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Review
. 2023 Nov 1:345:118557.
doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118557. Epub 2023 Jul 8.

Between flood and drought: How cities are facing water surplus and scarcity

Jolanta Dąbrowska  1 , Ana Eugenia Menéndez Orellana  2 , Wojciech Kilian  3 , Andrzej Moryl  4 , Natalia Cielecka  5 , Krystyna Michałowska  6 , Agnieszka Policht-Latawiec  7 , Adam Michalski  8 , Agnieszka Bednarek  9 , Agata Włóka  10
Affiliations
Review

Between flood and drought: How cities are facing water surplus and scarcity

Jolanta Dąbrowska et al. J Environ Manage. .

Abstract

Droughts and floods are weather-related hazards affecting cities in all climate zones and causing human deaths and material losses on all inhabited continents. The aim of this article is to review, analyse and discuss in detail the problems faced by urban ecosystems due to water surplus and scarcity, as well as the need of adaptation to climate change taking into account the legislation, current challenges and knowledge gaps. The literature review indicated that urban floods are much more recognised than urban droughts. Amongst floods, flash floods are currently the most challenging, which by their nature are difficult to monitor. Research and adaptation measures related to water-released hazards use cutting-edge technologies for risk assessment, decision support systems, or early warning systems, among others, but in all areas knowledge gaps for urban droughts are evident. Increasing urban retention and introducing Low Impact Development and Nature-based Solutions is a remedy for both droughts and floods in cities. There is the need to integrate flood and drought disaster risk reduction strategies and creating a holistic approach.

Keywords: Climate change; Nature-based solutions; Urban droughts; Urban ecosystem management; Urban floods; Urban resilience.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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