Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1...

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1 to 8.

Confronting the fragility of urban water systems, a new report released prior to the International Water Association’s World Water Congress articulates a necessary evolution in municipal strategy. Drawing on case studies from Danish municipalities to global hubs like Cape Town, the findings advocate for dismantling the siloed approach to water management in favor of a holistic, circular model that integrates hydraulic infrastructure into the broader urban fabric.

The first imperative is diversifying supply to withstand climatic volatility. The report extols the virtues of groundwater aquifers, which are significantly less susceptible to seasonal fluctuations than surface reservoirs. Cape Town has pioneered the surveying of these subterranean resources to bolster resilience. However, sustainable management requires governance that transcends municipal borders. As demonstrated by the seven Danish municipalities managing a shared river basin, mitigating flood risks necessitates cross-jurisdictional cooperation to align upstream interventions with downstream safety.

Urban infrastructure must simultaneously transition from static, single-purpose engineering to dynamic, adaptive systems. Digitalization is the catalyst for this metamorphosis. In Copenhagen, the deployment of sensors to monitor sewer overflows transformed the harbor from a polluted hazard into a recreational asset. This technological precision is best complemented by nature-based interventions. The city of Viborg, for instance, integrated flood defense with civic amenity by constructing a park designed to absorb “cloudburst” events. Such projects demonstrate that increasing urban permeability can mitigate flood risks without incurring prohibitive costs.

Perhaps the most profound shift involves reconceptualizing wastewater not as a pollutant, but as a repository of untapped value. Progressive utilities are leveraging anaerobic digestion to transform treatment plants into net energy producers. The facility in Aarhus stands as a prime exemplar, generating 75% more heat than it consumes and supplying the surplus to the local grid. By furthering this logic to recover vital nutrients like phosphorus from sludge, cities are effectively closing the resource loop, establishing a circular economy where urban waste becomes a critical input for energy and agriculture.

(Adapted from C40 Knowledge)

Question 1: The word siloed in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.

A. inefficient B. isolated C. outdated D. specialized