Ricerc@Sapienza

Water scarcity is among the main global risks, requiring sustainability in water resources management.

Water management is an issue that involves multiple functions of production, supply, consumption and disposal of water, in relation to dynamics of demand and offer, influenced by variables and threats that emerge, fueled by demographic, climatic and economic evolutions. Challenges to be faced in the immediate future will have to address three relevant problems: meteorological and hydrological patterns variability; strong increase in urban water demand and erosion of available water resources. Nonlinear patterns of population growth, sprawl, and pollution, in a climate change scenario, fuel the threats at the base of risks, especially that of water scarcity. Main goals of a sustainable management are those of protection, containment and integration of this resource. Building and design represent fields of application where the problem of water scarcity can be effectively addressed. In defining a strong sustainability model, environmental technological design is involved through the debate on green building, which several authors define as healthy structures designed and built efficiently in terms of resources, using principles based on ecology. Among these resources, water is certainly one of the most important.

Research is carried out focusing on water consumption reduction as well as on climate adaptation and mitigation through rainwater and greywater collection, treatment and reuse. Attention is also paid to indirect uses related to urbanization and building construction: impact indicators of materials, construction elements and processes represent fundamental tools to understand more extensively water stress in built environment. Water footprint, embodied water in materials and water-energy nexus extensevely describe this concept.