Das Projekt "Sustainable Water management Improves Tomorrow s Cities Health (SWITCH)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Institut für Abwasserwirtschaft und Gewässerschutz B-2 durchgeführt. The project will develop scientific, technological and socio-economic solutions that contribute to an effective urban water management scheme. It deals with challenges linked to urban sprawl in metropolitan areas - namely, the quantity and quality of water, ineffective sanitation systems, poor governance and costly water management. SWITCH involves all actors of society and aims at shaping The City of the Future in 30-50 years from now. It will operate at three levels: Research, training and demonstration. Learning alliances will be set up to ensure smooth exchange of knowledge and experiences between these activity clusters. The project will operate at three levels: - At the city level it will develop efficient and interactive urban water systems and services, develop rational water use and reuse practices - At river basin level, in the context of the citys geographical and ecological setting the project will consider water detention options and eco-hydrology approaches. - At the global level the solutions must be robust, flexible and adjustable to a range of global change pressures. SWITCH will engage in full scale testing of new solutions in demonstration cities such as Accra (Ghana), Alexandria (Egypt), Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Beijing (China), Birmingham (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Lodz (Poland), Saragossa (Spain) and Tel Aviv (Israel).