The role of water and sewage infrastructure in adaptation to climate change. Selected cases

Abstract

Climate change and weather phenomena such as heavy rains, floods and droughts pose new challenges in collecting, storing, draining and distributing water. It is therefore necessary to modernize the technical infrastructure, which must cope with quantitative changes (the amount of water discharged in a given unit of time) and qualitative changes (treating rainwater as a resource, not sewage). While the technical infrastructure built in the second half of the 20th century served mainly for industrialization, urbanization and improvement of the living conditions of residents, now the management of environmental resources is becoming important. The aim of the article is to show the fundamental change that is taking place in this area. It is not only about improving or supplementing infrastructure, but about creating new forms and tools to meet socio-economic needs. Cities and communes where these changes are taking place are so far only partially prepared to implement new solutions. The selected case study is the city of Reda, whose challenges are presented in the context of cities already applying good practices in this area: Gdańsk, Rotterdam and Los Angeles.