Urban Water Services Research Articles

‘Taming’ a Wicked Problem: Selective Problematisation of Issues of Urban Water Supply in Mumbai

The lack of universal urban water access in the cities in the global south is a wicked problem. Using the case of Mumbai, this paper illustrates how consistently this wicked problem was chiselled and selectively problematised to turn it into a tame problem – a problem of water shortages at the city level. The chiselling included neglecting the essential aspects of urban water supply, such as supply coverage, pressure and leakages, which define the quality of urban water service received by citizens. Through chiselling and selective problematisation, the paper illustrates how the problem of providing universal urban water access in Mumbai was ignored for decades and the issues of water shortages were emphasised alone to justify and prioritise the development of dams.

Negotiating the public: re-municipalization, water politics and social reproduction

ABSTRACT In the context of the global wave of privatization of local public services, re-municipalization has emerged as a viable policy alternative, broadly understood as the return to public management. The paper examines its transformative potential by analysing what ‘public’ means in practice with a particular focus on governance and decision-making. To do so, the paper investigates the re-municipalization of urban water services in Naples (Italy) and Paris (France) by utilizing qualitative methods. Through a critical political economy approach, informed by social reproduction theory and political ecology, I argue that re-municipalization should be seen as a process that different social forces continuously try to shape. The findings not only contribute to the specific literature on water services, but also to that on re-municipalization, within the debate about public versus private provision. More broadly, the research enhances the understanding of water through the lenses of critical political economy.

Quality Management Models for Urban Drinking Water Provision: A Comparative Review

Purpose: The management of public resources represents one of the functions of the state apparatus, seeking to safeguard the well-being of the population, particularly in essential resources like potable water. Theoretical framework: The regulatory or normative framework, based on standards and the action of the public health department for potable water care and use, is too extensive and confusing for users, showing weaknesses in its formulation. Method: This review article aims to analyze the models of quality management in the provision of urban potable water, employing a qualitative approach and utilizing the PRISMA methodology. Results and Conclusion:The findings encompass a total of 50 included articles, subjected to eligibility criteria, comprising 76% from the Scopus database, 20% from Proquest, and 4% from Scielo. Consequently, it is concluded that in recent years, the role of the state apparatus in providing urban public potable water services, focusing on quality, has adhered to five management models: direct public management, corporate service enterprise, contracted private management, directly operated private management, and public enterprise. Research implications: The management models ultimately aim to provide quality in the provision of public services, seeking suitability, responsiveness, system assurance, and compensation for the supply and distribution of one of the fundamental resources for human life. Originality/value: This evolution demonstrates that the public role has allied significantly with the private sector, a relationship that has remained, and has yielded positive results in some cases.

An integrated approach to decision-making variables on urban water systems using an urban water use (UWU) decision-support tool

In response to pressing global challenges like climate change, rapid population growth, and an urgent need for sustainable infrastructure, cities face an immediate and crucial necessity to transition swiftly toward an integrated approach to managing urban water resources. This shift is not merely an option but an imperative, driven by the rapidly evolving urban landscape. In addressing this imperative, a crucial decision support tool that has emerged as an asset in the domain of urban water planning and management is the Urban Water Use (UWU) tool. This tool offers an integrated approach for strategic planning, promoting urban water conservation and environmental health through the investigation of interventions in urban infrastructure under different scenarios. In this study, the latest version of this UWU tool was deployed in a case study conducted in Almirante Tamandaré, Brazil. The objective was to evaluate how an integrated decision-making approach concerning urban water systems influences the efficiency and effectiveness of interventions, ultimately contributing to achieve widespread adoption, accessibility, and relevance of urban water services. The refined UWU tool evaluates a spectrum of measures across diverse scenarios, incorporating various drivers, focusing on the stakeholders' visions for the locality. These visions are composed of sustainability indicators, specifying different sets of target values and importance weights for each indicator. The approach followed in this study demonstrates how the effectiveness indexes can vary based on stakeholders' perception. Measures under Water Sensitive Urban Design and Water Demand Management strategies were deployed to simulate the response of urban water systems under three distinct scenarios, embracing the complexities of social dynamics and of climate change. The findings of the study emphasize that realizing a desired vision through selected measures relies significantly on the adoption of an integrated approach within the decision-making process. The stakeholders' perception of how indicators should be weighted while defining the vision was found to significantly impact the effectiveness range of these measures.

