When are Partnerships a Viable Tool for Development? Institutions and Partnerships for Water and Sanitation Service in Latin America

Partnerships are increasingly becoming unpopular in Latin America, they have narrowly been analysed in the context of the international political agenda and criticized for bringing benefits only to the private sector and not to the public sector and society at large. Nevertheless, there are successful experiences for providing water and sanitation at local level. The questions are: Are local level successful experiences the product of a partnership? Was it necessary to build partnerships to add value to the community presence and informal actors? What are the advantages of partnerships at local and national scale? The case studies presented demonstrate that actors need to have an incentive to work together and to build trust. The context in which they operate is also relevant, and in Latin America it is needed a strong national legal institutional framework if partnerships or any agreement should be an alternative to public delivery of water and sanitation. This paper analyses the context in which water and sanitation is delivered in peri-urban areas based on case studies, identified actions for effective provision and on discussion of the institutional framework options and partnership implementation at local and national level. This paper does not advocate partnerships per se; nor are these seen as the problem.     

Prioritizing Long-term Watershed Management Strategies Using Group Decision Analysis

There is a growing consensus that an effective way of enhancing long-term water resources management and environmental sustainability is through locally based planning at the watershed scale. Managing watershed resources for particular uses requires interactive dialogue among all stakeholders who have different objectives. Therefore, the resolution of inter-group conflict should be an acknowledged task of the planning process. In this paper, an integrated framework for prioritizing watershed management strategies is proposed. A case study is employed to highlight the challenges of using group decision analysis in strategic planning and to illustrate the interaction between different stakeholders on watershed issues. In particular, two group decision-making approaches are used to assess and analyse different stakeholders' preferences for various strategies and alternatives. Professional experts, government agencies and community leaders constitute the different parties included in the framework. The main focus is on the application of group decision analysis in the long-term watershed planning process. The results of the overall preference analysis show that water resources development is the most important strategy followed by agricultural and range management.     

Development of perspective-based water management strategies for the Rhine and Meuse basins.

Water management is surrounded by uncertainties. Water management thus has to answer the question: given the uncertainties, what is the best management strategy? This paper describes the application of the perspectives method on water management in the Rhine and Meuse basins. In the perspectives method, a structured framework to analyse water management strategies under uncertainty is provided. Various strategies are clustered in perspectives according to their underlying assumptions. This framework allows for an analysis of current water management strategies, but also allows for evaluation of the robustness of proposed future water strategies. It becomes clear that no water management strategy is superior to the others, but that inherent choices on risk acceptance and costs make a real political dilemma which will not be solved by further optimisation.     

Implementing the EU Water Framework Directive: Experiences of Participatory Planning in the Ribble Basin,North West England

Abstract

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is potentially the most significant piece of water management legislation to be developed by the European Union (EU) in the last forty years. Whilst water legislation is already regarded by many people as the ‘gold plating’ of EU environmental policy, many of the previous regulations and policies have focussed on specific point and non-point source water quality problems and have stipulated stringent standards to be achieved within specified time limits. In sharp contrast, the WFD aims to establish a planning and management framework for sustainable use of water and the ecological restoration of entire river systems, many of which do not fit neatly within the political or administrative boundaries of the Member States. Public participation in planning and management decisions is a key aspect of the WFD. This paper describes the specific requirements of the WFD for public participation and examines their implementation in the Ribble basin in North West England. The Ribble is part of a EU river basin network designed to test the WFD implementation guidelines issued by the European Commission. Particular challenges associated with engaging stakeholders in WFD implementation are highlighted and recommendations for future practice are offered.     

永定河流域水生态补偿标准研究

生态补偿是用水竞争激烈的流域遏制水环境恶化趋势,实现向可持续开发利用转变的重要手段。生态补偿标准的核算是实施生态补偿的关键环节。针对流域水生态补偿实施中的不足,借鉴国内外在理论体系、管理体制、运行机制相关层面的研究成果,构建了完善补偿标准的理论框架。以永定河流域为研究对象,给出了流域水生态补偿标准的实施依据。并根据水量水质不可分割特性,给出了跨区域的水量、水质补偿标准测算方法,探讨了基于污染物处理水平的补偿标准计算过程。最后针对补偿标准测算中出现的问题,给出了完善流域水生生态补偿机制的建议。     

Major Trends in Groundwater Development: Opportunities for Public-Private Partnership?

