Coupled urban-rural water infrastructure management under hydroclimatic extremes with decision support system.

Many regions all over the world have experienced increasing problems of urban flooding over the past decades. Pluvial urban flooding, primarily triggered by intense precipitation coupled with a large fraction of impermeable surfaces and the limited capacity of urban drainage systems, poses a substantial societal hazard today. Climate change is playing an increasingly prominent role in exacerbating these issues, particularly in the Arctic, Nordic, and high-altitude areas of Europe. The challenges are expected to amplify in the future, given the projections of climate models. Through collaboration of partners in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey, the project SmartWater4Future aims to develop new and improved tools for risk assessment, integrated modelling of urban flooding coupled with sewer systems, rivers and recipients under hydroclimatic (HC) extremes. The project further incorporates with machine learning (ML) and sustainable Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to develop a comprehensive decision support toolkit. The toolkit will assist water utilities in managing water and wastewater systems for safe distribution, collection, handling, and wastewater treatment, addressing both water quantity and quality under extreme stressors. The implementation of the project will contribute to in-depth understanding of the impacts of hydroclimatic extreme scenarios and risk levels specifically in the Arctic, Nordic, and high-altitude areas of the collaborating partner countries. Providing tools, data, and scientific evidence, the project is expected to assist the identification of cost-effective measures for adaption and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Moreover, through the collaboration with stakeholders, SMEs, and water utilities involved, the project will lead to positive economic and environmental impacts, and increased preparedness for extreme among societal actors.

Many regions all over the world have experienced increasing problems of urban flooding over the past decades. Pluvial urban flooding, primarily triggered by intense precipitation coupled with large fraction of impermeable surfaces and limited capacity of urban drainage systems, poses a substantial societal hazard today. Climate change is playing an increasingly prominent role in exacerbating these issues, particularly in the Arctic and Northern regions of Europe. The challenges are expected to amplify in the future, given the projections of higher rainfall intensities in a warmer atmosphere. The SmartWater4Future project aims to develop new and improved tools for risk assessment, integrated modelling of urban flooding coupled with sewer systems, rivers and recipients under hydroclimatic (HC) extremes. Moreover, the project incorporates with machine learning (ML) and sustainable Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to develop a comprehensive decision support toolkit. The project is anticipated to provide data, toolkit and scientific evidence to identification of cost-effective measures for adaption and mitigating the impacts of climate change, thus it is expected to assist water utilities in managing water and wastewater systems for safe distribution, collection, handling, and wastewater treatment, addressing both water quantity and quality under extreme stressors. Moreover, the increased knowledge on extreme climate change and risk levels shall improve the preparedness for extremes among societal actors, thus to create long-term benefits for water security, health, and overall well-being.