Effective Management of Scarce Water Resources: From Antiquity to Today and into the Future

Abstract

Water is a critically important element of human life. The best practice of effective water management comes from ancient civilizations that, despite their technologies and practices, were unable to prevent collapse from water scarcity. In the 21st century, in an era of climate change, pollution or population explosion, cities are looking for innovative ways to effectively manage scarce resources for future generations. Which elements should cities of the future follow to avoid water collapse? The following article aims to identify the key elements of effective management and to represent them graphically in the form of a recommended model, which will be verified in the future in Slovakia. The article uses case analysis of best past and current practices, comparison and summarization to identify the elements, creativity, and logic in the development of the model, including induction and deduction. The article serves as a basis for fellow researchers (analyses carried out) and strategic urban management (effective urban water management). The main finding of the article is that ecological change puts pressure on social elements and therefore it is necessary to focus on the area of strategic management. Cities should not only know how to manage resource abundance or short-term scarcity, but also long-term scarcity. They should use elements of trust, awareness and continuous improvement through modern monitoring technologies (UAVs, sensors) and prediction (machine learning). This is the only way to generate water sustainability in the urban concept of the future.

Climate change and hydrological regime in arid lands: Impacts of dams on the plant diversity, vegetation structure and soil in Saudi Arabia

“…Dam construction is one of the main strategies for storing and protecting runoff water for consumption and agricultural needs. Despite these socioeconomic roles, desert reservoirs fell into controversy because of their complex impact on desert ecosystems such as their influence over climate, ability to modify sedimentation patterns, facilitate the establishment of many plant species and last but not least their impact on regional floristic diversity ( Sayed et al, 2020 , Šulyová et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Climate change is an essential component for strategic water resource management in arid and semi-arid countries, including Saudi Arabia. It is a well-known fact that climate change could eventually deepen the water resource crisis in water-scarce regions ( Abu-Allaban et al, 2015 , Attenborough, 2020 , Šulyová et al, 2021 ). The Saudi authorities have implemented many strategies to safeguard water resources sustainability, including valuation of available water resources, new dams construction, desalination plants construction for domestic water supply, drafting of water conservation regulations, as well as the design and eventual enforcement of water-saving measures in agriculture ( Darfaoui and Al Assiri, 2010 , MEWA, 2019 ).…”

Smart Technologies for Sustainable Water Management: An Urban Analysis

“…Nowadays, as water scarcity has been emerging as a critical environmental challenge, while urbanization has been accelerating, efficient water management in urban areas becomes of vital importance to ensure freshwater sustainability and security [18,64]. On the above basis, the digitalization of several economic activities is also gaining ground in the water sector [65,66].…”

“…Following the 4th industrial revolution, urban water management has also been transformed into "smart" [16,17] as the only viable way to achieve water sustainability in the cities of the future [18]. According to the International Water Resources Association [19], "smart water management" utilizes information and communication technology (ICT) and Sustainability 2021, 13, 13940 2 of 14 real-time data to tackle water management challenges by integrating digital solutions into urban, regional, and/or national strategies, indicatively referring to water quality and quantity, efficient irrigation, leakages, pressure and flow, floods, and droughts.…”

Integrated water resources management in an urban concept: results from water smart cities and water management institutions in Slovakia

“…Best water practices in Smart Cities can be analysed by using the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Water Index. This index was selected based on our previous research (Šulyová et al, 2021;Šulyová & Kubina, 2021b). The ranking in Arcadis Sustainable Cities Water Index was last updated in 2016.…”