title: Placing ecosystem services at the heart of urban water systems management.
abstract: Current approaches have failed to deliver a truly integrated management of the different elements of the urban water system, such as freshwater ecosystems, drinking water treatment plants, distribution networks, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. Because the different parts of urban water have not been well integrated, poor decisions have been made for society in general, leading to the misuse of water resources, the degradation of freshwater ecosystems and increased overall treatment costs. Some attempts to solve environmental issues have adopted the ecosystem services concept in a more integrated approach, however this has rarely strayed far away from pure policy, and has made little impact in on-the-ground operational matters. Here, we present an improved decision-making framework to integrate the management of urban water systems. This framework uses the ecosystem service concept in a practical way to make a better use of both financial and water resources, while continuing to preserve the environment.
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Carrer Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain; International University of Catalonia, Carrer Immaculada 22, 08017 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Carrer Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain; Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Carrer Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barceló
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Carrer Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain; Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUIA), Institute of the Environment, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n, 17071 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Comas
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Carrer Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ll
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Corominas
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUIA), Institute of the Environment, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n, 17071 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hadjimichael
authors.affiliation: Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, 4111 Queensland, Australia; Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Dept. of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, 4102 Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Page
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Carrer Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain. Electronic address: vicenc.acuna@icra.cat.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Acuña
mesh_terms: D002947:Cities; D000074067:Conservation of Water Resources / Q000379:methods*; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000032:analysis*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000032:analysis*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water
keywords: Ecosystem services; Freshwater ecosystems; Urban water systems; Wastewater treatment; Water management