SYSTEM: Urban water system for city X
1. System name: Urban water system for [Lilongwe]
2. Brief description:
Water supply to residents of the City of Lilongwe is the responsibility of the Lilongwe Water Board. Water is sourced from several sources and pumped to several processing points before being piped to users. There is no system to recycle water.
System model/analytical model:
The standard model of an urban water system such as for California, represents a typical urban water system (water source point dynamics, distribution infrastructure (clean water, recycling, waste)) Network of water supply system and withdrawals
3. Current constraints (factors of production etc):
- Rainfall amounts for the basin and resultant flow in main river outlets (e.g. Malingunde river/dams) (drought conditions, etc)
- Quality of the water dams as affected by land degradation in the basin resulting in siltation
- Old infrastructure for conveyance of the water to processing plants and to users
- Electricity supply for water pumps
4. Risks now and in the future (CC and others):
- Risk of water shortages in the source dams due to low rainfall, heat wave or drought
- Risk of water shortages to satisfy increasing demand due to expanding city/increasing population
- Risk of interruption in water supply due to equipment failure (pumps, pipelines, etc)
- Risk of interrupted water supply due to disruptions in power supply
5. Adaptation options to address the CC risks:
- Expand options for source water to address projected needs in the medium- and long-term, such as building a pipeline from alternative sources (e.g. Lake Malawi) or expand use of belowground aquifers
6. Required other actions to ensure adaptation is successful
- Establish water use controls, policies, including for periods of limited water supply
- Develop contingency plans to deal with severe water shortages or distrupted service (cf. India’s Chennai and water by rail; water tankers; bans on water use for gardening, carwash)
- Citizen participation in water saving strategies (lessons from Cape Town)
- Use of automated monitoring systems to identify water leakages and reduce waste
7. Adaptation potential rating
- Medium to high?
