Water, sanitary and waste services represent a substantial proportion of the cost of construction, averaging 10% of the capital costs of building and with continuing costs in operation and maintenance. Nevertheless, they are often regarded as a 'Cinderella' within the building process. Parts of many different codes and regulations impact on these services, making an overall viewpoint more difficult to get. This new edition of this classic text draws together material from a variety of sources to provide the comprehensive coverage not available elsewhere. It is a resource for the sound design, operation and maintenance of these services and should be on the bookshelf of every building services engineer and architect.
There is growing acceptance that the progress delivered under the Millennium Development Goal target for drinking water and sanitation has been inequitable. As a result, the progressive reduction of inequalities is now an explicit focus of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, adopted in 2015, for universal access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). This shift in focus has implications for the way in which the next generation of WASH policies and programmes will be conceived, designed, financed and monitored. This book provides an authoritative textbook for students, as well as a point of reference for policy-makers and practitioners interested in reducing inequalities in access to WASH services. Four key areas are addressed: background to the human right to water and development goals; dimensions of inequality; case studies in delivering water and sanitation equitably; and monitoring progress in reducing inequality.
Based on the work of the WASHCost project run by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), this book provides an evaluation of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors in the context of developing countries and is the first systematic study of applying the life-cycle cost approach to assessing allocations. It presents unit cost estimates of the WASH sector across geographic locations and technologies, including rural and peri-urban areas, and these are compared with service levels. It analyses detailed data from more than 5000 households across nine agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh State in India. Key issues assessed include poverty analysis of service levels, cost drivers and factors at the village and household level, and governance aspects such as transparency, accountability and value for money in relation to unit costs and service levels. This is the most comprehensive study of the WASH sector in India and elsewhere that utilises the life-cycle cost approach, along with GIS, econometric modelling and qualitative research methods. Not only does it contribute to research and methodology in this area, but the analysis also provides valuable insights for planners, policy makers and bi-lateral donors. The authors show how the methodology can also be applied in other developing country contexts.
Focusing on how to provide clean water for all - one of the key Millennium Development Goals, this book integrates technical and social perspectives. A broad, international range of case studies are provided, from developed, middle income and developing countries, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
In the quest to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of water and wastewater services, many communities in the United States are exploring the potential advantages of privatization of those services. Unlike other utility services, local governments have generally assumed responsibility for providing water services. Privatization of such services can include the outright sale of system assets, or various forms of public-private partnershipsâ€"from the simple provision of supplies and services, to private design construction and operation of treatment plants and distribution systems. Many factors are contributing to the growing interest in the privatization of water services. Higher operating costs, more stringent federal water quality and waste effluent standards, greater customer demands for quality and reliability, and an aging water delivery and wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure are all challenging municipalities that may be short of funds or technical capabilities. For municipalities with limited capacities to meet these challenges, privatization can be a viable alternative. Privatization of Water Services evaluates the fiscal and policy implications of privatization, scenarios in which privatization works best, and the efficiencies that may be gained by contracting with private water utilities.
