Managing Water Services Through Service Differentiation and Pricing in an African City

A key challenge for managers of water utilities in developing countries is to provide services to the rising urban population in a financially sustainable manner. The paper examines the management of water services in an African city which piloted service differentiation and pricing. Among the key findings was that substantial improvement in the provision of water services to the urban poor was attained. Cost recovery was achieved through innovative structuring of public/private partnerships, an appropriate pricing policy, and flexible payment systems. The project demonstrates that (a) by structuring service delivery with appropriate pricing, utilities could serve more customers (including people living in informal settlements) at affordable cost and achieve financial sustainability, and (b) service differentiation and appropriate pricing has the potential to improve urban water services in low-income countries.     

The Development of an Automatic Soil Sampler

A recently introduced EC Directive requires that soils receiving sewage sludge should be sampled to a greater depth (250 mm) than previously.
The Water Research Centre foresaw the difficulties that could arise for responsible Authorities if they were to cope with the extra workload and maintain the quality of sampling, and therefore it funded the development of an automatic sampler.
This report traces the development of the sampler which was mounted on an all-terrain vehicle, and illustrates its suitability for the task by reporting one year's operating experiences. Work rates have been up to eight times those with hand sampling.
A production machine from the first batch is also described.     

THE USE OF REED-BEDS FOR SLUDGE DRYING

This paper reviews the design and performance experience with sludge-drying reed-beds over the past fourteen years. Whilst there are very few of these systems in the UK, there is much experience in Europe and particularly in Denmark. The Danish experience is reviewed in some detail. The design of and experience gained from two UK systems is described. The final dry-solids concentration depends upon the concentration in the initial sludge dose. It is possible, when treating anaerobically digested sludges containing 3–4% DS, to achieve about 90% volume reduction and a final dry-solids content of up to 40%. With thinner activated sludges containing 0.3–0.6% DS, a reduction (in volume) of greater than 97% is possible with a final solids concentration in the range 10–20%.     

The Use of Water for Agricultural Irrigation

This paper summarizes the present position of agricultural spray irrigation in England and Wales, providing (a) national statistics and regional information, (b) the reasons why farmers irrigate, (c) the place of agriculture in the economy, and (d) the value of irrigation. A review of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food irrigation surveys highlights the important crops in terms of area and volume of water used, sources of water and storage, and application methods. The predictions for the future, including the effects of climate change are reviewed with examples of how farmers, the EA, and the agricultural industry, are helping to overcome problems.