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15 MEXICO CITY Towards a resilient water system for Xochimilco Deltares is a partner in the implementation of the 'Resilience Strategy' in Mexico City. The challenge is to establish a strategic water plan for a part of the city, Xochimilco, and to devise interventions to improve the functionality, quality and resilience of the water system. Xochimilco is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is located in a region housing the final remnants of an ancient lake area in the valley of Mexico. The area has enormous ecological and cultural- historical value for Mexico and Latin America but it is under pressure from unplanned urbanisation and it suffers from water shortages, flooding, water-quality problems, subsidence and earthquakes. SEDEMA and the Rockefeller Foundation are funding the project. SINGAPORE Intensive research cooperation Deltares has been working with the National University of Singapore (NUS) for more than twenty years. NUSDeltares was founded in 2012 to allow NUS and Deltares to conduct research jointly on areas including urban water, climate adaptation, operational water management, disaster risks f Deltares JAKARTA (INDONESIA): • Decades of involvement in projects addressing flooding and water supplies, coastal defences, integrated water management, water quality, groundwater management, land subsidence, climate change, urban planning and design. and nature-based engineering. A research programme looking at urban resilience (SeCURE) is currently in place to look at flooding and drought as a result of climate change in Singapore and other cities in Southeast Asia. Land reclamation is an important issue for the densely populated island. In recent years, Deltares has been involved in the design of a large polder area (Pulau Tekong), a completely new concept for Singapore. The construction of the polder dikes began in 2018. NEWORLEANS Mapping the subsurface to make the city more robust New Orleans is subsiding by an average of 6-8 mm annually and most of the city is already below sea level. Which is why Hurricane Katrina had such a devastating impact. In addition, the city also has to cope regularly with a large amounts of rainfall, as well as prolonged hot and dry periods. The US government has now awarded funding for the 'Reshaping the Urban Delta' plan, which describes how New Orleans can become a more resilient city by investing in spatial planning.The Deltares contribution focuses mainly on the subsurface (structure, groundwater flows, salinisation). Once a clear picture of the subsurface has been built up, a groundwater monitoring network will be established. Deltares is also looking at ways of storing rainwater in the ground and at land subsidence in the future. MUANG XAY (LAOS): • Reducing flood risks by modelling the urban water system. • Preventing river floods in the city centre. CHENNAI (INDIA) AND SEMARANG (INDONESIA): • Using water problems as leverage to make progress on broader urban issues such as quality of life, health, economy and social networks. DELTARES, MARCH 2019 THREE CITIES UNDER THE MAGNIFYING GLASS