Public-Private Partnerships: Water and Wastewater Services in France

ABSTRACT

In France, responsibility for potable water supply and wastewater services has been allocated to the municipal level of government. Water supply and wastewater services can be managed and operated under the authority of municipal governments (la régie) or can be delegated to the private sector through turnkey or full service contracts (concession), leasing arrangements (affermage), or management contracts (prestations de service). About 80 per cent of French people receive their water supply under public-private contracts, and about half the sewage treatment plants in France are operated by private firms.

Relatively few private companies dominate the water supply and wastewater industry. Three are examined here. The Compagnie Générale des Eaux, founded in 1853, is the largest. By the late 1980.7, it employed 138,000 people and supplied water to 22 million people in France and another eight million people through its operations in Europe, North America, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It also has diversified its activities, and is involved in waste management, energy management, construction, transportation, real estate development. health clinics, and leisure facilities. The Société Lyonnaise des Eaux-DUMEZ, established in 1880, provides water to 10 million people in France and to another 11 million people worldwide. It also is a diversified company and is the largest mortuary company in France. The Société de Distributions d'Eau Intercommunales, created in 1928, is much smaller, distributing water to about 2.4 million people in the South of France. These companies illustrate some alternative ways in which public-private contracts for water supply and wastewater services have been developed in France.     

Public–private partnerships for water in Asia: a review of two decades of experience

This article reviews the development of public–private partnerships (PPP) in water services in Asia over the last two decades and situates the Asian experience within the wider global context. Through a comparative analysis of PPP data from two different sources, the article highlights the critical issue of how ‘private’ is defined in understanding the extent of PPP in Asia, due to the important role played by enterprises under mixed public and private ownership. The article identifies cyclical patterns of development of PPP in the water sector across countries and the use of hybrid contractual and institutional arrangements for PPPs.     

北京水生态服务功能与水管理

分析了北京水生态服务功能内涵,评价了北京水生态服务功能及其生态经济价值。结果表明,北京水生态服务功能的生态经济价值总计达2744.57亿元,其中提供产品价值为121.80亿元,调节功能价值688.78亿元,支持功能价值184.19亿元,文化服务功能价值1749.80亿元。笔者进一步探讨了面向水生态服务功能的北京水管理策略。     

Scenarios for Public-Private Partnerships in Water Management: A Case Study from Jordan

The aim of this paper is to document the experience of public-private partnership (PPP) in the management of the domestic water sector in Amman city, Jordan. It also intends to reflect on the transformations in water management after the introduction of PPP using metaphors from ecology. Scenarios for water management are developed and assessed based on financial viability and political feasibility. Four scenarios for sustainable water development in Amman city are developed under two major drivers, i.e. importance and uncertainty. The scenarios developed in this paper are intended to illuminate possible ways that could affect the future of PPP for domestic water in Jordan. Based on document analysis, observations and lessons learned from ecology, scenarios for water management are developed. The process of building scenarios involves a number of steps, which include: (1) identification of focal issues and key decisions; (2) identification of key factors in the local environment; (3) listing and ranking driving forces by importance and uncertainty; (4) ranking driving forces by importance and uncertainty; and (5) considering implications. The outcomes under each critical uncertainty are assessed. Combinations of these outcomes will determine the general characteristics of each scenario. Lessons learned from the evolution of living organisms in nature, i.e. from innovation, growth, improvement and release, were utilized to characterize the water sector in Amman city after the introduction of PPP.     

网络时代水利行业的财务管理

水利行业的财务管理亦应进入网络时代，以网络技术管理好水利企业和事业单位的大财务，充分发挥水利投入资金的最佳效益。     

水利资金投向的分析与对策

通过对水资源开发利用、水利工程管理中投资利弊的分析，就开源、补源、节水等水利工程投资方向进行了研究与探讨。     

基于减少水足迹的水资源管理措施

水足迹是衡量人类真实水资源需求的概念,因此通过水足迹研究,能够寻找调整水资源消费模式的切入点,并据此采取相应的措施减少水足迹,提高水资源利用效率。基于上述理论,提出了减少水足迹的水资源管理措施:提高工业用水效率,调整产业结构和消费模式,发展虚拟水贸易,可以直接降低区域水足迹;提高灌溉水有效利用率,提高绿水利用率可以降低农业水足迹;通过加强非传统水资源特别是再生水、海水、雨水的利用,可以提高水资源重复利用,间接降低水足迹。因此建议在流域上利用水足迹理论,将水资源和生态系统整合起来,进行水资源管理。     

水利基本建设单位财务管理

文中总结了水利基本建设单位财务管理工作的特点，重点阐述了保障基本建设单位财务管理的具体措施。     

Public-Private Partnership: Which Strategy for the Drinking Water and Sanitation Sector in Morocco?

