Changing Ownership Structures in the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector

Abstract

The development over time of the water supply and sanitation sectors in four countries is analyzed to reveal the changing role of the private sector. In some cases, local, small-scale private water supply and sanitation systems have been able to develop progressively into large-scale official systems, which may later be privatized. In other cases, foreign capital has been more significant in the development of modern water supply and sanitation systems, particularly where privatization has occurred much earlier in the national development process. In much of the developing world, domestic water supply and sanitation is dominated not by the official water supply and sanitation companies but by independent operators who function without subsidies but with enormous variability in terms of quality of service and prices offered. However, they are constrained generally by the absence of appropriate institutional and legal frameworks, including the lack of independent regulatory authorities. There is a need, where appropriate, to continue to encourage large-scale private sector involvement in the official water supply sectors of the developing world. At the same time though, it is only by promoting policies that also further the development (where appropriate) of the independent water supply and sanitation providers that access to water supply and sanitation services can be maximized since better use of local resources in many developing countries, both local human resources and capital, provide a key means for improving access to water supply and sanitation.     

A Financial,Environmental and Social Evaluation of Domestic Water Management Options in the West Bank,Palestine

Water is one of the most valuable natural resources in the West Bank, Palestine. Due to its limited availability, it is a resource that needs particular protection. Although agriculture consumes most of the water (70%) in the West Bank, the domestic water supply is strategically not less important. It is the aim of this study to evaluate domestic water management options suitable for Palestinian conditions that contribute to achieving water sufficiency in the domestic water use in the house of tomorrow. A number of options were evaluated economically, environmentally and socially using the concept of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Results of the study showed that by introducing a combination of domestic water management options, a substantial decrease in the water consumption of more than 50% can be achieved, thereby reducing the pressure on the scarce water resources. The annual environmental impact of the in-house water use can be reduced in the range of 8%, when using low-flow shower head to 38% when using rainwater harvesting systems. Some of the options (faucet aerators, low-flow shower heads and dual flush toilets) were found to be financially attractive with a pay back period of less than their expected lives, others (rainwater harvesting, graywater reuse and dry toilets) were found to be financially unattractive because of the high investment. In the social context, it was found that introducing such options can improve the quality of life of those not having enough water. There is already a popular willingness to take part in water conservation in the domestic sector in the West Bank. The strongest driving force for using water conservation measures is the awareness that water is a scarce resource. It was concluded that, theoretically, the house of tomorrow can be largely independent in terms of water and sanitation. Education and awareness campaigns in the context of water management with a focus on non-traditional options are key to achieve such a house.     

Wastewater Reuse as Means to Optimize the Use of Water Resources in the West Bank

Abstract

The increase in demand for the limited raw water resources in the Palestinian Territories has led to the proposals for use of treated wastewater as one alternative for alleviating water shortages and for optimizing the use of water resources. Wastewater reuse is a multi-discipline and important element of water resources development. Wastewater usage releases high quality water for drinking and other purposes. Quantitative, economic, and social aspects related to wastewater reuse in the West Bank are discussed. Through analyses of the estimated cost and expected water quantities, the paper investigates the economic feasibility of wastewater reuse. Social acceptance is elicited by means of questionnaires, which have been applied to farmers and inhabitants in different areas of the West Bank. Wastewater reuse can compensate for about 10 percent of irrigated agriculture, which contributes 35 percent of the total value of the Palestinian agricultural sector. The paper presents an analysis of the main aspects of wastewater reuse and defines an approach to the beneficial use of wastewater as a component that should be considered in the strategy for the overall management of water resources in the Palestinian Territories.     

Community Participation in Water and Sanitation

Abstract

This paper addresses community participation issues in the water and sanitation sector. A brief introduction is provided, including a historical explanation of the origins of participation in water and sanitation projects. Subsequently, participation is defined, and the focus is directed to the types and levels of participation and their advantages and disadvantages. In order to better understand emerging issues when designing and implementing a water and sanitation project, a case study from Ecuador is presented and analyzed. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and recommendations for future projects are given.     

Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water Rights in Palestine

The international community has affirmed the human right to water in a number of international treaties, declarations and other documents. Most notably, in November 2002 the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted General Comment No. 15 on the right to water, setting out general standards and obligations related to the right to water. This paper analyses if and to what extent the UN concept is acknowledged in Palestine while focusing (a) on water rights allocation between Palestine and its neighbour Israel, taking the commonly shared Mountain Aquifer as an example; and (b) the governmental obligations with regard to the human right to water which broadly are to be categorized in obligations to respect, protect and fulfil this right. The paper analyses whether the institutional setting within the Palestinian water sector is appropriate to meet the challenge of the UN concept. The main obstacles and challenges facing strategic and coordinated governmental action towards the UN concept are discussed. While outlining the most important characteristics of the Palestinian water sector, the criteria of the UN concepts are evaluated. Finally, the paper discusses the precondition for the implementation of the human right to water in Palestine.     

Blueprint for a greener city: growth need not cost the earth.

