Halla R. SAHELY and Christopher A. KENNEDY Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Research in the area of sustainable urban infrastructure reflects the need to design and manage engineering systems in light of environmental, economic, social and technical considerations. In the water sector, the main challenge for the engineer is the development of practical tools for measuring and enhancing the sustainability of urban water infrastructure over its life cycle. The present study takes a major step towards this goal by developing a decision support tool for the sustainability assessment of urban water systems. The decision support tool takes the form of a dynamic water balance model coupled with environmental and economic sub-models. The various components of the model are described and selected results from a case study of the City of Toronto are highlighted.