The paper considers the current guidelines and orientations of the Moroccan public authorities, which are converging towards the increasing disengagement of the state in terms of the finance and management of infrastructures. In addition, with a view to the will of the public authorities to attract foreign investments deemed to be a true vector of economic development, the paper sheds light on those recent changes that have affected the water and sanitation sector in Morocco through the analysis of the concept of public-private partnership in so far as the following are concerned: the drinking water and sanitation sector; the strategic features of the drinking water and sanitation industry; and the formulation of a development strategy of public-private partnership in the drinking water and sanitation sector.     

An Historical Perspective on the Administration of Water in Brazil

Abstract

This article focuses on two instruments of water resources management—charging for water and reallocation of water use through a water market. Charging for water in nature has been practiced for centuries in some cases. On the other hand, a culture of free access to water was dominant in most countries during ancient times. An historical review of the charging of water and its administration is presented. The article covers the time of ancient Rome to the present. A current example is the model practiced in the semi-arid region of Ceará State in northeast Brazil. Regarding water use reallocation by a water market, as an alternative to improve water efficiency, the experience presented comes from the south of Ceará State one century ago. Based on past experience, the article then presents a model to implement a water market bounded in space to an irrigation district, and in time to periods of water deficit in reservoirs. Six prerequisites of market-based transfers of water are analyzed, and it is shown that in the proposed model they can be addressed.     

关于实施水利人才战略若干问题的思考

针对实施水利人才战略中存在的一些模糊认识及若干亟待解决的问题,通过对水利人才战略与可持续发展水利的关系进行分析,提出了实现水利人才战略目标的保障措施.     

Capacity Building for the Water Sector in Mexico An Analysis of Recent Efforts

Abstract

Present and future improvements in efficiency of the water sector in Mexico depend on the development of a cadre of well-trained professional managers in the public and private sectors, as well as on the strengthening of the private and public sector institutions. Considerable investments are needed, but the efforts will pay back in terms of more rational policy-making and management practices. This paper analyzes several important exercises on capacity building in Mexico, which took place between 1990 and 2000. Present efforts on capacity building, achievements, and concerns are also considered in terms of the training and education needed to build a new generation of water professionals who can meet the current challenges and the needs of the coming decades. The needs of the water sector in terms of capacity building have been assessed in Mexico several times in the past. The conclusions and the results have always been the same: there is an urgent need to develop better educated managers and water professionals, both in terms of numbers and skills. Even though the needs have been identified repeatedly for over a decade, and despite continuous official rhetorics on the importance and urgency of capacity building, no long-term country-specific program on capacity building has yet been developed, let alone implemented.     

Institutional Capacity Building within the Water Resources Sector of Developing Countries

Abstract

Part 1 of this paper analyzes the concepts of institutional capacity building and of integrated water resources management, on the basis of recent publications. The authors, building on the work of others, combine this into a conceptual framework for institutional capacity building in the water resources sector. A matrix approach is developed that allows the analysis of project activities, projects and possibly even complete sector programs. At the same time various aspects of process orientation of projects and programs are distinguished and described. The result is a set of analysis tools specifically oriented towards the evaluation of institutional capacity building projects and programs in the water resources sector. Part 2 presents a number of case studies and shows the application of the set of analysis tools. The same set of tools can also be used for the design of such projects or programs, but this is not covered in the present papers.     

南水北调中线水源工程调水管理研究

跨流域调水工程的管理与运营包含了技术、经济、环境、社会等多行业和多学科的许多复杂问题,如何进行合理运行、科学调度和有效管理,是实现跨流域调水工程项目最终规划目标和获得最大综合效益的重要因素。本文介绍了国内外对跨流域调水工程管理体制的一些做法和探索性研究,分析了国内外调水工程的成功经验和存在的问题,并针对南水北调中线水源工程调水管理提出研究思路,供借鉴。     

Public-Private Partnership in the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector: The Experience of the Republic of Yemen

The objective of this paper is to provide information on the institutional development of the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector in Yemen, its achievements, challenges and constraints. In 1997 the government of Yemen approved its water supply and sanitation reform agenda in the form of a Council of Ministers decree and since then the implementation of the reform agenda has started with technical and financial assistance from Germany, the Netherlands, the World Bank and other donors in addition to the contribution from the government of Yemen. The main principles of the reform agenda are these: the separation of the executive from the regulatory functions; decentralization of service provision and corporatization through the establishment of autonomous WSS corporations; the establishment of a regulatory agency; capacity building and human resources development; and public-private partnership (PPP). This paper gives a summary of what has been achieved in the implementation of the reform agenda in general and concentrates on the pilot case of the first PPP initiative in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. The paper takes us through the stages of PPP option study right through to the preparation of the request for proposals, which was completed in August 2002.     

