This illustrated report sets out a global review of the state of the world's freshwater resources, based on the collective work of 24 United Nations agencies, following on from the conclusions of the first UN World Water Development Report 'Water for People, Water for Life' published in 2003 (ISBN 9231038818). This second edition discusses progress towards the water-related targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals and examines a range of key issues including population growth and increasing urbanisation, changing ecosystems, food production, health, industry and energy, as well as risk management, valuing and paying for water and increasing knowledge and capacity. It contains 16 case studies which consider key challenges in water resource management and makes a number of recommendations to guide future action and encourage sustainable use, productivity and management of our increasingly scarce freshwater resources.
This book provides a detailed microeconomic analysis of the impact of various privatizations in different countries in the region. Its central message is that in many cases, contrary to popular belief, society as a whole and in particular the poor have benefited from privatization. The book presents a careful analysis of the various mechanisms through which privatization has an impact on welfare, an analysis that by and large has been missing from the debate. Case studies of water sector privatization in Argentina and Colombia, and also the telecom industry in Peru are included.
At the start of each decade the World Development Report focuses on poverty reduction. The World Development Report, now in its twenty-third edition, proposes an empowerment-security-opportunity framework of action to reduce poverty in the first decades of the twenty-first century. It views poverty as a multidimensional phenonmenon arising out of complex interactions between assets, markets, and institutions. This Report shows how the experience of poverty reduction in the last fifteen years has been remarkably diverse and how this experience has provided useful lessons as well as warnings against simplistic universal policies and interventions. It shows how current global trends present extraordinary opportunities for poverty reduction but also cause extraordinary risks, including growing inequality, marginalization, and social explosions. The World Development Report 2000/2001 explores the challenge of managing these risks in order to make the most of the opportunities for poverty reduction.
Managing water resources is one of the most pressing challenges of our times - fundamental to how we feed 2 billion more people in coming decades, eliminate poverty, and reverse ecosystem degradation. This Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, involving more than 700 leading specialists, evaluates current thinking on water and its interplay with agriculture to help chart the way forward. It offers actions for water management and water policy - to ensure more equitable and effective use. This assessment describes key water-food-environment trends that influence our lives today and uses scenarios to explore the consequences of a range of potential investments. It aims to inform investors and policymakers about water and food choices in light of such crucial influences as poverty, ecosystems, governance, and productivity. It covers rainfed agriculture, irrigation, groundwater, marginal-quality water, fisheries, livestock, rice, land, and river basins. Ample tables, graphs, and references make this an invaluable work for practitioners, academics, researchers, and policymakers in water management, agriculture, conservation, and development. Published with IWMI.
'Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities: A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries' analyzes the market growth of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the developing world since 1990, and the performance of more than 65 large water PPP projects representing more than 100 million people for access, service quality, operational efficiency, and tariff levels. Although a relatively small portion of the water utilities in the developing world are operated under PPPs (about 7 percent in 2007), the urban population served by private water operators has grown every year since 1990. Despite many difficulties encountered by PPP projects and a few contract terminations, a large majority of contracts awarded since 1990 are still in place. The track record for improving service and efficiency reaffirms the value of PPPs to help turn around poorly performing water utilities, even though the level of private financing did not match initial expectations. Over time, a more realistic market has developed, the number of private investors from developing countries has grown, and contract designs have become more pragmatic concerning risk allocations between partners. The water sector has many features that set it apart from other infrastructure sectors. This book suggests the need for careful consideration of those specificities to successfully involve private operators. Although concessions with private financing have worked in a few places, contractual arrangements that combine private operation with public financing appear to be the most sustainable option in many countries. Policy makers, stakeholders, and donors need to remain heavily engaged in the water sector, especially in the poorest countries and during a global financial crisis. This book contributes to a better understanding of the various options to tackle the many challenges of providing water and sanitation services to urban populations in the developing world.
