WATER-SAVING OPPORTUNITIES IN URBAN GREEN SPACE APPLICATIONS

10th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2010, www.sgem.org, SGEM2010 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 20-26, 2010, Vol. 2, 859-864 pp

ABSTRACT

Water is the basis of life and is the driving force for economic and social development
and for poverty eradication. Agricultural, domestic, industrial, and ecological processes
within communities all rely on its quality and availability. Urban green spaces are key
ingredients in the cities’ sustainability and contribute to the quality of life in many ways
by providing ecological performance, psychological, physical well-being and
recreational services. However existence and establishment of green spaces in the city
centers have a close relation with presence of water. The cost of water used in urban is
higher than the water used in agricultural areas, because of that the necessity of the
conservation of the water and saving of water used in the urban have to be considered. It
was estimated that the water used in urban landscape areas is one of the main factor in
saving of water. The 50-70 % of the water served by the municipality was estimated to
be used in urban green spaces. The seven basic principles of water saving in green space
applications are listed below; planning and design, soil improvements, efficient water,
zoning of plants, mulches, turf alternatives and proper maintenance. In this study, the
principles of water saving were determined by the evaluation of the water conservation
programmes, xeriscape and irrigation systems in green space applications.

Keywords: garden and parks, green space applications, xeriscape, water conservation