Experiences From Indonesia and Malaysia

Abstract

Indonesia and Malaysia are facing serious political and economic problems. In that context, both countries also are striving to implement sustainable water management practices. Selected initiatives of water management from both countries are described and analyzed. The implications of their experiences are considered with reference to concepts of integrated management, participation of users and stakeholders, environmental protection, impacts of water policy, capacity building, external assistance, and emergencies and conflict reduction.     

制浆造纸行业的节水潜力与对策措施

资源与环境问题是制约我国制浆造纸行业发展的瓶颈,我国水资源短缺,水污染形势严峻,可用水资源量正日趋减少。高耗水重污染的造纸行业节水尤为重要。文中分析了我国造纸行业用水现状和节水潜力,并提出了相应对策措施。     

我国城乡供水水价机制初探

水价是水务体制改革的关键性问题之一。我国水价主要包括三个部分:资源水价、工程水价和环境水价。目前我国水价机制比较突出的问题有:部分地区水价偏低,水价成本约束机制尚未健全,水价秩序不规范,水价结构不合理,水价制定中不适当的行政干预,定价过程中对环境、生态及地方实际情况考虑不足,农村水价问题等。针对上述问题,提出我国城乡供水水价机制的建议:发挥市场基础性作用,改革价格管制;推进供水企业产权改革和经营体制改革;建立合理的补偿机制。     

小型农村水利工程的改革方向探讨

针对小型农村水利工程在发展农业生产和改善农民生活中的重要地位和作用,探讨了小型农村水利工程改革的主要方向。以宁夏青铜峡灌区的农民用水协会为例,提出了小型农村水利工程改革要以组建用水合作组织、明晰工程所有权为核心,以采用多种形式灵活管理为主要内容,以推行以农指农、一水多制为改革保证。     

小型农村水利工程的改革方向探讨

针对小型农村水利工程在发展农业生产和改善农民生活中的重要地位和作用,探讨了小型农村水利工程改革的主要方向。以宁夏青铜峡灌区的农民用水协会为例,提出了小型农村水利工程改革要以组建用水合作组织、明晰工程所有权为核心,以采用多种形式灵活管理为主要内容,以推行以农指农、一水多制为改革保证。     

Benefits valuation of potable water quality improvement in Malaysia: the case of Kajang Municipality

This article estimates the benefits of potable water quality improvements in Kajang Municipality in the state of Selangor, Malaysia, using the avertive cost method. Households were willing to pay MYR 322 annually to improve potable water quality. This represents about 80% of their average annual water bill. The present value of aggregate benefits over a period of 30 years at various social discount rates ranged from MYR 301 million to MYR 768 million. These estimates can be used as a reference for public investment criteria. The findings suggest that there is merit in an upward revision of water tariffs if they provide improvements in water quality.     

Agricultural Water Use in Turkey

Abstract

Agriculture is the largest user of water in Turkey with 75 percent of the total consumption. Turkey has developed 50 percent of total irrigable land so far. Water is a limiting factor for agriculture throughout much of Turkey. The amount and distribution of precipitation is quite uneven. Turkey, like many countries today, faces challenges in efficiently developing and managing its agricultural water resources while trying to protect water quality and the environment. However, Turkey has some difficulties and problems on water use for agriculture. Current institutional framework and legal regulation, monitoring and evaluation activities are investigated, and agricultural water use and irrigation development are studied. Problems with the lack of data on environmental effects of irrigation and water pricing are underlined. Evaluation of the current situation ends in the conclusion that Turkey needs a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system both at basin and scheme level, and rehabilitation of irrigation systems for efficient water use in agriculture.     