Progress in Water Technology, Volume 6: Instrumentation Control and Automation for Waste-Water Treatment Systems contains the proceedings of the International Association on Water Pollution Research Workshop on Instrumentation Control and Automation for Waste-water Treatment Systems, held in London in September 1973. Contributors review major advances that have been made in instrumentation control and automation of wastewater treatment. This volume consists of 70 chapters organized into six sections. The work of the Directorate General Water Engineering in the Department of the Environment in the UK and the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States with respect to promotion of instrumentation, control, and automation for wastewater treatment systems is first discussed. This discussion is followed by a chapter that describes the effects of water pollution legislation in The Netherlands on the selection of wastewater treatment plants and their consequences for consulting engineers regarding process, technical, and economical feasibility. A real-time water quality management system for a major river in Pennsylvania is also considered, along with effluent control and instrumentation in Europe. The chapters that follow focus on instrumentation and control problems in the design of a modern sewage works; installation of field equipment in automated process control systems; process control for biological treatment of organic industrial wastewaters; and the use of computers to control sewage treatment. This book will be of interest to authorities, planners, and policymakers involved in wastewater treatment and water pollution control.
Global trends such as urbanization, demographic and climate change that are currently underway pose serious challenges to sustainable development and integrated resources management. The complex relations between demands, resource availability and quality and financial and physical constraints can be addressed by knowledge based policies and reform of professional practice. The nexus approach recognizes the urgent need for this knowledge and its interpretation in a policy- relevant setting that is guided by the understanding that there is a lack of blueprints for development based on integrated management of water, soil and waste resources in the Member States. Generation and application of knowledge is both a priority for individual but also institutional capacity development.
This is an extremely well-researched and documented book. The authors hypothesis is that the current water and wastewater sector is failing the populations of the western-world by clinging to orthodox and short-term visions of new technology and innovation, and also failing the developing nations by believing that delivery of western-world high-technology solutions is a contribution to humanitarian development. This is the crisis of innovation . To many practitioners in the water industry the book will be perceived to be hypercritical (of the incrementalism, conservative and dogged traditionalism ) of the sector, but in fact it is stimulating and positive. In the latter chapters an alternate more holistic model of water development is described. There needs to be a movement from large, central infrastructure resources to distributed systems that are more appropriate to local needs and can be coupled with environmentally sustainable energy sources and practices. Tim Lack, European Topic Centre on Water, UK Whilst acknowledging a massive leap from standpipe to universal water provision in 100 years in developed countries, the authors of this book see problems for global sustainable water supply and wastewater removal in the future. Using the UK water industry as an example, they describe the global water industry as risk averse and unwilling to innovate, a view that is encouraged by the institutional and financial regimes under which it works. The book explores the reasons for concern and sets out some hard-hitting views on how the water industry is failing to identify and tackle the essential problems in a world which is becoming ever more depleted of fresh water. The concluding chapter brings to a focus the problems of the crisis in innovation and gives some concrete suggestions for tackling them. This volume should raise the awareness of policymakers and regulators, technologists and concerned members of the public. Peter Chave, Independent Consultant and formerly Head of Pollution Control, National Rivers Authority, UK This significant new book highlights a little acknowledged but potentially catastrophic crisis of innovation in the global water sector, which institutions and industries are frighteningly ill-equipped to tackle or even accept. It suggests potential new technology and policy approaches to overcome both current and future problems. The book explores how technological innovation is vital to help provide sustainable water in both the UK and developing countries. However, innovation is being overlooked in the face of global trends to privatize and regulate water utilities. The authors highlight how the global water sector is failing to respond to increasingly complex world needs and continues to build largely unsustainable centralized infrastructures, opposing more appropriate, distributed and local modern technologies. The book also includes suggestions for potentially innovative technology and policy solutions to meet escalating global water and wastewater demands. Importantly, the authors adopt a long-term perspective that crosses both disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and include an international comparative perspective, covering a diverse range of examples and countries. This comprehensive book will have a broad appeal amongst researchers and academics with an interest in technology management, innovation studies, geography and development studies. It will also be a valuable asset for water regulators and governmental and non-governmental organisations working in this field.
