Aquatic habitats supply a wide range of vital ecosystem benefits to cities and their inhabitants. The unsustainable use of aquatic habitats, including inadequate urban water management, however, tends to alter and reduce their biodiversity and thereby diminish their ability to provide clean water, protect us from waterborne diseases and pollutants, keep urban areas safe from flooding, and support recreational ecosystem services and even the aesthetic enjoyment of our world. Aquatic Habitats in Sustainable Urban Water Management – the result of collaboration between UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme and its Man and the Biosphere Programme – aims at improving our understanding of aquatic habitats, related ecosystem goods and services, and conservation and sustainable use – with a special focus on their integration into urban water management. The first part of this volume reviews basic concepts and challenges in urban aquatic habitats, as well as strategies for their management integration. The second part examines technical measures related to habitats management and rehabilitation, along with their incorporation into urban planning and their role in human health. The final part looks at current urban aquatic habitat issues and practical approaches to solving them through the lens of case studies from around the globe.

Integrated urban water management relies on data allowing us to analyse, understand and predict the behaviour of the individual water cycle components and their interactions. The concomitant monitoring of the complex of urban water system elements makes it possible to grasp the entirety of relations among the various components of the urban water cycle and so develop a holistic approach to solving urban water problems. Data Requirements for Integrated Urban Water Managements – issuing from UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme project on this topic – is geared towards improving integrated urban water management by providing guidance on the collection, validation, storage, assessment and utilization of the relevant data. The first part of this volume describes general principles for developing a monitoring programme in support of sustainable urban water management. The second part examines in detail the monitoring of individual water cycle components. Two case studies in the final part illustrating attempts to deliver an integrated monitoring system help demonstrate the fundamental principles of sustainable urban water management elaborated here.

Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) is a new approach to managing the entire urban water cycle in an integrated way, a key to achieving the sustainability of urban water resources and services. The IUWM incorporates: the systematic consideration of the various dimensions of water, including surface and groundwater resources, quality and quantity issues; the fact that water is a system and component which interacts with other systems; and the interrelationships between water and social and economic development. Integrated Urban Water Management: Arid and Semi-Arid Regions – the outcome of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme project on the topic – examines the integrated management of water resources in urban settings, focusing on issues specific to arid and semi-arid regions. The urban water management system is considered here as two integrated processes: water supply management and water excess management. The first six chapters provide an overview of the various aspects of IUWM in arid and semi-arid regions, with emphasis on water supply technologies, such as artificial recharge, water transfers, desalination, and rainwater harvesting. Water excess management is examined in the context of both stormwater management and floodplain management. Case studies from developed and developing countries are presented in order to emphasize the various needs and challenges of water management in urban environments in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide. These case studies include: Mexico City, Mexico; Tucson, Arizona; Awash River Basin, Ethiopia; China; and Cairo, Egypt.