Innovative Urban Water Management for Water Security
Summary
The Más Agua Para Todos (More Water for All) program, led by UNESCO-IHE and the Technological University of Havana, was a collaborative effort to help Havana and other urban municipalities in Cuba adapt to climate change and alleviate their water scarcity issues through the deployment of innovative urban water management solutions.
Cuba, like many island nations, is extremely vulnerable to climate change, and its impact on water security remains a primary concern for the island. Cuba is drought-prone due to a confluence of environmental and geographical factors; climate change and infrastructural factors compound the nation's water stress (Gilbert, 2017). Furthermore, like many coastal cities globally, Havana is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise, which poses an additional threat to its inhabitants' security (Alonso & Clark, 2015; Gilbert, 2017). Havana, the capital and economic and administrative hub of Cuba, is home to nearly 20% of the Cuban population.
The city faces significant water losses in its distribution network and, relatedly, water scarcity, factors that increasingly complicate the sustainable, long-term provision of freshwater to its many citizens (PopulationStat, 2019; PopulationStat, 2020; Gilbert, 2017). Meeting municipal water supply needs in Havana is further complicated by competing supply requirements in the industrial and tourism sectors (UN-IHE, 2017). Climate models consistently predict that climate change will threaten the island's freshwater resources, exacerbating water insecurity on the island and jeopardizing basic human needs, especially in urban hubs like Havana (Alonso & Clark, 2015).
Intervention
The UNESCO Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE), in collaboration with the Technological University of Havana (Universidad Tecnológica de La Habana, José Antonio Echeverría, CUJAE), organized a consortium of national and international partners to implement the Más Agua Para Todos (More Water for All) project in Cuba's urban centers, including the city of Havana. National partners included the Cuban National Institute for Water Resources (Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos, INRH) and the Cuban Food Industry Research Institute (Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Alimenticia, IIIA), and the international partners were the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), and the University of Cape Town (UCT) (UN-IHE, 2013; UN-IHE, 2017). The European Union and the Dutch government jointly funded the program (UN-IHE, 2013).
The Más Agua Para Todos program was created to respond directly to the water security issues facing Cuba's cities. In Havana, 98% of the population has access to drinking water sources from the public supply, yet access is not always consistent. In some areas in the capital, up to 79% of the population regularly faces intermittent access to the water supply system. Furthermore, due to infrastructural issues and a degraded distribution network, 55% of the water supply is lost to leaks in the system. Compounding all of these issues are increasingly intense droughts which, before the initiation of the Más Agua Para Todos program in 2013, had resulted in a water availability per capita of 1,220 m3/year (well below the 1,500 m3/year recommended by the UN) (UN-IHE, 2013).
The Más Agua Para Todos program was implemented over 4 years (from 2013 to 2017). Its goal was to increase water availability on the island by decreasing demand for potable water and encouraging environmentally-friendly wastewater treatment, reclamation, and reuse. The program outlined three primary initiatives (two applied research activities and one capacity-building initiative) to achieve this goal by introducing innovative urban water management practices in Cuba's water sector. The initiatives were as follows: (i) assessing and integrating the use of saline water as secondary quality water in the Cuban urban water cycle (i.e., for toilet flushing), (ii) increasing the reuse of treated wastewater in urban centers in Cuba, (iii) enhancing the knowledge, education, and research capacities regarding innovative urban water cycle practices in the island's water sector (UN-IHE, 2013).
Challenges
The "Más Agua Para Todos" program in Havana faces several challenges, including overcoming the city’s outdated and leaky water distribution infrastructure, which causes significant water losses. Despite the widespread access to drinking water, intermittent supply issues and competition from other sectors like tourism exacerbate the problem. Introducing innovative technologies, such as saline water for flushing and wastewater reclamation, requires overcoming technical and societal barriers, including resistance to new methods and the need for substantial public education. Additionally, securing long-term funding and ensuring the scalability of these solutions across Cuba’s cities remains a key challenge.
