Aquatic Habitats In Sustainable Urban Water Management

Chapter 3
Strategies, policies and regulations
integrating protection and
rehabilitation of aquatic habitats in
urban water management
Jiri MARSALEK 1 , Elizabeth LARSON 2 , and Elizabeth DAY 3
1 National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, Burlington ON, Canada L7R4A6
2 School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University,Tempe, AZ, USA
3 Freshwater Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Principles for the protection and rehabilitation of aquatic habitats, and particularly
those located in, or affected by, urban areas, have been discussed in Chapters 1 and 2.
The main purpose of this chapter is to examine general strategies serving to integrate
aquatic habitat issues, and in particular, their protection and rehabilitation, into the
general framework of urban water management. The necessity of addressing urban
environmental problems in an integrated manner has led to the development of new
strategic management concepts, which have been established at various levels and
scales, and in different scopes, but which in principle are mutually supportive. With
minor exceptions, these concepts are not precisely defined (i.e., multiple, continually
evolving, non-contradictory definitions exist in the literature), and that complicates
their discussion, which is arranged in the following order: sustainable development
(chosen as a guiding principle), followed by the ecosystem approach (as a means of
implementation), and performance criteria and indicators for measuring sustainability
progress. Finally, our discussion focuses on three management approaches to urban
environment components: low impact development, total management of the urban
water cycle and soft path for water. All these concepts are first introduced and discussed
with reference to aquatic habitats, and finally their applicability to managing urban
aquatic habitats is assessed. In the second part of the chapter, policies enhancing sustainability
with respect to urban aquatic habitats are briefly presented and discussed.
From this perspective, the chapter sets the stage for a discussion of detailed technical
aspects of aquatic habitat protection and rehabilitation (Chapters 4, 5) as well as their
integration with the city planning and human well-being (Chapters 6, 7 and 8),
addressed later in the book.
3.1 STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION
OF URBAN AQUATIC HABITATS
The main strategy adopted here for the protection and rehabilitation of urban aquatic
habitats is the principle of sustainable development, which is further discussed with
respect to its implementation and criteria for measuring progress towards attaining
sustainability.