Abstract
Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging, and little is known about the governance conditions which are required for this. This paper addresses this knowledge gap. Based on a review of governance literature we suggest that five governance conditions are necessary for a successful upscaling of recycled water schemes: (1) policy leadership, (2) policy coordination, (3) availability of financial resources, (4) awareness of a problem, and (5) the presence of a public forum. We applied these concepts in a case study on the upscaling of a recycled water scheme in Sabadell, Spain. We reviewed policy documents, conducted a set of 21 semi-structured interviews, and attended two policy meetings about the subject. Our results suggest that Sabadell meets the required conditions for upscaling reused water to a certain extent. However, a public forum is not well-developed. We discuss the implications of this and conclude with some suggestions for future research and some lessons for other cities that plan to upscale their recycled water schemes.
Highlights
Water scarcity is a crucial challenge that affects nearly 40% of the world’s population and its effects are projected to increase in the future due to climate change [1,2]
The municipality of Sabadell approved a Non-Potable Water Masterplan in 2004, where it detailed the ambition of the local government to create a non-potable recycled water (NPRW) scheme throughout Sabadell to reduce the consumption of freshwater from other sources [45,48,50]
To upscale a NPRW scheme is a promising measure to adapt to climate change for urban areas suffering from water scarcity
Summary
Water scarcity is a crucial challenge that affects nearly 40% of the world’s population and its effects are projected to increase in the future due to climate change [1,2]. One of the available strategies to mitigate water scarcity and to ensure water availability, especially in urban areas, is the upscaling of wastewater recycling. Many definitions of upscaling can be found in governance literature [3,4,5,6]. Following Van Doren et al, 2018, we refer to upscaling as the increase or expansion of either the means or the ends of initiatives or programs [7,8]. Water scarcity is addressed by conventional methods such as importing water from other sources [9]. Recycling water has many potential benefits in urban areas with respect to conventional sources, as recycling water is a strategy that, embedded in a demand
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