Outcomes
The UNESCO-IHE and its local and international partners deemed the program a success upon its completion in 2017 (UN-IHE, 2017). Más Agua Para Todos resulted in many positive outcomes: transferring knowledge regarding cutting-edge technologies for wastewater treatment and water reuse, reducing urban water demand and increasing water supply through water reclamation, and fostering knowledge and capacity-building throughout Cuba's water sector (UN-IHE, 2017). The applied research activity assessed the use of saline water for toilet flushing and of SANI 2 systems, a related low-cost, energy-efficient wastewater treatment technology for sewage treatment, and these technologies were administered in collaboration with the HKUST experts who pioneered them. The assessment resulted in highly encouraging data regarding the potential widespread adoption of these technologies in Cuba's cities. The study's results indicate that broad application of these alternatives throughout Cuba would result in 15-20% water savings in urban areas and the tourism sector.
Further studies corroborated these findings, indicating that by implementing the saline water technology in at least one-third of households in Cuba's coastal areas (assuming approximately five toilet discharges per person per day), this technology would yield 27,788,262 liters saved daily, saving enough freshwater to cope with up to 3 months' drought in urban areas (UN-IHE, 2017). The program also resulted in the installation of a new technology for industrial wastewater treatment, deployed first as a pilot project in Playa Varadero and then in a brewery in Old Havana. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant provides high-quality treated water that is almost ready to be reused in non-potable applications and helps reduce pollution in Havana Bay. Furthermore, the technology demonstrated the viability of using MBR technology for industrial wastewater treatment and reuse. Studies based on this treatment plant indicated that if such technology were implemented in all Cuban hotels, there would be an additional 20% of fresh water available for use in urban areas and the tourism sector (UN-IHE, 2017). Finally, Más Agua Para Todos provided training in advanced water and wastewater practices and innovative technologies to over 100 engineers, college students, and other professionals throughout Cuba's water sector (UN-IHE, 2017).
References
Innovative Urban Water Management for Water Security
Summary
The Más Agua Para Todos (More Water for All) program, led by UNESCO-IHE and the Technological University of Havana, was a collaborative effort to help Havana and other urban municipalities in Cuba adapt to climate change and alleviate their water scarcity issues through the deployment of innovative urban water management solutions.
Cuba, like many island nations, is extremely vulnerable to climate change, and its impact on water security remains a primary concern for the island. Cuba is drought-prone due to a confluence of environmental and geographical factors; climate change and infrastructural factors compound the nation's water stress (Gilbert, 2017). Furthermore, like many coastal cities globally, Havana is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise, which poses an additional threat to its inhabitants' security (Alonso & Clark, 2015; Gilbert, 2017). Havana, the capital and economic and administrative hub of Cuba, is home to nearly 20% of the Cuban population.
The city faces significant water losses in its distribution network and, relatedly, water scarcity, factors that increasingly complicate the sustainable, long-term provision of freshwater to its many citizens (PopulationStat, 2019; PopulationStat, 2020; Gilbert, 2017). Meeting municipal water supply needs in Havana is further complicated by competing supply requirements in the industrial and tourism sectors (UN-IHE, 2017). Climate models consistently predict that climate change will threaten the island's freshwater resources, exacerbating water insecurity on the island and jeopardizing basic human needs, especially in urban hubs like Havana (Alonso & Clark, 2015).
Issue
Intervention
The UNESCO Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE), in collaboration with the Technological University of Havana (Universidad Tecnológica de La Habana, José Antonio Echeverría, CUJAE), organized a consortium of national and international partners to implement the Más Agua Para Todos (More Water for All) project in Cuba's urban centers, including the city of Havana. National partners included the Cuban National Institute for Water Resources (Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos, INRH) and the Cuban Food Industry Research Institute (Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Alimenticia, IIIA), and the international partners were the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), and the University of Cape Town (UCT) (UN-IHE, 2013; UN-IHE, 2017). The European Union and the Dutch government jointly funded the program (UN-IHE, 2013).
The Más Agua Para Todos program was created to respond directly to the water security issues facing Cuba's cities. In Havana, 98% of the population has access to drinking water sources from the public supply, yet access is not always consistent. In some areas in the capital, up to 79% of the population regularly faces intermittent access to the water supply system. Furthermore, due to infrastructural issues and a degraded distribution network, 55% of the water supply is lost to leaks in the system. Compounding all of these issues are increasingly intense droughts which, before the initiation of the Más Agua Para Todos program in 2013, had resulted in a water availability per capita of 1,220 m3/year (well below the 1,500 m3/year recommended by the UN) (UN-IHE, 2013).
