Integrated Water Cycle Management System for Smart Cities

Abstract

Increases in population coupled with urban development have resulted in the exacerbation of problems found in urban environments, such as the destruction of aquatic ecosystems, water pollution, air pollution, and global warming. In addition, the soundness of the water cycle has been threatened by artificial factors associated with changes in land coverage areas during urban development that result in increases of impermeable layers as well as natural factors associated with changes in the characteristics of rainfall due to abnormal climate; this has been accompanied by the formation of urban heat islands, shortages in the water supply, lowered groundwater levels, and damages from floods. To resolve this issue, it is necessary to develop technologies to build a water cycling system capable of improving the soundness of an urban water cycle based on the systematic use of information technology infrastructure and environmental sensor technologies. As a means of evaluating the soundness of urban water cycles, this study proposed an evaluation equation that can be used to evaluate the water cycle soundness levels of natural and artificial water cycles, undertook quantitative analyses to evaluate the degree to which water cycles have become affected by urbanization and industrialization, and proposed a methodology for ensuring the soundness of the water cycle following urban development.