The integrity management toolbox in action: a study of 22 urban water service cases

Abstract Water integrity refers to the ethical, professional, and transparent use of power and resources to ensure the sustainable and equitable provision of water services. The Integrity Management (IM) Toolbox is a tool that has been adopted to initiate IM reforms within water utilities. This paper reviews the application of the IM Toolbox application in 22 urban utilities across 7 countries from 2013 to 2018, focusing on integrity risks, selected tools, and the success and challenges faced by these utilities. Common integrity risks were identified in Operations and Consumer Relations, and corresponding tools were employed in Human Resources and Consumer Relations. Within 1 year, over two-thirds of the utilities implemented 70% or more of their action plans, indicating positive progress. However, obstacles such as staff rotation and reliance on internal champions provide obstacles to continued implementation. Despite challenges, certain utilities demonstrated notable medium-term improvements. To further advance water integrity, integrating the IM Toolbox with other utility-level efficiency processes is recommended. Additionally, supporting sectoral regulatory measures can contribute to overall integrity enhancement. By effectively addressing integrity risks and adopting comprehensive approaches, water utilities can enhance their ability to provide safe and sustainable water services, while promoting transparency and equity.

Quality of Urban Water Services Provided to Users: Assessment System and the Portuguese Path through Four Generations, Lessons Learned and New Challenges

Public water supply, urban wastewater and stormwater management, and urban waste management are structural public services, essential to well-being, public health, and the safety of populations as well as to economic activities and environmental protection. These services must be guided by principles of universal access, continuity and quality of service, and efficiency and fairness of applied tariffs. The main concern of the regulation of these services is the protection of the interests of the users through the promotion of the quality of the service provided by the water utilities and the guarantee of balance in the practiced tariffs, materialized in the principles of universality, equity, reliability, and cost-efficiency. The quality of the urban water services has been assessed by ERSAR (the Portuguese regulator) since 2004, when the first generation of the assessment system was developed, and has undergone three periodical critical revisions. The fourth generation, developed in 2021, entered in force in 2022. This paper presents the fourth generation of ERSAR’s system for assessing the quality of urban water services in Continental Portugal, focusing on the path followed and addressing the experience of its application over almost two decades, the lessons learned, and the new challenges for the water sector.

Early-Warning System for Supervision of Urban Water Services: Case Study of Coquimbo, Chile

Early-Warning System for Supervision of Urban Water Services: Case Study of Coquimbo, Chile

Exploring community perceptions and engagement of nature-based solutions: The case of Ningbo, a Chinese coastal sponge city

Sustainable stormwater management facilities such as strip bioretention, effectively improve the urban landscape's urban stormwater quality and aesthetics. The progress of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and Blue-Green Developments such as the Sponge City Program (SCP) in Chinese cities, is significantly delivering multiple benefits to address urban water, climate and ecosystem services. These practices are transforming the urban environmental context and enhancing the wider aspects of social-environmental interactions and participation. This study will particularly focus on investigating the SCP practices implemented for several years in Ningbo, a selected Sponge pilot city on the east coast of China. There is currently a lack of substantial findings from the perspective of communities towards NBS in China or an understanding of the importance of participation and engagement processes in Sponge or NBS infrastructure in Chinese cities. Through an in-depth semi-structured interview (n = 34), this study will elucidate the previous developments, current challenges and future delivery of constructed NBS infrastructure (e.g. artificial wetland). This article will undertake a detailed investigation of public perceptions, channels of learning, and opportunities for further participation and engagement in the case of Ningbo. In this study, we found that the perception and participation are likely to improve significantly in the future and that public education about SCP practices would foster closer human-nature stormwater connections and co-production to deliver better NBS practices.

Assessing the integration of planning instruments for urban land use and water service

Land-use planning instruments guide development, significantly affecting future water demands. Hence, land-use and water-service planning should be integrated. However, water availability issues in urban areas might indicate that this integration is not happening. To evaluate the integration among planning instruments, we propose a set of indicators to quantify the magnitude of the integration and an appraisal framework for exploring the possible causes of a lack of integration. We apply them to eight settlements in Chile, and we find some inconsistencies between water service and land-use planning instruments. Suggestions are proposed to enable the desired integration.

The enabling environment for citywide water service provision: Insights from six successful cities

Equitable access to safe drinking water remains a key challenge in many urban areas of low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to characterize the enabling environment for inclusive urban water service delivery, and specifically to elucidate the institutional arrangements, policies, regulations, service delivery approaches, financing models, and surrounding contextual factors that influence progress. We identified six cities across Africa, Asia, and South America that offered historical examples of success in inclusive piped water provision, resulting in high levels of access and service quality, including within low-income areas. Using a modified form of the social-ecological systems framework to structure our investigation, we conducted a comparative case study analysis to learn from these cities. Our analysis focused on a review of existing case-specific literature, supplemented by interviews with 1–3 key informants per case to update or fill gaps in the literature. A variety of characteristics supported safe and inclusive services, with contextually appropriate strategies depending on existing institutional arrangements, infrastructure, and the surrounding social, economic, political, and environmental context. Our study cities illustrated three types of progress–utility-driven, regulator-supported, and municipality-driven–each characterized by specific features and drivers of success. We also identified 12 characteristics making up the enabling environment across all three types. These characteristics highlighted two broad themes. First, a well-functioning water service provider was often a prerequisite for inclusive, pro-poor service provision. Elements such as clear performance indicators, customer feedback mechanisms, and strategies to sustainably finance operating costs contributed to cities’ success. Second, inclusive water services often required explicit pro-poor policies and strategies, such as the removal of land tenure requirements for piped connections and community mobilization for participatory decision-making. Although the importance of specific characteristics will vary depending on context, our analysis offers a common foundation to guide progress toward universal access to safe water.

