This study investigates the relationship between urban development, water resource management approaches, and changing precipitation patterns across seven diverse cities worldwide. The research quantified how urbanisation altered watershed hydrology, with impervious surface increases of 12.5–37.7% in transitional watersheds reducing infiltration by 17% and increasing peak discharges by 28% compared to pre-development conditions. Analysis of 34 years of precipitation data (1990–2023) revealed significant intensification trends, with 95th percentile rainfall events increasing by 15.2–38.5% across study sites despite variable changes in annual precipitation totals. Four water management approaches –conventional, integrated water resources management (IWRM), water sensitive urban design (WSUD), and hybrid systems – were systematically evaluated across 21 watersheds using field monitoring and SWAT+ hydrological modelling. Hybrid approaches combining IWRM and WSUD elements demonstrated superior performance, reducing peak flows by 68.5% under typical conditions and maintaining 45.7% effectiveness under projected climate scenarios, compared to 28.5% and 5.8% respectively for conventional approaches. Management efficacy varied significantly by urban development stage, with interventions in peri-urban watersheds showing 53.6% higher effectiveness and 55.7% lower implementation costs than in highly urbanised areas. The optimal configuration of management approaches depended on local precipitation patterns, with high-intensity rainfall regions benefiting from WSUD-dominant systems while frequent, lower-intensity precipitation areas favoured IWRM-dominant approaches. These findings highlight the necessity of context-specific water management strategies that integrate structural and policy frameworks to effectively address the dynamic challenges of urban water systems under changing precipitation regimes.
Taking et al. (Fri,) studied this question.