‘Water Sensitive Cities’: Planning and Evaluation of Its Theoretical Application in a Mexican City with High Hydric Stress

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

1.       As you know, today using different types of detergents and hygiene products in all over the developing countries include big cities is big problem (but most hidden and insidious) that treats the sustainable development. These polluted soil and water resources in developing countries. It is better to consider this issue in your conceptual model. It is very important in urban planning and design. In my opinion this is one of the most important challenges for present and future management of the water supply in urban areas. This issue effect all your model.

2.       Other major issues in developing countries cities, is that in those cities, Architecture and urban planning are influenced by economics and politics. Then, in many private and public buildings, drinking water is used for various purposes (even watering plants). Also, in most buildings, clean water and polluted water are released to a same external source. Has this issue been addressed in your model?

3.       In your proposed model, has it been considered that in developing countries, there is no sufficient and advanced infrastructure and facilities to recover water and return it to the Urban water cycle?

4.       In many developing cities, due to the inappropriateness of the water supply infrastructure, ‎a large part of urban water is wasted. Is this addressed in your model?‎

5.       Some of your references in the whole document aren’t legible and messed up (e.g., See Page ‎‎6, Lines 210-212). ‎

6.       I think your maps are not suitable and they could be improved. ‎

7.       Finally, my time was limited to complete the review. In the next revision, I will leave some additional comments especially in methods, data, and analysis parts. ‎

 Best wishes.

 

Author Response

Thank you for your time and your comments. Here is our response, hoping it clarifies the issues you pointed out.

1. As you know, today using different types of detergents and hygiene products in all over the developing countries include big cities is big problem (but most hidden and insidious) that treats the sustainable development. These polluted soil and water resources in developing countries. It is better to consider this issue in your conceptual model. It is very important in urban planning and design. In my opinion this is one of the most important challenges for present and future management of the water supply in urban areas. This issue effect all your model.

This is indeed a very interesting point, however, given extra analysis needed to incorporate this problem properly into the paper, its inclusion is out of the scope of the work, and therefore, it was not considered as part of the analysis variables. Although soil contamination is mentioned as one of the harmful effects of urban agglomeration [35], it was not included in the modelling.

 

2. Other major issues in developing countries cities, is that in those cities, Architecture and urban planning are influenced by economics and politics. Then, in many private and public buildings, drinking water is used for various purposes (even watering plants). Also, in most buildings, clean water and polluted water are released to a same external source. Has this issue been addressed in your model?

These issues are addressed as follows [76-80, 484-492, 587-592]. While this is an important matter to consider at a microscale, the research focuses on measurements at a larger scale.

 

3. In your proposed model, has it been considered that in developing countries, there is no sufficient and advanced infrastructure and facilities to recover water and return it to the Urban water cycle?

This matter is addressed in the conclusions section [484-489]

 

4. In many developing cities, due to the inappropriateness of the water supply infrastructure, ‎a large part of urban water is wasted. Is this addressed in your model?‎

It is mentioned on section 3.1 [194-198]

 

5. Some of your references in the whole document aren’t legible and messed up (e.g., See Page ‎‎6, Lines 210-212). ‎

Thank you for your observation, I have corrected this issue along the entire document.

 

6. I think your maps are not suitable and they could be improved. ‎

Maps have been modified in accordance with your comment, thanks for this observation. In case you have any specific comments on how to improve them please let me know.

 

7. Finally, my time was limited to complete the review. In the next revision, I will leave some additional comments especially in methods, data, and analysis parts. 

Thank you.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors

I have read your manuscript with great interest and found it important contribution to the sustainability of the urban planning. I don't have too many comments on manuscript only at few places intext citation are not present. Please check those. 

Author Response

We appreciate that you have taken the time to read the manuscript, we have considered your observations. Thank you.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The topic of the manuscript is relevant and appropriate to the theme of the journal.

The problems of water scarcity and flooding of territories are topical for many cities in different parts of the world.  Many scientists - geographers, economists, ecologists, hydraulic engineers, sociologists, and other specialists - are focused on its solution, which emphasizes the complexity and versatility of the subject of research.

The authors note that the solution of the set tasks is considered from the perspective of urban planning  perspective, which substantiates the relevance of the topic and the practical importance of the results obtained for the city of Aguascalientes.

The consideration of the manuscript from the position indicated by the authors raises several questions that require clarification. This is necessary to better understand and improve the quality of the manuscript.

The manuscript lacks a description of the object of study, the City of Aguascalientes, the current situation and the forecast of its development: population, water consumption balance, master plan scheme, etc. The scanty description (201-206) is clearly insufficient. At the same time, in 3.3. "Analysis strategy" noted that demographic changes and demand for drinking water was taken into account.

The purpose of the article is determined by the evaluation of the scenario proposed by the authors, developed on the basis of the model, with the Aguascalientes Development Plan (PDUCA) 2040?  A brief description should be given.

It is not clear how the geospatial analysis of micro-basins was performed, and areas of high rainwater harvesting potential were identified, the results of which are presented in Table 1: on what basis were they derived?

What did the zoning process involve and how was it done?

Is there a connection between the data in Table 1 and Figure 2? Figure 2 is not geographically referenced and does not allow to assess the importance of micro-basins for the objectives of the study.

Section 4, Results.

Contains a set of hypothetical proposals that are not related to spatial planning. These proposals should be linked to the existing Aguascalientes Development Plan (PDUCA) 2040. It is not clear, however, whether the suburban areas are part of the city limits, or do they belong to other administrative units?