Provision of sufficient water of good quality under growing water demands and increasing climate variability will be one of the main concerns for water managers in the coming decades. It is generally accepted that an integrated approach is required in which resource development options and demand management go hand in hand to provide a management structure with balances between immediate demand from different user groups and the short- and long-term environmental functions of our global water resources. Groundwater plays an important role in achieving this goal provided that its interaction with surface water is fully recognized and its function is fully integrated in land and water planning. The success of integrated water resources management will also benefit from a broader partnership in planning, development and management of our water resources. The focal role of central government is gradually complemented with a growing responsibility of lower levels in the public sector and broader partnerships with the private sector. This paper describes the comparative characteristics of groundwater and its functions in integrated water resources management. Some major trends are discussed in the use of aquifers for enhancing the role of groundwater to cope with increasing water demands and changes in climate variability: the use of brackish groundwater; and the enhancement of recharge and subsurface storage and the ability of aquifers to ameliorate water quality. These potential developments offer good opportunities to enhance the role of the private sector under the regulatory control of the government. These options are particularly important for the Middle East and North Africa region as coping strategies to alleviate the present water scarcity.     

Low Flows 2000: a national water resources assessment and decision support tool.

Information on the magnitude and variability of flow regimes at the river reach scale is a central component of most aspects of water resource and water quality management. However, many decisions are made within catchments for which there are no measured flow data. To meet this challenge, a suite of modelling techniques to assist in the estimation of natural and artificially influenced river-flows at ungauged sites has been developed. This paper summarises these models and how they are incorporated within the GIS framework of the Low Flows 2000 software package. The paper will also describe the implementation of Low Flows 2000 within England and Wales by the Environment Agency, and the use of the system in supporting the implementation of the Environment Agency's Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy. This strategy is focused on the delivery of sustainable abstraction licensing and will contribute to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive within England and Wales.     

Spatial and Temporal Variabilities of Sediment Delivery Ratio

Sediment contribution of specific areas of a watershed is an important consideration, but one that is often overlooked, when developing watershed management plans. Understanding sediment delivery to the watershed outlet is one method for identifying high contribution areas. In this study, a new methodology for calculating individual subbasin sediment delivery ratio (SDR) was developed within the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for two Michigan watersheds. Subbasins with the greatest SDR had two defining characteristics: high erosion rates and close proximity to the watershed outlet. The impact of best management practice (BMP) implementation (no-tillage and Conservation Reserve Program) on sediment yield reduction at the watershed outlet was compared for two targeting methods (SDR and erosion rate). Identifying SDR of individual subbasins for implementation of BMPs is more effective method for addressing water quality concerns at the watershed outlet than the widely used targeting high risk erosion areas. Watershed SDR was found to be highly variable on a monthly basis, due to changes in sediment yield, which is in turn affected by factors such as precipitation and surface runoff. Finally, watershed SDR calculated using the physically-based SWAT model was compared to four empirically-based areal relationships with SDR. While some area methods reproduced the SWAT-SDR, the variations between areal methods indicate that more detailed physical characteristics should be considered in watershed SDR calculation.     

Exploring market-based environmental policy for groundwater management and ecosystem protection for the Great Lakes region: Lessons learned

The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (the Compact) was created to protect future water supplies and aquatic ecosystems in the Great Lakes. The Compact requires the eight Great Lakes state to regulate, among other things, large withdrawals of groundwater and surface water so that they do not negatively affect stream flows and ecosystems within the Great Lakes Basin. Thus, the Compact raises the possibility of increased restrictions on groundwater withdrawals in many locations throughout the Great Lakes region. However, restricting withdrawals is likely to encounter opposition from water users when such restrictions are viewed as an infringement on existing water use rights and/or as negatively impacting local economic development. Such conflicts could hinder effective implementation of state and regional water policy. This paper explores the application of a market-based environmental management tool called “Conservation Credit Offsets Trading (CCOT)” that could facilitate allocation of groundwater withdrawals, and develops a framework for guiding the implementation of CCOT within the context of a groundwater permitting system. Using a watershed in southwestern Michigan, this study demonstrates how bio-physical information and input from various local stakeholders were combined to aid groundwater policy designed to achieve the objective of no net (adverse) impact on stream ecosystems. By allowing flexibility through trading of conservation credit offsets, this groundwater policy tool appears to be more politically acceptable than traditional, less flexible, regulations. The results and discussion provide useful lessons learned with relevance to other areas in the Great Lakes Basin.     

