To provoke senior water resources engineering students into reassessing fundamental precepts about how we expect to use and dispose of water, I posed some rather ill-considered notions (which I would be pleased to share).

My question now is: are there websites for innovative approaches to urban water management? For example: recycling water in the home, collecting stormwater filtered through permeable paving for non-potable use, distributing untreated water for firefighting, garden watering, etc. (The students are wrestling with concepts for making their designs as close to long-term sustainable as possible e.g. using renewable energy, and zero ecosystem impact). Or is there really little scope for innovative, holistic, sustainable but safe design in new urban developments, other than fine tuning what we have, in countries like Canada? A long question.