Cities 'leading way to improve water quality'

Cities are leading the way to fight climate change and improve water quality, it has been suggested.

According to a report in the Guardian, urban regions are doing more to work towards a zero-carbon future than agricultural or suburban areas.

The Pew Foundation is one environmental campaign group which supports this idea, stating that cities and local governments cut more than 23 million tones of greenhouse gases in 2009.

"Cities have a unique power to drive immediate change involving issues such as public transportation, but they also can help influence prosaic long-term land use planning … to realise truly sustainable cities," the article stated.

A place which has concentrated on improving water quality is Houston, which has tested 20 floating solar-powered reservoir circulators since 2006.

These are designed to reduce water treatment costs and improve public drinking water quality.

Last week, plans to improve the water quality of the River Thames in London were also released when Thames Water proposed the building of a 20-mile long tunnel 75 metres below the water in order to improve the capital's Victorian sewage network.

Posted by Joseph Hutton