Map 3, Suburban Application Proposals (379), is poorly presented, essentially a repeat of Map 2, from which numbers have been removed but green and red objects have been added. Proposals for spatial planning should include maps of the location of facilities, reflecting their geographic location and projected size.

Is there a relationship between Map 3 and Table 2. The text (399-407) mentions the creation of a system comprised of eight constructed wetlands and a retention pond linked to the existing catchment infrastructure in the study area to both increase storage capacity and to enhance water treatment.

Only from the description we can understand that we are talking about areas of the natural complex of wetlands. It is not at all clear what "larger reservoirs located in the study area" (385) they rely on.

From the position of urban planning is not clear - what changes are made to the existing scheme of functional zoning of territories?

The manuscript is long, the text contains information and data not substantiated by the results of the study, and there are no references to previously published results.

The study is essentially aimed at assessing the water balance of the territory of the city of Aguascalientes and adjacent areas through the implementation of rainwater conservation measures in wetlands and artificial reservoirs.  This is the issue that should be the focus of attention.

The text of the manuscript is recommended to be more clearly structured, to define the goal and objectives according to which to structure the presentation of the material.

Author Response

Thank you for your time and your comments. Here is our response, hoping it clarifies the issues you pointed out.

1. The manuscript lacks a description of the object of study, the City of Aguascalientes, the current situation and the forecast of its development: population, water consumption balance, master plan scheme, etc. The scanty description (201-206) is clearly insufficient. At the same time, in 3.3. "Analysis strategy" noted that demographic changes and demand for drinking water was taken into account.

We included a more detailed description in response to your observations in section 3.1. Description of the study area [194-205]

 

2. The purpose of the article is determined by the evaluation of the scenario proposed by the authors, developed on the basis of the model, with the Aguascalientes Development Plan (PDUCA) 2040?  A brief description should be given.

It has been clarified on section 3.1 [234-242]

 

3. It is not clear how the geospatial analysis of micro-basins was performed, and areas of high rainwater harvesting potential were identified, the results of which are presented in Table 1: on what basis were they derived?

The geospatial information was obtained from municipal authorities, the clarification has already been made on text [213-217, 221]. The data presented in table 1 were obtained from geoprocessing in SIG.

 

4. What did the zoning process involve and how was it done?

A little more abounded on this topic in the section corresponding to the analysis strategy [285-295]

 

5. Is there a connection between the data in Table 1 and Figure 2? Figure 2 is not geographically referenced and does not allow to assess the importance of micro-basins for the objectives of the study.

There is no relationship between Table 1 and Figure 2. Since that figure was not very relevant, we decided to remove it to avoid confusion.

 

Section 4, Results.

 

6. Contains a set of hypothetical proposals that are not related to spatial planning. These proposals should be linked to the existing Aguascalientes Development Plan (PDUCA) 2040. It is not clear, however, whether the suburban areas are part of the city limits, or do they belong to other administrative units?

The theoretical exercise is only linked to the PDUCA in the limits of urban growth since there are no strategies to which the project could be linked. It has been clarified regarding suburban areas in the following section [399-402]

 

7. Map 3, Suburban Application Proposals (379), is poorly presented, essentially a repeat of Map 2, from which numbers have been removed but green and red objects have been added. Proposals for spatial planning should include maps of the location of facilities, reflecting their geographic location and projected size.

Thank you for this observation. We have modified that map (and some others) in accordance with your comment  [417].

 

8. Is there a relationship between Map 3 and Table 2. The text (399-407) mentions the creation of a system comprised of eight constructed wetlands and a retention pond linked to the existing catchment infrastructure in the study area to both increase storage capacity and to enhance water treatment.

Yes, there is a relationship between both elements. We rearranged that section to try to make it clearer and the map has zoom squares to clarify dimensions and relationship to existing storage bodies. [416-442]

 

9. Only from the description we can understand that we are talking about areas of the natural complex of wetlands. It is not at all clear what "larger reservoirs located in the study area" (385) they rely on.

We’ve corrected this issue. The natural environment does not have natural wetlands, however there are some dams and berms scattered through the area, mainly built by landowners for agricultural use (however most of them are in disuse). These are the “larger reservoirs” we address, and which would add to the wetlands proposed on the model. [404-408]

 

10. From the position of urban planning is not clear - what changes are made to the existing scheme of functional zoning of territories?

This matter has been included in the conclusions [593-596]

 

11. The manuscript is long, the text contains information and data not substantiated by the results of the study, and there are no references to previously published results.

Thank you for the observation. More data has been included to clarify the information presented here and reference has been made to the work that contains all the calculations, methods, and technical data.

 

12. The study is essentially aimed at assessing the water balance of the territory of the city of Aguascalientes and adjacent areas through the implementation of rainwater conservation measures in wetlands and artificial reservoirs.  This is the issue that should be the focus of attention.

It has been noted and included in the manuscript [55-59]

 

13. The text of the manuscript is recommended to be more clearly structured, to define the goal and objectives according to which to structure the presentation of the material.

We made some adjustments in terms of content and structure, as well as an evaluation of the bibliography.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Good Job!

The authors have fully implemented my comments in their work. 

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The topic of the manuscript is relevant and appropriate to the theme of the journal.

The authors made edits that improved the quality of the manuscript.

The manuscript is recommended for publication.