The current human use of global natural resources exceeds the long-term sustainable capacity of the planet. New and more sustainable ways of building cities and providing urban water services are needed. The Australian city of Sydney is expected to grow by more than 1 million people over the next 30 years. Water use from the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system already exceeds system capacity. Current proposals to allocate a greater proportion of low flows to meet environmental flow needs will limit urban water allocations and require the development of more efficient water and sewerage systems for new and existing urban development. This paper presents a hypothetical case study of how water supply and sewerage services might be provided for an additional 1 million people over a 25-year period. It compares traditional service provision with alternative scenarios incorporating water conservation measures, rainwater harvesting and water reuse. The paper presents both economic and environmental comparisons. The economic comparisons include valuations of environmental externalities in the form of environmental levies. It shows that the extra capital costs of water conservation, alternative water sources and water reuse scenarios are offset by operating savings and environmental benefits. Ecological footprints are reduced because of lower water diversions, discharges, energy use and CO2 emissions. The paper also discusses the implication of alternative infrastructure ownership and water pricing arrangements, and the opportunities to create incentives for additional investment in water conservation and reuse projects.     

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.     

我国城市水务市场发展趋势浅析

在城市化水平迅速提高以及水质标准提高而水源污染日趋严重、供排水设备老化的行业背景下，水务市场出现巨大的资金需求。资金成为拉动水务市场发展的核心动力和产业纽带。水务市场项目的部分公益性特征，使水务市场发展受到来自法律和政策体系的多重制约。水务市场作为一种稳定的低回报的长期投资，高效稳定的运营成为赢利的关键。国家职能部门和各级地方政府是水务市场化进程的积极推动者，国有资本也是这一过程的重要参与者。     

The African Development Bank: President's Statement

ABSTRACT

External support agencies and national governments are advocating community management of rural drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities as an appropriate and realistic way ofguaranteeing the long-term sustainability of systems in developing countries. Experience with community managed rural water supplies in the developed world can provide useful insights and guidance for the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of community managed water projects. Lessons from a successful water supply program in Western Canada suggest that a sustainable community managed water supply project must be demand driven, that the implementing agency provide an enabling environment, and that beneficiaries be legally empowered to assume ownership and responsibility for the completed systems.     

The Role of the Sahara in Food Production

ABSTRACT

Capacity building is foremost a global concept and a strategic element in the sustainable development of the water sector. This is a long-term continuing process that needs to permeate all activities in the sector. In developing countries, experience shows that institutional weakness and malfunctions are a major cause of ineffective and unsustainable water services. Urgent attention needs to be given to build institutional capacity at all levels. Pressure for improved local delivery of water services suggests that development of institutional capacity should be more demand-responsive. The need to better manage overall water resources coherently and to facilitate allocation of water among all users requires an expansion of national integrated planning. The critical institutional challenge is the development of policies, rules, organizations and management skills which address both needs simultaneously without constraining the major aims of each. It must be recognized that each country and region has its specific characteristics and requirements with respect to its water resources situation and its institutional framework. Therefore, operational strategies for water sector capacity building must be tailor-made. Such strategies should be long term, having the main objectives of improving the quality of decision making, and sector efficiency of managerial performance in the planning and implementation of water sector programmes and projects. This paper covers the capacity building issue for water resources development and management. The institutional and human resources issues as well as building marginal capabilities in developing countries receive particular emphasis.     

Effective subsidies in developing countries.

During the last decades, significant subsidies have been allocated to government-owned water and sewerage enterprises in developing countries. However, water and sewerage coverage is still far from desirable and the poor are particularly affected by the shortage of these services. The truth is that a considerable part of these subsidies have been used up to build huge infrastructure works that would make some construction firms happy, while often decreasing the service costs for the richer. The costs associated of delivering water and sanitation services to the poor are significantly higher, as they often live in slums or irregular urban developments without urban infrastructure. It is possible, and desirable, to improve government's effectiveness through the use of appropriate economic incentives. The Brazilian River Basin Pollution Abatement Program, based on the "output-based aid" concept, is a good example of how this can be achieved. The Program is a success story that shows that the quality of expenditures on sanitation can be considerably improved if governments of developing countries refrain from contracting sanitation infrastructure works and start paying for results, not for promises.     

Regulation reform process and perception in the Palestinian water sector

ABSTRACT

The study analyzes the regulation reform process of the Palestinian urban water sector. It introduces the holistic reform agenda and examines the water supply sector’s performance and regulation challenges. The study also evaluates the perception of water service providers regarding the regulation reforms. Collected evidence indicates a dominant interpretation of the regulation concept based on rules and legislation, coupled with a neglect of aspects like monitoring, economic regulation and managerial accountability. The lack of awareness of the benefits of these aspects for service providers can increase resistance to reform and reduce willingness to participate in implementing comprehensive sector regulation.     

