Ardakanian, Atiyeh; (2024) Integrating Urban Wastewater Reuse and Green infrastructure Management through Stakeholder Engagement to Address Water Shortages in Developing Regions with Arid Climates. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis presents a mechanism for retrofitting wastewater reuse solutions to irrigate urban green spaces through stakeholder participation. The research focuses on developing regions with semi-arid and arid climates that are governed under centralised urban water management systems and struggle to meet water demands in urban areas. The thesis argues that considering water shortage problems, urban water management in these regions should focus on implementing urban water reuse strategies, especially wastewater reuse as it is a reliable alternative water resource in arid and semi-arid climates. Water reuse and specifically wastewater reuse can relieve the stress on freshwater resources and provide multiple environmental and health related benefits. However, these strategies are rarely implemented. The research has realised that a lack of technical expertise is not the leading cause of water shortage problems. Disintegrated decision making and problem-solving by well-informed experts, who act independently and make decisions based on individual interests, is the root of the problem. In realising this structural issue, the research takes the following steps: identifies the key decisionmakers and stakeholders in urban water management, sets procedures to encourage their engagement and cooperation on forming appropriate water reuse strategies; selects UWOT as the most appropriate mathematical modelling software to simulate water reuse; carries out impactful interviews with selected stakeholders, on the opportunities and weaknesses for urban water reuse from their perspective, and based on the outcomes of the interviews, designs and executes a multistakeholder engagement workshop, involving national and international universities, the private sector, NGO's, the public and policymaking sectors on water reuse management for developing and maintaining urban green infrastructure. This mechanism establishes a sense of ownership among stakeholders, as they are engaged from the design to implementing stages of water reuse strategies for urban green areas. The research focuses on the city of Tehran, Iran. Tehran is situated in a semi-arid and arid region with limited water resources. While the city is under stress to provide adequate urban water supply services, wastewater is discharged to the environment with little to no treatment in some areas. Much of the wastewater that is treated is done by employing costly, large scale infrastructure and discharged to the city's outskirts for industrial and agricultural purposes. This happens while the Municipality continues to abstract groundwater resources meant for drinking water purposes to irrigate the city's green areas. The research finds that utilising treated wastewater through sewer mining can replace groundwater as a resource for irrigating urban green areas in Tehran. However, based on the extensive interviews conducted with over 30 key stakeholders, the research realises that wastewater reuse for urban green areas requires acceptance and engagement from an array of stakeholders in the field of water and green infrastructure management. The multi-stakeholder engagement workshop designed for this purpose evaluates the feasibility of wastewater reuse across multiple disciplines and levels of decision making and implementation. The workshop brought together leading decision-makers from the government, academia, private sector, and NGOs in water and green infrastructure in Tehran who discussed the matter across three areas of costs and benefits, public acceptance and awareness, and technological requirements. This workshop was a first of its kind in Iran, where key stakeholders with contradicting views and priorities were brought together and enabled to exchange knowledge, raise concerns and discuss solutions. In addition to the workshop's findings, a simulation for sewer mining to irrigate green spaces with treated wastewater is demonstrated through the application of the Urban Water Optioneering Tool (UWOT).

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