Herbert Dreiseitl

When you speak with clients, how do you convince them to invest in sustainable water management? How do you quantify the benefits of sustainable water in landscape management practices?

Well, usually, I do it in two ways. One is I bring clients to projects we have already done and show them the success. We let them interview former clients and ask questions. Beside all the statistics and points you can show, that is the most convincing case. It’s very much about emotions. It’s not only about statistics.

The other way is that we try to make clear the benefits of integrated water systems. For example, Gummersbach, a town in Germany where we did all the restoration and the water project, had 35 percent more turnover in restaurants and shops. With the new water feature, we turned that around. So they were very, very successful with that. They have less vandalism and crime. These are all facts that are convincing. I usually list these facts, but I can really convince people if I show them the projects.

Your firm has done a lot of work in China, including a recent master planning project in Tianjin. China faces enormous challenges with decertification, reduced availability of water resources, and extensive water pollution. However, China has also made major investments in renewable energy and updated its environmental regulations and enforcement. In your mind, what are the opportunities and challenges facing China and its water use?

Let’s start with the challenging points first, and then give the points of hope. First, everyone knows that China is in a process of fast growth. Also, the values and expectations of the society are very much going towards those of America and Europe. For example, people like to have more flexibility in their commute and travel options. They want to have their own cars. This is the lifestyle standard they think they should have being in the middle class.

The government there is quite aware of the issues, at least from the conversations I've had. They see the need and are looking forward to more environmentally friendly solutions and more urban ecology. That’s why everyone in China talks about eco-cities, eco-villages, and so on. However, everyone talks about ecology and sustainability, but no one knows what that really means. And I have to say, to be honest, a lot of people, even in our profession, don’t know what it means. Or at least they don’t really behave in that way.

The word sustainability actually came out of forestry. This concept came from Austria. It’s an old term, "nachhaltigkeit" and it means that you can only take so many trees out of the forest if you want the forest to reproduce. In China, people really don’t know about ecological urbanism, or what sustainability means, especially in terms of water, soils, etc.

We try to be very, very careful, very honest, and encourage companies to take the next step in terms of sustainable design, and show leadership. I think China will probably move in this direction very quickly, and on a very large scale.

Clean, potable water is becoming scarce in many places. Many countries in both the developed and developing worlds are also concerned about anticipated reduction in the availability of drinking water. How can designers help create new policy and regulatory approaches to water? How can innovations happening at the project level be turned into widely-used approaches?

Small-scale projects are good for creating a sense of hope. They are good learning experiences that plant the seed for something bigger. As innovations, it's important to learn out of failing. On a broader scale, it's very important that we discover ways to recycle water, and treat water so it can be renewed. Again, as an example, I mention Singapore, a city that is at the forefront of new water technology. However, they are smart enough to know it’s not only about technology. It's also about aesthetics. The emotions must come in. People need to have a feeling, an understanding of what happens. That's where we can come in to make cities more beautiful. I am not just being altruistic. Function and form and aesthetics really need to get together, and can  complement each other, or even encourage progress.

Everyone knows money is always hard to find. Resources are limited. Our will to do something is also probably getting less and less because people are focused on their day-to-day needs. Long-term needs are ignored. Our political system includes very short election periods. Politicians are only focused on how to get reelected so they only do popular things, and avoid unpopular decisions that may be needed, at least in our Western democratic systems.

So what is needed is a paradigm shift. “What are our priorities?”, we should ask ourselves. If money isn't available, it is very important that people focus on key values: “We want to have a healthy environment, good water, good schools, good places where kids can play outside instead of three cars." Lifestyle values should focus on how to create a healthy, harmonious life with the environment. It will be a very big challenge to create this environment where people can say, “This is the total alternative to all that shit we had in the past.”

A recent discussion on the Sustainable Sites Initiative, Jose Alminana of Andropogon said current water infrastructure is unnatural. "Drains are unnatural," and water infrastructure should be further decentralized so it’s more like a natural system. Alminana added that transmission lines for waste water cost five to six times more than wetland systems, and produce C02 emissions. As you’re saying, a paradigm shift is needed in water infrastructure. How do you think urban water infrastructure needs to be re-thought? What would your ideal water infrastructure look like? 

Cities and urban areas have to change their systems into waterscapes. Waterscapes are living systems that provide a living, cleansing process like nature. The value of what a river gives a wetlands through cleaning the water is enormous! If we take the intelligence of nature and bring it back to cities through very smart technology back to the cities, we can re-create this. The water body in a city is like an organism. It has different ways of interacting. Water has to be decentralized, brought to the surface, and integrated into what we actually see. What we see is what we take care of.

We also need more space. To put it together in a very clear and simple formula, we need to give time and space for the process of water. That is what we have to create in our cities. Cities need to be  waterscapes, and these waterscapes have to be healthy. We have to work at this and create prototypes.

If you were working on a project with a very limited budget, where would you put your money in terms of improving water efficiency? What are the most cost-effective ways designers and planners can reduce water waste?

The best would be to prevent pollution from going into the water. If we find better ways to control waste so that waste isn't going into the water, we can reduce all the costs, because we don’t have to spend money to get the waste out again. We need to integrate the green and blue. If we integrate bio-swales, or infiltration areas beside streets, develop parks with multi-functional uses so there is water detention or retention functions that are integrated, we don’t have to spend a lot of money on all the infrastructure, repairs, and getting all the shit out we put in the water.