The Evaluation of Kurtboğazı Dam (Ankara,Turkey) from Hydro-Geochemical and Environmental Aspects

Kurtboğazı Dam is one of the most significant sources of drinking water sources for Ankara City. In this study, hydro-geochemical properties and pollution sources of surface waters feeding into the dam are determined. In addition, important environmental problems such as squatter’s houses and wastewater discharges within protection zones of watershed of the dam are defined and appropriate precautions are discussed. The long-term trend (1998–2007) in water quality results of the dam and the surface waters in the Kurtboğazı watershed were studied, utilizing data provided by General Directorate of State Water Works (DSI). The results indicate that waters in the watershed can be classified as waters with calcium-bicarbonate. Due to the drought conditions experienced in recent years, the concentrations of the organic materials and nitrogen and phosphorus compounds in the surface waters have increased dramatically since 2005. It is thought that wastewaters discharged by the settlements within the watershed (especially Pazar Township) are responsible for these increases. Preventing wastewater discharges from the squatter’s houses and agricultural activities on the absolute and the proximate zones of the watershed and the constructing of a sewerage and treatment plant are the first challenges for the protection of the watersheds.     

海河流域水权制度建设及其实践

海河流域目前开展的水权制度建设,是从流域内单个流域或水系考虑,分别进行各自的水资源配置。海河流域水资源匮乏,供需矛盾突出,水事纠纷频繁发生。为了缓解流域的水资源问题,修建了大量的供水工程,这些工程对水量的再分配起了重要作用,同时也将改变区域的水资源配置方案。如引滦入津工程,南水北调工程等等。随着不同供水工程的建设,区域的水量分配方案也处在一个不断调整的过程中。同时,一些规划的实施,也对水资源管理和水量配置提出了要求。     

厄瓜多尔Napo流域水环境现状与保护对策

水资源保护规划是厄瓜多尔Napo流域综合规划的重要组成部分。基于厄瓜多尔水质监测与评价体系的特点,参考中国和欧美国家水质监测与评价方法,系统分析了Napo流域水环境质量现状、流域污染源分布特点及其对水环境质量的影响。针对Napo流域水环境污染情况,在充分考虑社会经济发展水平的基础上,制定了Napo流域水环境保护对策与措施。同时,针对Napo流域水环境监测能力弱、监测体系不完善等问题,提出了水环境监测体系建设方案。     

Examining the Possibilities: Generating Alternative Watershed-Scale BMP Designs with Evolutionary Algorithms

Recent studies in water resources planning and management show a gradual shift in the state of the art from numerous on-site structural stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) designs to watershed-scale BMP design approaches that meet both target water quantity (peak flow) and quality (sediment reduction) criteria. Such regionally-strategic approaches are not only cost-effective but emphasize comprehensive, holistic watershed-scale management, an idea strongly promoted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) since the early 1990s. Implementing a watershed-scale design can prove difficult when decision-makers have differing and sometimes conflicting objectives. We present a methodology that integrates the semi-distributed watershed model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with an evolutionary algorithm, Species Conserving Genetic Algorithm (SCGA). In addition to identifying an optimal watershed-scale BMP design (e.g., type, size, location), SCGA simultaneously produces several near-optimal design alternatives using a user-specified distance metric. We demonstrate this decision-oriented framework on a watershed in southern Illinois. Results of this application yield several high-quality alternative designs appropriate for solving integrated watershed management problems.     

OECD Principles on Water Governance in practice: an assessment of existing frameworks in Europe,Asia-Pacific,Africa and South America

ABSTRACT

Through the lens of the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance, this article examines six water resources and water services frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America to understand enhancing and constraining contextual factors. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze each framework against four criteria: alignment; implementation; on-ground results; and policy impact. Four main target areas are identified for improving water governance: policy coherence; financing; managing trade-offs; and ensuring integrity and transparency by all decision makers and stakeholders. Suggestions are presented to support practical implementation of the principles through better government action and stakeholder involvement.     

Water-Energy-Food nexus: framing the opportunities,challenges and synergies for implementing the SDGs

The Water-Energy-Food Nexus has been promoted by a number of prominent and influential global policy actors over the last couple of years. Increasingly, the concept has emerged as a major research, policy and planning instrument to govern and address demand and supply challenges across four main development sectors: water, energy, food and ecosystems. These sectors are often considered within an interdependent relationship and intertwined framework for balancing tradeoffs and identifying synergies and opportunities. This article frames the water-energy-food nexus as a crucial policy and planning instrument for strengthening cross-sector interactions and highlights the opportunities and challenges for doing so. The article is divided into four main sections. The first section describes the major linkages between water and energy and shows that the links between water and energy goes far beyond where water and energy are needed for each other. The second section describes other nexus dimensions beyond water and energy to include dimensions such as food, ecosystems and climate change for example. The key challenges in pursuing the nexus perspective in integrated planning and management of natural resources are presented in the third section and lastly, as a way of concluding, the article outlines some of the measures that are needed to operationalize the nexus perspective. Considering the implications of this analysis for the implementation of SDGs would be an important undertaking going forward for the operations of development agencies and the means of ensuring that the interdependences among sectors are taken into account in policy formulation and implementation.     

