • urban runoff
  • irrigation practices
  • marginal cost pricing
  • regulations, standards, licensing, charges
  • improve monitoring and enforcement
  • demand management and waste water reuse
  • appropriate technology
  • land use controls
  • waste management
GROUNDWATER POLLUTION DEPLETION
  • reduced water quality from saline intrusion, biochemical seepage
  • health impacts
  • economic costs
  • pricing policies
  • unclear property rights
  • poor regulations and/or enforcement
  • unsustainable extraction
  • sanitation, municipal and industrial waste disposal practices
  • poor demand management
  • marginal cost procong
  • regulation, standards, licensing, charges
  • waste management
  • appropriate technology
  • demand management
  • controls on land use and sources of information
COASTAL/LAKE POLLUTION
  • health effects due to contaminated seafood and direct contact
  • loss of recreational resources and tourism revenues
  • damage to fisheries
  • amenity losses
  • eutrophication
  • unclear property rights
  • poor regulations and/or enforcement
  • municipal and industrial waste disposal practices
  • disposal of shipboard wastes
  • regulations, standards, licensing charges
  • appropriate technology
  • coastal zone management and preservation
  • shipping facilities
  • waste management
  • land use control
Source: Abstracted from Leitman, Josef, Rapid Environmental Assessment: Lessons from Cities in the developing World. Volume 1. Methodology and preliminary Findings. Urban Management Programme, UNCHS, UNDP and the World Bank
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Contact: Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org