Water: a critical piece of the sustainability puzzle

Water is a critical piece in the wider puzzle of sustainability. To understand Buro Happold’s approach to water engineering and how it fits within wider sustainability conversations, this article looks at our core principles of both water resource management and flood risk management.

Water is critical for life, but its abundance or absence can be a threat. At Buro Happold our services cover how to manage this vital resource, and how to protect people and assets from flooding and drought threats.

As the climate crisis continues to bite, and as constant economic and social changes impact the way we live, work and operate, how we manage water becomes more important than ever. World Water Day for 2024 has the theme of “water for peace”, acknowledging the power that water has for creating and sustaining successful, thriving communities – and the potential for conflict and tension when water is scarce, polluted, or unequal (or no) access is provided.

The UN, the organiser of World Water Day, says “As climate change impacts increase, and populations grow, there is an urgent need, within and between countries, to unite around protecting and conserving our most precious resource.” Here, read the role that Buro Happold plays in this effort.

Wadi Hanifah is a 120km long, 4500km2 watershed that passes through the city of Riyadh. The key objectives of the Flood Management Plan were to protect life and property. Image: Buro Happold.

How can we value water more? 

Anna Bruni is associate in Buro Happold’s water group and explains the way we can collectively underestimate the importance of water.

Water is central in all of our lives. Without water, you can’t have cities, communities, agriculture or development. Unfortunately, we tend to take water for granted and it is one of the least valued commodities in the word – but it should be one of the most valued. And because a huge amount of climate risks relate to water, we need to wake up

Anna Bruni, Associate, Buro Happold

It is clear that the world’s view on water needs to change. To understand and appreciate its value, the built environment’s approach to how water is managed must be bold and clear. Buro Happold’s vision for water resource management is to maximise the efficient use of water, protect and regenerate water resources, and guarantee security of supply for regions, cities and development sites far into the future. We do this by recommending specific drought resilient strategies that are grounded in a catchment-based approach and a holistic assessment of the entire natural and man-made water cycles.

David Palmer is the director of the water group and reiterated the notion that we must learn to view water in a new way. He said, “We have a disconnected and unhealthy relationship with water because we don’t value it like we should. Technology can help, but education is critical. A lot of bad practices are simply uninformed practices.”

Education is at the heart of what we do: if we can change mindsets and attitudes to water, then we can support the delivery of positive outcomes and the prioritisation of water’s importance in our collective consciousness.

David continued, “One of the best things we can do as consultants is to get involved as early as possible in a project, so we can educate and inform our clients and key stakeholders of the importance of considering water at all stages.”

Arriyadh Stormwater Masterplan Review
The Riyadh Municipality commissioned local engineering consultants to assess the baseline stormwater infrastructure for the city of Riyadh, and to propose a masterplan to upgrade and extend the storm drainage network to serve the rapidly expanding city’s urban development. Image: BHE.

Working across borders 

Key to the UN’s World Water Day is the idea of cooperation across boundaries, borders and communities – they believe it is key in “fostering harmony, generating prosperity and building resilience to shared challenges.” This is something we are acutely aware of and support. We work across jurisdictions and countries, as water resources often span across legal boundaries. Water resource management is not free from politics.

We also understand the different scales at which water must be managed. Anna Bruni said, “You can look at water at a small, local scale (where we consider interventions like Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and water efficient measures), and also zoom out and look at it on a city level, (where we may consider grey-or-black-water recycling plants).

“And you can zoom out once again and see water resource management at a country level, and it is here we need to consider water politics and the impact of upstream decisions on downstream systems.”

Construction vehicles at renovation of Folkestone Harbour beach
Buro Happold has been pivotal in solving the Folkestone Harbour’s challenges through promoting an innovative flood defence strategy and working with natural beach processes. Image: Buro Happold.

How can we contribute to a net-improvement? 

As with so much of Buro Happold’s work, a wide variety of skill sets is important, as is working in an increasingly multi-and-transdisciplinary way.

Anna Bruni said, “Water permeates a huge amount of what engineering does. This is an exciting moment for those who work in water engineering at Buro Happold, and we have a breadth of experience that is critical in delivering the outcomes our clients need.

“We cover the water cycle side of this work, but also the flood risk side, because inevitably there is an overlap. We constantly have opportunities to work on both sides.”

Floods and droughts should be given equal weight with water resource management. As the climate emergency continues to impact in all corners of the world, our vision for flood risk management is to protect the safety of people and valuable assets in the across regions, cities and development sites by implementing resilient and robust flood risk management solutions that maximise positive opportunities while ensuring no adverse impact to others. 

We don’t just aim for a reduction of flood risk but for an overall net improvement, where each development unlocks the opportunity to improve flood risk resilience. Anna explained, “We don’t just want to meet the demands of today, keeping the site safe from flood risk and meeting the minimum water demands. We want to achieve a net improvement, using development as an opportunity to improve the flood risk in the community or to improve the water resource balance in an area, city, region or country.”

Bagmati river engineering
The Bagmati River is considered a holy river and flows through the Kathmandu valley. Being able to access the water for amenity, recreational and cultural use is essential in the daily lives and rituals of the community. Image: Buro Happold

What does the future look like? 

We need to be agile and responsive to understand how approaches to both water and flood risk management will change in future years. As with so many elements of our work that helps shape a successful built environment, effective management of water is subject to both shifts in technology, and social influences.

Duncan Ker-Reid is technical director in Buro Happold’s water group. He believes in a more holistic water model that considers the varied and complex influences that currently impact work around water and floods.

Duncan said, “Underpinning all water resource management is the return of a more holistic water cycle model. Computational improvement, including AI and machine learning of the last few years, provides the opportunity to shift away from a siloed approach.”

For flood risk management, key areas of growth will emerge with the expansion in AI and machine learning in the fields of data management. Flood risk management includes processing a lot of data – such as rainfall, river and sea levels – before using it to predict what might happen based on climate models. AI and machine learning will be useful in analysing incoming data feeds and making predictions about future events.

Duncan Ker-Reid, Technical Director, Buro Happold

Learn more about Buro Happold’s offering in water engineering.