
The Water Environment of Cities
"For much of the first 200 years of industrialization, the urban water environment was developed by trial and error, often with unintended consequences. The modern "water closet" became widely used; public officials realized that sewers were needed, epidemics of cholera and typhoid were rampart, and eventually, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio literally caught fire. Along the way, we developed new science, new technology, and new institutions. Will we do better in the future? Can we do better in the developing world? This central premise of this book is that we can, if we plan the urban water environment holistically. The Water Environment of Cities is the first book to develop this holistic vision. To accomplish this, core chapters are written by leading experts in academia, consulting, and government. It is written for the broad audience of urban water managers: engineers, planners, ecologists, hydrologists, social scientists, and others. Chapters are written to be accessible to students and practitioners across disciplines, each incorporates cross-cutting themes, and the book is supported by a glossary. Chapters examine urban water budgets, groundwater management, urban water infrastructure, the movement of pollutants through urban systems, management of urban streams, integration of water into planning design, urban water recreation, the legal framework for urban water management, institutions to manage urban water, and the economics of water supply. Importantly, after writing their core chapters, chapter authors participated in an NSF-funded synthesis workshop to integrate concepts throughout the book. The result is a unique synthesis chapter that outlines five core principles for managing the urban water environment in the 21st century."--
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
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Balanced tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
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Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
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A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3878-4890-7
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL25554751M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.







