Urbanization, land subsidence and sea level rise will increase vulnerability of the urbanized low-lying areas in the western part of the Netherlands. In this article possibilities are explored to reduce vulnerability of these areas by implementing alternative water management options. Two main water management fields are distinguished, water supply and flood control. A four-component vulnerability framework is presented that includes threshold capacity, coping capacity, recovery capacity, and adaptive capacity. By using the vulnerability framework it is shown that current water supply and flood control strategies in the Netherlands focus on increasing threshold capacity by constructing higher and stronger dikes, improved water storage and delivery infrastructure. A complete vulnerability decreasing strategy requires measures that include all four capacities. Flood damage reduction, backup water supply systems and emergency plans are measures that can contribute to increasing coping capacity. Recovery capacity can be increased by multisource water supply, insurance, or establishing disaster funds. Adaptive capacity can be developed by starting experiments with new modes of water supply and urbanization. Including all four components of the vulnerability framework enables better understanding of water and climate related vulnerability of urban areas and enables developing more complete water management strategies to reduce vulnerability.

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With climate change and urban development, water systems are changing faster than ever. Currently, the ecological status of water systems is still judged based on single point measurements, without taking into account the spatial and temporal variability of water quality and ecology. There is a need for better and more dynamic monitoring methods and technologies. Aquatic drones are becoming accessible and intuitive tools that may have an important role in water management. This paper describes the outcomes, field experiences and feedback gathered from the use of underwater drones equipped with sensors and video cameras in various pilot applications in The Netherlands, in collaboration with local water managers. It was observed that, in many situations, the use of underwater drones allows one to obtain information that would be costly and even impossible to obtain with other methods and provides a unique combination of three-dimensional data and underwater footage/images. From data collected with drones, it was possible to map different areas with contrasting vegetation, to establish connections between fauna/flora species and local water quality conditions, or to observe variations of water quality parameters with water depth. This study identifies opportunities for the application of this technology, discusses their limitations and obstacles, and proposes recommendation guidelines for new technical designs.Water 2020, 12, 1196 2 of 20 regulations (e.g., water framework directive) require extensive monitoring and the classification of water bodies based on environmental indicators, and set high standards to comply with [5,6]. Data accessibility and readiness for use is crucial to enable real-time water management [7]. There is a growing demand for innovative and efficient methods and approaches that can take advantage of the high potential of new technologies that are increasingly accessible to professionals from different areas [8].Currently, the monitoring of water quality is primarily conducted by collecting samples to be analyzed in laboratories, which are sometimes complemented with static continuous sensors for certain parameters. These methods are labor intensive, expensive, and only provide results after several days or weeks, and are therefore incapable of mapping rapid changes in the environment [9,10]. Static water quality sensors can provide valuable time series of the seasonal variation of parameters, but require frequent maintenance and have high costs and short lifetimes. For these reasons, only a few units are installed in specific locations of water bodies (e.g., near water supply inlets), resulting in high costs and inefficiency in monitoring large areas. Ecological research and the inspection of underwater objects and infrastructure are often performed by divers or from visual observations and manual collection of samples.There are several examples of successful environmental applications using different mobile platform setups [11].In maritime environments, underwater drones/ROVs (underwater re...

Different strategy positions are possible with regard to new urban water infrastructural investments. A relatively new position argues that new water infrastructure needs to be linked to ongoing urban developments. This article investigates how the urban water management organizations in Rotterdam developed its climate adaptation strategy by creating urban development strategies that are sensitive to water issues. A crucial factor was the recognition that water could contribute to solving urban problems by upgrading neighbourhood quality. In this case study, a multi-level analysis is used to reconstruct the urban water management cascade, that is, the turns in thinking made by the Rotterdam water professionals, leading to this new approach. In particular the interactions between the envisioning project Rotterdam Water City 2035 and the broader policy context in this cascade together with how they were managed strategically are investigated. This research indicates that the Rotterdam urban water management organizations realized a successful water policy innovation; however, the institutional mechanisms needed to realize, operate and maintain the proposed multi-stakeholder projects on a city-wide scale are still missing. This is currently the major challenge for realizing climate adaptation in terms of water sensitive urban development.

This paper focuses on the vulnerability and protection of critical urban infrastructure from flooding. It presents a pragmatic and rapid screening procedure, referred to as a 'Quick Scan methodology' . The purpose of the Quick Scan is to provide guidance for network operators and decision makers on identifying and rating those critical infrastructure networks and hot spot buildings that may be at risk from flooding, and assessing where intervention will be most feasible and cost beneficial -the so-called quick wins. This approach will support the development of effective interventions to alleviate direct and indirect flood impacts. Workshops and interviews with stakeholders and experts have been organised in pilot cities -Bangkok, Paris and Dordrecht -to test and further develop the Quick Scan and to obtain feedback and lessons learned for the protection of critical urban infrastructure. This paper presents the findings of the stakeholder workshops carried out in the city of Bangkok.