Klimawandel und Urbanisierung – wie soll die Wasserinfrastruktur angepasst werden?

Conventional urban water servicing has successfully provided cities with clean water, sanitation and flood protection. Traditional approaches are unsuited to address future challenges like climate change and modern urban development trends (e.g. migration, aging population, densification). As well as increased risks of water scarcity and flooding, society's demands for urban amenity and healthy waterways in metropolitan areas also challenge these traditional principles of urban water management. It is increasingly recognized that solutions to these challenges will not be purely technological in nature; the socio-institutional contexts will also be critical. However modelling tools to support medium and long-term strategic planning of integrated social and infrastructural dimensions are lacking, leaving decision-makers with untested policy ideas. To identify possible transition strategies to a resilient city, the development of the DAnCE4Water (Dynamic Adaptation for eNabling City Evolution for Water) within the EU FP7 project “PREPARED: Enabling Change” as a strategic planning and decision-support tool is thus proposed. DAnCE4Water allows ‘What-if’ experiments by investigating possible consequences of policies and strategic actions, taking into consideration urban development, climate change, biophysical environment and societal dynamics. This paper presents the concept of the DAnCE4Water tool and its application to an example city's evolution 20 years into the future.     

On the Marketisation of Water: Evidence from the Murray-Darling Basin,Australia

Policy makers will increasingly have to turn to water demand management in the future to respond to greater water scarcity. Water markets have long been promoted as one of the most efficient ways to reallocate water by economists, but have also been subject to much criticism due to their possible social, economic and environmental impacts. We engage with common critical perceptions of water markets by presenting first-hand evidence of their effects in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. Water markets in the MDB, as developed within an appropriate institutional framework and coupled with comprehensive water planning, have: (1) helped deliver improved environmental outcomes; (2) assisted irrigators’ adaptation responses to climate risks, such as drought; (3) increased the gross valued added of farming; and (4) been regulated in ways to meet social goals. If water markets are embedded within fair and effective meta-governance and property right structures, the potential exists for marketisation to increase efficiency, promote fairness in terms of initial water allocations, and to improve environmental outcomes.     

Watershed monitoring and modelling and USA regulatory compliance.

The aim of the Columbus program was to implement a comprehensive watershed monitoring-network including water chemistry, aquatic biology and alternative sensors to establish water environment health and methods for determining future restoration progress and early warning for protection of drinking water supplies. The program was implemented to comply with USA regulatory requirements including Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rules of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) rules under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The USEPA Office of Research and Development and the Water Environment Research Foundation provided quality assurance oversight. The results obtained demonstrated that significant wet weather data is necessary to establish relationships between land use, water chemistry, aquatic biology and sensor data. These measurements and relationships formed the basis for calibrating the US EPA BASINS Model, prioritizing watershed health and determination of compliance with water quality standards. Conclusions specify priorities of cost-effective drainage system controls that attenuate stormwater flows and capture flushed pollutants. A network of permanent long-term real-time monitoring using combination of continuous sensor measurements, water column sampling and aquatic biology surveys and a regional organization is prescribed to protect drinking water supplies and measure progress towards water quality targets.     

Multi-criteria Decision Analysis: A Strategic Planning Tool for Water Loss Management

Water utilities particularly in the developing countries continue to operate with considerable inefficiencies in terms of water and revenue losses. With increasing water demand and scarcity, utilities require effective strategies for optimum use of available water resources. Diverse water loss reduction options exist. Deciding on which option to choose amidst conflicting multiple criteria and different interests of stakeholders is a challenging task. In this paper, an integrated multi-criteria decision-aiding framework for strategic planning of water loss management is presented. The PROMETHEE II method was applied within the framework in prioritizing water loss reduction options for Kampala city. A strategic plan that combines selective mains and service lines replacement and pressure management as priorities is the best compromise based on preferences of the decision makers and seven evaluation criteria characterized by financial-economic, environmental, public health, technical and social impacts. The results show that the most preferred options are those that enhance water supply reliability, public health and water conservation measures. This study demonstrates how decision theory coupled with operational research techniques could be applied in practice to solve complex water management and planning problems.