ABSTRACT
In the past decades, management of the urban water cycle has been largely based on large-scale, centralized systems, which have been successful in improving the quality of life, particularly through the reliable provision of clean water acts, and reducing the risk of infectious diseases. Nevertheless, the change of paradigm from Newtonian to holistic has changed urban water governance globally. New changes in community values, technology, and economic circumstances have resulted in many challenges and changes in the course of action in urban water management. A consensus is emerging that the long-term continuation of traditional urban water management practices is “unsustainable” on a variety of social, economic, and environmental grounds. This viewpoint seeks the development and implementation of alternative approaches to urban water management that are part of a broader framework of “ecologically sustainable development” (McAlister, 2007). The challenges of traditional urban water management are as follows:
• Building new dams to meet the growth in water demand in urban areas is no longer possible, especially in developing countries.
