Of
the
thesis
entitled: AquaCalifornia:
Water
Infrastructure
in
the
Age
of
Scarcity
Abstract:
Water scarcity
is
one
of
the
most
prominent
water
issues
worldwide.
Globally,
there are
multiple
countries
suffering
from
various
degrees
of
drought
and
the
recent California
drought
is
indisputably
one
of
the
most
critical
examples
of the water
shortage
issue.
A
series
of
natural
phenomenon
triggered
by
climate change
have
caused
depletion
in
the
regional
freshwater
supply.
This
lack
of freshwater
has
led
to
the
closure
of
agribusinesses
and
decrease
in
employment and
food
supplies.
Water
shortage
is
not
just
an
environmental
crisis
but
also affects
economic,
political
and
social
systems
on
multiple
levels,
and
the golden
state
that
once
represented
the
American
dream
now
suffers
severely
from its
worst
drought
in
1200
years.
The
situation
in California
is
not
merely
a
result
of
climate
instability;
out-dated
water infrastructure
systems
and
failure
to
capture
potential
water
resources
are also
key
contributors
to
the
scarcity.
Due
to
the
state’s
diverse microclimates,
much
of
California
currently
depends
on
other
parts
of
the region
for
imported
water
supply.
Under
the
existing
drought,
the
large-scale water
allocation
systems
are
proven
to
be
unreliable
as
they
further
unbalance water
stress
at
the
source
and
end-use
locations.
Locally,
there
is
also
a
lack of
public
interest
and
effective
water
infrastructures
to
facilitate
the capture
of
stormwater
and
recycling
of
wastewater.
Many
parts
of
California fail
to capitalize
these
potential
water
savings
and
simply
direct
them
into disposal
systems.
This
contamination
and
waste
of
runoff
represented
a
valuable but
missed
opportunity
to
offset
the
drought
impacts.
The
goal
of
this thesis
is
to
develop
a
series
of
decentralized
water
systems
that
focuses
on capitalizing
alternative,
localized
water
resources
in
Californian
cities,
and
could be
simultaneously
expanded
as
spaces
for
additional programs
in
urban
areas. The
speculative
design
would
not
only
serve
as
a
prototype
for
future
urban developments
and
encourage
planners
and
builders
to
rethink
the
urban
fabric
as part
of
the
larger
hydrological
system.
It
helps reinvent
water
infrastructures to
better
facilitate
urban
life
and
actively
engage
the
public
in
order
to create
a
paradigm
shift
in
the
water
consumption
culture.
As
dry
conditions
become
the
“new- normal”
of
the
American
West,
designers
must
renegotiate
the
relationship between
the
urban
fabric
and
its
water
infrastructure.
Through
the
assessment and
redesign
of
the
current
water
network, AquaCalifornia
proposes
a
new
direction of
water
infrastructure
development
that
helps
construct
a
potent
and
reliable water
future
in
California.
The examining committee is as follows:
Supervisor:
Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo
Committee Members:
Mona El-Khafif, University of Virginia
Ila Berman, University of Virginia
External Reader:
Fadi Masoud, University of Toronto
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Monday
April
10,
2017
11:00
AM
ARC
2026
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.