This analysis of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation (HRtWS) uncovers why some groups around the world are still excluded from these rights. Léo Heller, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, draws on his own research in nine countries and reviews the theoretical, legal, and political issues involved. The first part presents the origins of the HRtWS, their legal and normative meanings and the debates surrounding them. Part II discusses the drivers, mainly external to the water and sanitation sector, that shape public policies and explain why individuals and groups are included in or excluded from access to services. In Part III, public policies guided by the realization of HRtWS are addressed. Part IV highlights populations and spheres of living that have been particularly neglected in efforts to promote access to services.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in cooperation with the International Water Association (IWA), has developed a rating system that assesses the performance of water and sanitation service providers in a comprehensive way. AquaRating: An international standard for assessing water and wastewater services aims to provide an industry standard for utilities. The innovative rating system seeks the improvement of the service delivered by means of a rigorous and systematic assessment. AquaRating comprises more than 100 assessment elements organized in eight rating areas: Service Quality, Efficiency in the Planning and Execution of Investments, Operating Efficiency, Business Management Efficiency, Financial Sustainability, Access to Service, Corporate Governance, Environmental Sustainability. Each of the assessment elements and consecutively rating areas is assigned a rating (from 0 to 100), which in turn are aggregated into a single rating for the utility. Assessment elements consist of qualitative good practices and quantitative indicators. The total compliance with practices and achievement of the most demanding indicators levels means delivery of an excellent service and, therefore, awards a maximum rating of 100 points. AquaRating takes into account the quality of the information supporting the ratings results by correcting the rating for the reliability level of such information. The rating results are certifiable thanks to an independent audit of the supporting information. The expected benefits of the system are manifold: • Utilities - Identify areas of improvement, receive guidance and monitor progress over time. - Obtain an external and credible performance rating, which contributes to foster reputation, accountability and acceptance by key stakeholders, gain access to new markets and finance, and attract qualified staff. - Get access to a knowledge and assessment framework that fosters continuous learning. • Governments, regulators and development agencies - Use the system to stimulate utilities to maintain or improve their performance and to target technical assistance and finance according to the specific opportunities for improvement identified. • Consumers - Obtain better services in terms of access, quality, efficiency, sustainability and transparency.
The revised and updated second edition of Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Changing Environment offers an interdisciplinary guide to the conditions responsible for water and sanitation related diseases. The authors discuss the pathogens, vectors, and their biology, morbidity and mortality that result from a lack of safe water and sanitation. The text also explores the distribution of these diseases and the conditions that must be met to reduce or eradicate them. The text includes contributions from authorities from the fields of climate change, epidemiology, environmental health, environmental engineering, global health, medicine, medical anthropology, nutrition, population, and public health. Covers the causes of individual diseases with basic information about the diseases and data on the distribution, prevalence, and incidence as well as interconnected factors such as environmental factors. The authors cover access to and maintenance of clean water, and guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta, and grey water, plus examples of solutions. Written for students, and professionals in infectious disease, public health and medicine, chemical and environmental engineering, and international affairs, the second edition of Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Changing Environment isa comprehensive resource to the conditions responsible for water and sanitation related diseases.
Substantially reducing the number of human beings who lack access to clean water and safe sanitation is one of the key Millennium Development Goals. This book argues and demonstrates that this can only be achieved by a better integration of the technical and social science approaches in the search for improved organization and delivery of these essential services. It presents a historical analysis of the development of water and sanitation services in both developed and developing countries, which provides valuable lessons for overcoming the obstacles facing the universalization of these services. Among the key lessons emerging from the historical analysis are the organizational and institutional diversity characterizing the development of water and sanitation internationally, and the central role played by the public sector, particularly local authorities, in such development. It also explores the historical role played by cooperatives and other non-profit institutions in reaching rural and peri-urban areas, as well as the emergence of new forms of organization and provision, particularly in poor countries, where aid and development agencies have been promoting the self-organization of water systems by local communities. The book provides a critical exploration of these different institutional options, including the interaction between the public and private sectors, and the irreplaceable role of public funding as a condition for success. The book is divided into two parts: the first reviews theoretical and conceptual issues such as the political economy of water services, financing, the interfaces between water and sanitation services and public health, and the systemic conditions that influence the provision of these services, including the diversity of organizational and institutional options characterizing the governance and management of water and sanitation services. The second section presents a number of country or regional case studies, each one chosen to highlight a particular problem, approach or strategy. These case studies are drawn from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, covering a wide range of socio-economic and political contexts. The book will be of great interest to advanced students, researchers, professionals and NGOs in many disciplines, including public policy and planning, environmental sciences, environmental sociology, history of technology, civil and environmental engineering, public health and development studies.
This book aims to raise awareness of how the International Benchmarking Network of Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET)can help utilities identify ways to improve urban water and wastewater services. It provides an introduction to benchmarking and to the objectives, scope and focus of IBNET and describes some of its recent achievements. The methodology and data behind IBNET are elaborated, and an overview of IBNET results and country data are presented.
