Interaction between a sustainable water management strategy and Build Back Better

Interaction between a sustainable water management strategy and Build Back Better: Sustainable drinking water management strategy for Grand Bahama Island

van der Hucht, Laura (TU Delft Civil Engineering & Geosciences)

van Nooijen, R.R.P. (mentor)
Lanzafame, R.C. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Civil Engineering

2023-09-27

This thesis examines the role of the concepts of “Build Back Better”, “Disaster Cycle”, and “Sustainability” in water management and the possibility of the interactions between these concepts when designing water management infrastructure. Especially in cases where the disaster cycle is relatively short: 10 to 15 years between disasters.
The case study is on the island of Grand Bahama. The island of Grand Bahama depends on the freshwater groundwater lens for its drinking water. Flooding during hurricanes introduces saline water into that groundwater lens. It is therefore highly probable that the current drinking water production method will not be able to meet the demand in the future. An alternative drinking water supply system should therefore be examined.
To investigate the interactions between the concepts, they are put into a conceptual design process, which uses the methodology “RenewIsland”, and used to set up some preliminary designs. Three Alternatives were made with the methodology “RenewIsland”. These Alternative designs were then subjected to a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA).

This thesis substantiates from the process that the interaction between the concepts is possible and that the inclusion of Build Back Better in the Water management decisions gives more possibilities to make balanced choices.
A blueprint has been made for a method to analyze swiftly if an alternative is compatible with the different cycles and phases of a location regarding a disaster and normal circumstances. This thesis also states that the study has to be extended with more research to make it generally applicable.

build back better
Interaction
water
Water management
three
point
pillar
sustainability
RenewIsland
Disaster Cycle
Multi-Criteria Analysis

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Student theses

master thesis

© 2023 Laura van der Hucht