Ancient settlements-atavistic solutions for present water supply and drainage problems engendered by urbanism
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Ancient settlements‑atavistic solutions for present water supply and drainage problems engendered by urbanism Thirumalini Selvaraj1 · Asmita Yadav1 · Haritima Bahuguna2 · Jakub Drewnowski3 · Mahesh Ganesapillai4 Received: 6 April 2019 / Accepted: 17 August 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Water is the most valuable resource available on earth. Although it is present in abundance, its usable volume is very scarce. This is the reason behind the existence of both floods and droughts around the world. However, human settlements face water scarcity issues that are primarily engendered by improper town planning measures. To create a balance between the available fractions of water, it is therefore imperative to have proper water planning and management. Numerous water management techniques in operation in ancient civilizations like the Mohenjo-Daro, Mesopotamian, Roman, and Chinese drainage system have been proven to be more efficient than the contemporary methods and can therefore be used to ameliorate the current scenario. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze water issues in three developing cities in the Asia Pacific region viz., Chennai, Kathmandu, and Jakarta by identifying the source of the problem and provide potential solutions based on the techniques followed in the ancient civilizations. Moreover, this study also aims to address the common issues in urban water planning and provide suggestions for a better and sustainable system. Keywords Water scarcity · Drainage · Ill water planning · Ancient water systems · Floods · Asian floods · Sustainable water solutions
* Mahesh Ganesapillai [email protected] 1
School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology-VIT, Vellore, Tamil Nadu 632014, India
2
Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
3
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland
4
School of Chemical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology-VIT, Vellore, Tamil Nadu 632014, India
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1 Introduction The survival of mankind coalesces with the atmosphere and the resources present on earth. Water is considered as one of the most limited commodities that the human race depends upon. Even though water covers about 71% of the earth’s surface, only 2.5% is usable by humans and more than three fourth of this usable water is unavailable as it is locked up as glaciers, ice caps and underground sources (Clifford 2012). It is vital to address the concern about the amount of water consumed, as 54% of the available supply of freshwater is already being used and according to experts over 70% of the available supply would be in use by 2025. The water crises need serious concern before it exacerbates and become immutable. Planning is the most essential part of any system, especially in the present day scenario where urbanization is growing at an accelerated pace. Proper management of the limited resources is essential for the survival of the human rac
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