The Más Agua Para Todos program was implemented over 4 years (from 2013 to 2017). Its goal was to increase water availability on the island by decreasing demand for potable water and encouraging environmentally-friendly wastewater treatment, reclamation, and reuse. The program outlined three primary initiatives (two applied research activities and one capacity-building initiative) to achieve this goal by introducing innovative urban water management practices in Cuba's water sector. The initiatives were as follows: (i) assessing and integrating the use of saline water as secondary quality water in the Cuban urban water cycle (i.e., for toilet flushing), (ii) increasing the reuse of treated wastewater in urban centers in Cuba, (iii) enhancing the knowledge, education, and research capacities regarding innovative urban water cycle practices in the island's water sector (UN-IHE, 2013).
Challenges
The "Más Agua Para Todos" program in Havana faces several challenges, including overcoming the city’s outdated and leaky water distribution infrastructure, which causes significant water losses. Despite the widespread access to drinking water, intermittent supply issues and competition from other sectors like tourism exacerbate the problem. Introducing innovative technologies, such as saline water for flushing and wastewater reclamation, requires overcoming technical and societal barriers, including resistance to new methods and the need for substantial public education. Additionally, securing long-term funding and ensuring the scalability of these solutions across Cuba’s cities remains a key challenge.
Outcomes
The UNESCO-IHE and its local and international partners deemed the program a success upon its completion in 2017 (UN-IHE, 2017). Más Agua Para Todos resulted in many positive outcomes: transferring knowledge regarding cutting-edge technologies for wastewater treatment and water reuse, reducing urban water demand and increasing water supply through water reclamation, and fostering knowledge and capacity-building throughout Cuba's water sector (UN-IHE, 2017). The applied research activity assessed the use of saline water for toilet flushing and of SANI 2 systems, a related low-cost, energy-efficient wastewater treatment technology for sewage treatment, and these technologies were administered in collaboration with the HKUST experts who pioneered them. The assessment resulted in highly encouraging data regarding the potential widespread adoption of these technologies in Cuba's cities. The study's results indicate that broad application of these alternatives throughout Cuba would result in 15-20% water savings in urban areas and the tourism sector.
Further studies corroborated these findings, indicating that by implementing the saline water technology in at least one-third of households in Cuba's coastal areas (assuming approximately five toilet discharges per person per day), this technology would yield 27,788,262 liters saved daily, saving enough freshwater to cope with up to 3 months' drought in urban areas (UN-IHE, 2017). The program also resulted in the installation of a new technology for industrial wastewater treatment, deployed first as a pilot project in Playa Varadero and then in a brewery in Old Havana. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant provides high-quality treated water that is almost ready to be reused in non-potable applications and helps reduce pollution in Havana Bay. Furthermore, the technology demonstrated the viability of using MBR technology for industrial wastewater treatment and reuse. Studies based on this treatment plant indicated that if such technology were implemented in all Cuban hotels, there would be an additional 20% of fresh water available for use in urban areas and the tourism sector (UN-IHE, 2017). Finally, Más Agua Para Todos provided training in advanced water and wastewater practices and innovative technologies to over 100 engineers, college students, and other professionals throughout Cuba's water sector (UN-IHE, 2017).
Issues |
|---|
Climate Change and Water |
Solutions |
|---|
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) |
References
Alonso, G., & Clark, I. (2015). Cuba confronts climate change. MEDICC review, 17, 10-13.
Gilbert, J. (2017). Cuba’s Water Crisis: Coping With Water Scarcity in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Spectrum, 6(1), 2.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). (2013, November 12). HKUST and UNESCO-IHE Partnership to Apply HKUST-developed Sewage Treatment Technologies to tackle Water Scarcity in Cuba: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Retrieved July 28, 2020, from http://www.ust.hk/news/internationalization-and-partnership/hkust-and-unesco-ihe-partnership-apply-hkust-developed
PopulationStat. (2019). Havana, Cuba Population. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://populationstat.com/cuba/havana
PopulationStat. (2020). Cuba Population. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://populationstat.com/cuba/havana
UN-IHE. (2013). Mas Agua Para Todos. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://masaguaparatodos.un-ihe.org/home-english-version
UN-IHE. (2017, July 4). “Más Agua para Todos” – closing event. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://www.un-ihe.org/news/%E2%80%9Cm%C3%A1s-agua-para-todos%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-closing-event