水价改革与水务企业发展刍议

根据水的多重属性理论，分析了正确执行水价策略的思路，并结合委托一代理理论等对水务企业的发展进行分析。得出结论是，水务企业的发展是必然趋势，但同时其行业的公共事业属性永远不会改变；应从部分市场开始培育水务企业，并强化对水务企业的政府监管，从而最大程度地规避水务产业化所带来的负面效应。允许多种经营模式共同存在。     

Hydrochemistry and baseline values of major and trace elements in tropical surface waters of the Terengganu River (Malaysia)

Hydrochemistry of 27 elements and 8 anions in tropical surface waters of the Terengganu River (Malaysia) was investigated. Dissolved elemental concentrations changed significantly with distance along the flow path depending on redox and pH, often reflecting natural enrichment. High nitrate concentration is probably associated with untreated waste water input, agricultural runoff, and atmospheric input. Overall, the quality of water was found to be acceptable with the exception of a few sites. Dilution effects, water residence times and the weathering of local mineral deposits exert major control over hydrochemistry.     

马来西亚巴贡水电站的溢洪道设计

巴贡水电站是马来西亚最大的水电站工程,而岸边开敞式溢洪道作为该工程唯一的永久泄洪建筑物,具有自身的设计特点和难点。在设计中,主要利用1∶50比尺的水工模型试验,对溢洪道的引渠、堰闸段、泄槽的掺气减蚀、挑流鼻坎等的设计进行了研究和改进,解决了溢洪道的水力学、结构和高边坡等问题。尤其是长引渠应当注意渠内流速对泄量和下游流态的影响,以及利用下游地形特点,对比挑距、冲坑和下游防护等,优选了挑流鼻坎的体型设计,对于类似工程的设计有一定的借鉴作用。     

Water access in Sucre,Bolivia: a case of governance deficit

Bolivia is one of the countries on the American continent with the lowest rates of access to water, a situation that has caused confrontation between civil society and water utility managers in some cities. This research describes the water access scenario in Sucre, the capital of Bolivia, together with the key challenges faced by the company that manages the water services in the city. The case of Sucre is an example of how poor water governance can generate inefficiencies in the management of the service. Taking this into consideration, policy and institutional reforms are recommended to facilitate decision making aimed at improving the current situation of access to water.     

浅议我国的水资产管理

介绍了我国水资产现状,指出目前我国水资产管理中存在的主要问题,并在此基础上从水资产的投入、水资产的管理、水权水价等方面对我国的水资产管理工作提出了一些建议。     

松辽流域第三产业与建筑业用水定额拟定

用水定额是水权初始分配的重要基础，第三产业和建筑业用水定额是用水定额指标体系的组成部分。根据松辽流域的实际情况，拟订了松辽流域第三产业和建筑业用水定额，并做了校验，对用水定额、社会经济发展指标、用水量三者之间的关系进行了分析。     

Water Crisis

Abstract

Water crisis was not considered seriously at the Dublin and Rio conferences. It was put on the world agenda primarily by the Stockholm Water Symposia. Water management is likely to change more during the next twenty years compared to the past 2,000 years. The paper reviews the global water situtation based on the latest data available. In terms of water availability, it concludes that one can now be cautiously optimistic of the global water future. If there is to be a crisis, it is likely to be for two reasons: water quality and lack of investments. Neither of these two issues are receiving adquate attention at present. The roles IWRA can play in the future are briefly outlined.     

State of the Art Review: Water pricing reform in China

This paper reviews water pricing reform in China after 1980, including framework, process, forces and considerations. China collects a water resources fee, a water supply tariff for hydraulic engineering, an urban water supply tariff, a wastewater collection and treatment tariff, and a pollutant discharge fee. The reform has been an exploration process. In theory, a comprehensive, systematic and advanced policy and framework have been developed. However, in practice, the reforms fluctuate among economic, social and environmental targets; do not comply with the reform objectives; and are heavily affected by external social and economic factors rather than by internal factors.     

