C40 Cities, Grundfos launch Phase II of Water Safe Cities project

CEBU CITY-- The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40 Cities) partners with Grundfos and the Grundfos Foundation to launch on September 14 the second phase of its Water Safe Cities project (WSC II) that aims to commit cities to science-based targets, to catalyze ambitious city actions through various flood and drought solutions.

The launch follows the successful delivery of Phase One of C40’s Water Safe Cities project, which found that climate-related flooding and drought is expected to impact millions of people and cost world’s major cities $194 billion annually.

“Water Safe Cities I was about researching the global issue of urban flooding and drought; now, the newly launched Water Safe Cities II lays the pathway for action and will explore a solid delivery approach that helps to build water-resilient cities,” Kim Nøhr Skibsted, CEO of the Grundfos Foundation said.

Water excess and scarcity are among the most urgent challenges of our lifetimes, Skibsted went on and that is why the Grundfos Foundation and Grundfos are proud to partner with C40 on the Water Safe Cities project.

Kevin Austen, Deputy Executive Director of C40 also said, the Water Safe Cities II project is urgently needed to mitigating river flood risks, for instance, would reduce damages across all C40 cities by 13 percent by 2050, while drought-related solutions could save $8B in damages.

“This partnership between C40, Grundfos and the Grundfos Foundation should be the starting point for wider collaboration between cities, national governments and the private sector, all of whom have an incentive to protect cities from water risks,” Austen added.

Water Safe Cities Phase 1 (WSC I) research found that 7.4 million people in the world’s largest cities are exposed to severe river flooding by 2050, which is why Phase Two of the project targets interventions such as water permeability and emergency response systems to help save millions of lives, C40 Cities bared.

IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition in Copenhagen

C40 Cities marked the launch with a special session at the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress and Exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark working on the IWA Congress’ theme of “Water For Smart Liveable Cities”.

The special session brought together public and private stakeholders to discuss issues of urban water governance with the aim of safeguarding the water supply that the cities of the future will sorely need.  A key component of WSC II is the creation of a new Water Accelerator for cities to pledge ambitious action to safeguard their water supply.

Cities will commit to: Raising the ambition on water resilience in cities and supporting this with solid delivery; Safeguarding cities from water-related climate hazards and Making water security and safety a core component of cities’ climate strategy following an urban water management approach.

This commitment will help cities make ambitious yet achievable commitments towards their water safety goals, but it will also follow up through a strong delivery mechanism based on targets, indicators and implementation pathways.

C40 has rigorous experience in supporting cities’ commitments and will leverage this expertise to make this accelerator a success. C40’s role will be working alongside cities to develop ambitious water targets through a pathways approach and research.

This will allow cities to have multiple options to choose from based on their cities water hazards, local conditions, and resources. Each pathway will also set clear, ambitious yet achievable targets for cities.

WSC II will also strongly draw upon existing C40 water networks knowledge base – formed of Connecting Delta Cities, Urban Flooding, and Water Secure Cities. The networks will help ensure the project framework is designed to meet city needs and provide guidance and assistance throughout the project.

In addition, WSC II will result in the creation of an Expert Advisory Group, representing academic institutions, NGOs and industry groups, to support cities on issues such as financing delivery, which present more of a challenge for some cities compared with others.

WSC II, like WSC I, will be informed by insights from Grundfos, as a global leader in advanced pump solutions and water technologies. C40 will advise and support cities on solutions such as river catchment management, water-system efficiency improvements, and flood-proofing critical infrastructure.

Grundfos’ work with C40 embodies the partnership between the public and private sectors that will be critical to the project’s success. (Photos: Grundfos FB/Google Images)