Sustainable Water Management Solutions for Large Cities (Proceedings of symposium S2 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 293, 2005, 111-117

Abstract Cities are density populated, are generally short of water resources, especially in arid areas, and are often subject to some environmental problems, such as air pollution and water environment pollution. Therefore, it is very important to determine the maximum socio-economic scale of a city when planning the urban development and the sustainable utilization of water resources. The maximum socio-economic scale that can be supported by available water resources in a city is called the "supporting capacity of water resources" (SCWR). In this paper, the concept, a model for calculating SCWR and other problems related to it are discussed. SCWR is defined briefly as: the maximum scale of the socio-economic system that can be supported in a given area and during a certain period within the water resource limits, and without degrading the natural ecosystem. Based on this concept, a framework model is developed for calculating the supporting capacity of water resources in urban areas.

Key words concept and model; Supporting Capacity of Water Resources (SCWR); urban areas; water resources