ABSTRACT
This chapter provides examples of eco-sensitive approaches meeting multiple, sometimes conflicting, goals, where aquatic habitats may serve the urban population needs without losing their own ecological values and functions. Specific issues address interactions of urban aquatic habitats with the city infrastructure, including water supply systems, urban drainage and flood protection, and wastewater management and sanitation. Rainwater and stormwater reuse contributes to the protection of urban aquatic habitats by preserving flow regime in three ways: reducing withdrawals from urban water bodies; reducing wastewater effluent discharge; and avoiding high stormwater peak flows. Urban drainage exerts strong effects on aquatic habitats in urban areas in two ways: first, through impacts on the existing habitat, and second, by creating new habitats in the form of urban stormwater facilities, including stormwater ponds and wetlands. The chapter overviews typical technological measures for managing stormwater, including infiltration facilities, ponds and wetlands, swales and ditches, oil and sediment separators, and real-time control operation systems.