“Erosion Control on Surface Mined Watersheds: a Modelling Approach”

ABSTRACT

This article describes the efforts of the Mexican government toward more efficient management of water resources. Inaccordance with the Mexican Constitution, municipal governments have been responsible for urban water and sanitation services. However; in practice most municipalities have weak finances and little expertise in managing water systems and the federal government still plays an important role in the management and financing of water infrastructure.

The article highlights the current state of the water sector in Mexico, including some of the main aspects of the legal and institutionalframework. It discusses the main difficulties faced by the municipalities in accomplishing their task. The strategy of the federal government, in order to achieve better urban water management, has focused on four main policies: changes in the legal and institutional framework for water management, further decentralization, new financing schemes, and greater private sector involvement. It concludes that flexible approaches should allow municipalities to find appropriate institutional, financial, and technical solutions.     

The world water crisis: ramifications of politics trumping basic responsibilities of the international community

The international community has limited support for Third World countries that apply politically unacceptable measures to their water crises. For political reasons, the community also selectively dismisses international instruments governing military actions, the United Nations Charter and the International Law on Water, worsening the crises. The Middle East conflict offers testimony where instruments have been continuously violated, allowing expropriation of the water of weaker nations and groups. Israel, with a population twice that of the Palestinian territories, uses 95% of the fresh water utilized in Historic Palestine, leaving 5% for the Palestinians. Though alarmed with Aral Sea conditions, the community ignores the polluted lower Jordan River, the declining Dead Sea and the destruction of the Palestine aquifers. Middle East agreements will set precedents for addressing international water crises. The community must reverse its past silence and provide equitable, effective reallocation of the Middle East's resources. It cannot afford to leave a destabilizing legacy.     

Regional Water Supply Planning with Renewable Energy Technologies: The Case of Senegal

ABSTRACT

In order to plan for the installation of renewable energy technologies in the water supply sector in developing countries, an evaluation of the countries' renewable energy resources must first be made. It is then necessary to match the energy resources with the operating characteristics of the appropriate technologies. When these two stages have been completed, planning can proceed for a national program of renewable energy technology development. The example of Senegal is presented in terms of wind, solar and rainfall resources. Technologies considered are wind energy conversion systems (WECS), rainwater catchment systems (RWCS), hand pumps and solar pumping systems     

加入WTO对水利利用外资结构的影响

通过对水利利用外资现状的分析，阐述了加入WTO对水利利用外资结构的影响。水利利用外资的主要来源是世行贷款，主要安排的项目是防洪、灌溉等以社会效益为主的甲类项目。加入WTO对水利利用外资结构的影响有：①有利于促进水利利用外资方式及范围的多元化；②水利利用外资区域迅速扩大；③有利于提高水利行业利用民间投资和外资的深度和广度。为克服一些外资投资的不良影响，必须优化水利利用外资结构，可采取以下措施：①加大世行及其他国际金融组织贷款的力度；②加大水利利用外资的市场机制运作，规范政策指导；③根据水利产业的投资偏好，选择具体的外资投资主体。水利利用外资应建立在充分利用内资的基础之上，将外资投向建设资金短缺的中西部地区和经济效益明显的水利项目上去。加入WTO后，水利行业应以灵活的策略加快对外资流向的引导，真正实现外资在经济活动中的示范效应。     

Reusing Urban Wastewater—An Alternative and a Reliable Water Resource

ABSTRACT

Fundamental concepts of reusing urban wastewater as an alternative and a reliable source of water supply are discussed, along with the categories for water reuse, planning methodologies, wastewater reclamation technologies, and economics. The rational basis for integration of urban reclaimed water into water resources planning is proposed and the safe use of reclaimed water is evaluated. Special attention is paid to tertiary or advanced wastewater treatment systems that are capable of producing essentially pathogen-free effluent for a variety of uses such as irrigation of urban landscape, flushing of toilets served by dual plumbing systems in large commercial buildings, and groundwater recharge for eventual potable reuse. The motivating factors for wastewater reclamation and reuse are summarized and the costs of water reclamation projects are discussed with several examples. The integration of this alternative water supply into water resources planning is proposed and the safe use of reclaimed water is emphasized.     

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.     

Women and WASH in Nepal: a scoping review of existing literature

ABSTRACT

The relationship between gender and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is an issue for many developing states. This scoping review demonstrates that in Nepal, women bear the major social burden of inadequate WASH services and are under-represented in WASH-related policies and programmes. Four themes emerge: gender and water projects; lack of equal female participation in WASH policy development and implementation; women’s access to water; and menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Major cultural barriers embedded in Nepali society limit women’s access, agency and participation in WASH-related policy and practice.     

智慧水利DIS体系构建研究与展望

智慧水利是水利现代化的重要标志和新阶段水利高质量发展的重要实施路径。落实智慧水利总体方案，有序推进水利"新基建"，构建面向未来的水利基础设施体系是贯彻党中央关于"十四五"发展的决策部署的关键之举。本文提出了以自然水系数字化（Digitalization）、水利工程智能化（Intelligentialization）、水利管控智慧化（Smartening）为主要内容的智慧水利DIS体系构建思路，并结合不同的应用场景展望了DIS体系建设的关键技术。