Water and Sustainable Development in Ghana

Abstract

Water is vital for the survival and development of every community or society. The health of a given community is reflected to a large extent in the water quality of the community's available water resources. In Ghana, efforts have been made since colonial days to supply both the urban and the rural communities with potable water to enhance the rapid socio-economic development of the country. It is economically viable due to the remoteness of most of the rural communities to supply them with potable water from local sources such as groundwater. The urban water supply systems are mainly based on surface water sources. With the ever-expanding population, there is a need to improve freshwater resources conservation and management in order to avoid impending shortages. To ensure the total coverage of all rural and urban communities by the year 2020, a huge capital outlay of $1 billion and 51.5 billion, respectively, is needed. Most of these funds are expected to come from the private sector, both local and foreign, with the Government making some substantial contribution.     

Financial performance of India’s irrigation sector: a historical analysis

Abstract

India’s public irrigation sector is one of the largest in the world in terms of number of large reservoirs, total storage capacity and irrigated area. But poor financial performance has been threatening its sustainability. Hence, many changes have been introduced in the area of water pricing over the years. But studies that focus on the issue of financial recovery are scanty. Analysis presented in the article shows that despite a substantial increase in area under irrigation, there has been a consistent decline in revenue generated from irrigation fee collection across states. The recovery rate of irrigation fees has been better in less developed states than in more developed states.     

Water as an Economic Good and Demand Management Paradigms with Pitfalls

Abstract

In certain circles, demand management is seen as one and the same thing as economic pricing. This thinking is stimulated by the Dublin principle that water should be considered an economic good. But is this reasoning correct? Is economic pricing an adequate means to reach more desirable levels of demand? There is considerable misunderstanding about what the concept of water as an economic good implies. In this paper it is argued that water pricing should primarily serve the purpose of financial sustainability through cost recovery. Moreover, in water pricing, adequate attention should be given to equity considerations through, for example, increasing block tariffs. Instead of economic pricing there is a need for defining a reasonable price, which provides full cost recovery but which safeguards ecological requirements and access to safe water for the poor. Giving a reasonable price to water has the additional benefit that it sends out a clear signal to the users that water should be used wisely, but the prime target of water pricing remains cost recovery. A major argument of neoclassical economists is that economic pricing of water will facilitate the re-allocation of water from sectors with lower added value (such as agriculture) to sectors with a higher added value (such as urban water use). However, the value of alternative uses of irrigation water is often grossly over-estimated. Adequate and effective regulations may suffice in order to achieve the optimal allocation of water resources.     

Optimal Water Metering and Pricing

Marginal cost pricing of running water and sewerage services haslong been the default recommendation of economists and natural resource specialists to firms and local governments. However, optimal water rate calculation considering the optimal number ofmeters has not been thoroughly treated in the literature. The socially optimal number of meters crucially depends on the price of water charged by the Water Company. This is because whether or not metering is justified in economic terms will depend on the decline in water consumption and therefore in water production costs. This paper combines the optimal pricing and theoptimal metering issues in one optimization problem. Both in a centralized and in a decentralized way, the optimal number of meters is determined simultaneously with the optimal per unit water rate. The Rateable Value System (RV) (i.e. the Status Quo or benchmark regime) is confronted with Universal Metering (UM),Optimal Metering (OM) and Decentralized Metering (DM) in terms of optimal water rates and the socially optimal number of meters.Except for RV, the results of (UM), (OM) and (DM) all suggest that price should be set equal to marginal cost and that the optimal number of meters will be determined by a functional form combining water, metering costs and water demand characteristics. Conclusions and policy recommendations are drawn from the theoretical analysis.     

Groundwater quota versus tiered groundwater pricing: two cases of groundwater management in north-west China

Difficulties in monitoring groundwater extraction cause groundwater regulations to fail worldwide. In two counties in north-west China local water authorities have installed smart card machines to monitor and regulate farmers’ groundwater use. Data from a household survey and in-depth interviews are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the different regulatory institutions implemented with help of the smart card machines. In the given context, groundwater quota is more effective in curbing farmers’ groundwater use than the tiered groundwater pricing. The study shows that the usefulness of smart card machines depends on their embedding in the societal context and related regulatory institutions.