Sustainable strategies for urban water management for arid region: The case study of Jeddah City Saudi Arabia

With the global concern of climate change, particularly the water shortage and degradation of the urban environment in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), there is a need for sustainable strategies to overcome these problems. This research studies the traditional and modern practices of rainwater harvesting and storm water management to provide sustainable strategies for urban water management in arid regions, using Jeddah City in Saudi Arabia and its historical urban core as a case study. The research methods and results are established with quantitative and qualitative data. Jeddah suffers from a lack of water (excessive aridity), but also suffers sporadic floods (excessive water). Rainwater collection and harvesting is a strategy that can address both conditions of excess. A model that relies on three metrics is suggested to study the possibility of urban rainwater harvesting in Jeddah City. These include measuring the potential rainwater harvesting volume, the water requirement for a landscape area, and the volume of rooftop rainwater available for capture in the historical city of Jeddah. Results indicate that a substantial amount of preserved rainwater can be captured and used for landscape purposes in the study area. The design strategy proposes implementation in two phases. The first is a strategy to collect rainwater from rooftops in the historical area and to store it in neighborhood storage tanks located in selected public spaces, in addition to a green network plan to manage the storm water runoff. The second phase focuses on an urban transect that intended to analyze the urban fabric for the historical and the modern Jeddah City. A set of sustainable water management strategies is selected for three main urban typologies: buildings, streets, and parking lots with respect of their distinct zone location