Scientific computing in urban water management

Urban water management is concerned with the supply of drinking water to households and industry and the discharge of stormwater and waste water from the urban environment. The system is highly dynamic and driven by meteorology, urban development, change in land use and technological innovations. Key mechanisms in urban water systems are on the one hand the transport of water and substances in the environment and the pipe network and on the other hand the conversion of substances due to physical and biochemical processes. Urban water management thus requires computer simulations in time (ranging typically from hours to years) and space (one to three dimensions). With the models becoming more and more complex by simulation at detailed spatio-temporal scale and by simulating whole urban environments, the limits of traditional numerical methods have been reached. In this chapter three emerging topics in scientific computing in urban water management are discussed and the need for advanced software methods is exemplified.