引黄入晋工程太原供水区水价问题的思考

山西省引黄入晋工程是目前国内在建的投资最大的调水工程，合理的水价政策及管理体制对引黄工程至关重要。由于太原市目前水价很低，引黄工程运行初期供水成本费用比较高，建议采取以下措施：制订和实施合理的工程投资政策，调整引黄入晋工程的投资结构；调整水源结构，用引黄水置换当地超采地下水；建立合理的水价形成机制，逐步调整水价；改革水利工程管理体制和水资源管理体制。     

Survey-Based Estimation of Domestic Water Saving Potential in the Case of Manisa City

In this paper, domestic water saving potential in the case of Manisa, Turkey has been investigated. Firstly, domestic water use forms are analyzed in an attempt to estimate how much water is used by a particular use in total domestic use. Then, the water conservation measures for each water practice are examined and some easy-to-apply measures proposed. Finally, an experimental study was conducted to determine if the domestic water conservation measures proposed were applicable for the city considered. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed and 200 respondents were asked to fill it in. The respondents were chosen from different people based on education level, financial status and size of the family to represent the society living in the city. Based on the results of the study, it is shown that the measures proposed are quite applicable and around 27% saving is manageable if the proposed measures are publicized adequately and applied effectively.     

试论水利科技的创新问题

水利科技具有很强的社会公 性，在很多专业领域要为政府在水资源管理宏观决策方面提供科技支撑，为适应水利行业发展思路的调整，必须加大水利科技创新的力度，需要探索新理论、新、新模型，开发新技术、新工艺、新材料，探索水利科技新的增长点，应把握以下原则：（１）坚持可持续发展的方针；（２）坚持学科的交叉、综合、渗透，鼓励跨行业、跨领域联合科技攻关；（３）坚持 新技术对水利行业进行技术改造；（４）加快成果转化，     

The Need and Requirements for Modernizing Surface Water Quality Monitoring in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Water quality monitoring in the Russian Federation faces political, technical, institutional, and financial problems. The current Russian model for gathering and production of water quality data is unreliable, out-of-date, and disconnected with current water management issues. While insufficient financing and ineffective legislation are the most obvious limitations, more importantly there is a need for a major overhaul of the program that would begin with a national framework for water quality management. This framework would provide for legal, institutional, and technical modernization of the program within a clearly-defined set of national goals for water quality management. The monitoring program in use in Russia is the legacy of the former USSR. The current growth of national priorities in terms of control and improvement of surface water quality is in contrast to the nation's decreasing ability to provide appropriate information within sustainable technical and institutional environments and that is affordable. This situation requires a new model based on the development of a flexible monitoring system focusing on water quality management. Ensuring financial stability of the monitoring system requires having a transparent and consistent program meeting the specific demands of water management. This, in turn, requires resource-saving methods and innovative relationships between agencies and with the private sector allowing cost reductions for the government.     

Water and the CGIAR: A Strategic Framework

Abstract

Among the many institutions addressing development issues at the international level, the 16 research centers of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) focus on the goal of reducing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition by sustainably increasing productivity of resources in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The CGIAR has certain comparative advantages in carrying work in water at the various scales, from the farm up to global, that should be offered to the international community. This discussion paper addresses the question: what are the major water issues relevant to the CGIAR goal? The paper also presents a justification of the research needs and opportunities as well as some initial ideas for the development of a specific research agenda on each area. While other international organizations are very active in many international initiatives, the CGIAR is one of the few that could contribute much needed research information in many world areas. The CGIAR must focus more on water in relation to the plight of the poor in particular. There is a need to increase the adaptive capacity of the poor, and to manage the water supply and quality constraints. This could be achieved by focusing at the community level and by developing inexpensive, easy to use monitoring tools that would alert the communities of forthcoming problems and provide them with means to take remedial action. This action is often needed long before there is any hope of changes in policy and other macro-level interventions. The fundamental issue of water as a food requires that attention be given to the quantity and quality of water available for domestic use in poor households and communities. Health issues associated with domestic supply and with irrigation management have been important research themes in the CGIAR and demand increasing attention. Given the current composition, activitiesm and comparative advantages of the CGIAR, it is proposed that research on water management should focus on the following four broad general areas: (1) improving the efficiency of water use in agriculture through increased water productivity; (2) management of watersheds for multiple functions; (3) management of aquatic ecosystems, in particular those sharing boundaries with terrestrial ecosystems; and (4) policy and institutional aspects of water management. As the aim of water management research is to address water constraints and issues in an integrated manner, the four areas cannot be treated in isolation from each other. There is thus a need for the fifth area for achieving integration at and across different scales.