Neighbours' Mini Water Networks in Saguia, Arrangements, Solidarity and Innovation in Urban Water Services in Niamey, Niger

Niamey, the capital of Niger, like other cities in sub-Saharan Africa, is experiencing water insecurity due to the mismatch between rapid urban growth and substantial investment in water services. On the outskirts of the city, where the water distribution network is almost non-existent or inconsistent, private water points are increasingly being built, particularly private boreholes, as an alternative solution. This article based on a methodology combining qualitative and quantitative data collected from 20 beneficiaries, 3 suppliers and 5 carters, focuses on the mini water networks of neighbours. A new form of solidarity around water in Saguia, an outlying district of the city of Niamey, through the 'co-production' of water services and the mutualisation of water installations between neighbours-providers and neighbours-beneficiaries. This new 'social' service offer, built around arrangements between neighbours, deserves to be studied by analysing it as both an innovation and a social response adapted to the absence of a formal water network and to the uncontrolled and planned urban sprawl in Niamey. The neighbours' mini water networks thus contribute to the universalization of access to water and to urban sprawl by allowing the construction and occupation of new formal and informal neighbourhoods not covered by the official water network.

Contingent valuation of willingness to pay for urban water extended to non-urban northern Ghana

ABSTRACT The study sought to examine the willingness of rural and peri-urban communities in northern Ghana to pay for urban water services extended to them, without differentiated tariff determination to suit their socio-economic status as low-income households. Using a contingent valuation method and statistical simulation models, results showed that price per unit of water, income levels and service quality were significantly related to willingness to pay. However, despite stakeholder activities to improve water tariff payment, the process does not consider the views of the local people. Also peri-urban and rural communities connected to urban water systems owed more tariff arrears due to poverty, which negatively impacts on access to water. Alternative approaches such as tariff differentiation and extension of participatory interventions for poverty reduction schemes have been recommended.

Coproduced urban water services: When technical and governance hybridisation go hand in hand

This study questions the processes of technical and governance hybridisation in the coproduction of water services in cities of the Global South. The existing literature addresses the compensatory role that water services coproduction plays in urban and peri-urban areas, where access to centralised and reliable water resources is often lacking. However, less research focuses on the evolution of coproduced practices in relation to wider transitions of urban spaces, water resources, centralised infrastructure, and service delivery strategies. Still, the resulting technical and governance configurations stemming from these situations are largely unexplored. This study considers four cities, namely, Hanoi (Vietnam), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Cochabamba (Bolivia), and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). All our case studies are somewhat characterised by rapid land-use changes, juxtaposition of rural and urban activities, varying urban typologies, and increasing poverty, sociospatial inequality, and exclusionary service provision. We draw on data collected from field surveys and participatory workshops with inhabitants and institutional actors between 2017 and 2020 as part of a recent research project. We explore the evolution of water coproduction from technological and governance perspectives. The cases analysed in the research highlight that the time and social development of water coproduction do not follow a linear path. It is rather characterised by cycles of emergence, maturation, and decline. It may build upon pre-existing forms of community-based water management that were established in rural areas (for irrigation or water harvesting, for instance). The results show that water coproduction may have different evolutions, entailing different hybridisation processes. Water coproduction can be characterised by either complementary or concurrent service configurations, by blurring actor categories, and by different drivers in the hybridisation process. Ultimately, evolution in urban coproduced practices appears as a process of technical and governance hybridisation, rather than as final and fixed hybrid systems.

Assessment of energy performance and GHG emissions for the urban water cycle toward sustainability

Abstract This study presents a holistic approach to evaluate energy performance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from urban water supply and sanitation stages, which are important for sustainable water management and climate change mitigation. The study was conducted for Antalya city of Turkey to compare baseline and improved scenario conditions using the Energy Performance and Carbon Emissions Assessment and Monitoring (ECAM) tool. The current application of urban water and wastewater services was defined as the baseline scenario. For the improved urban water cycle, the reduction of non-revenue water, onsite sanitation prevention, increase in energy efficiency, biogas production and reuse of treated wastewater were investigated. Water supply and sanitation stages contributed to approximately 26 and 74% of total GHG emissions and 70 and 30% of energy consumption for the baseline scenario, respectively. GHG emissions were determined approximately as 52,423 tCO2eq/year for CO2 (40%), 47,029 tCO2eq/year for CH4 (35%) and 33,006 tCO2eq/year for N2O (25%) for the baseline scenario. The total GHG emissions of 132,457 tCO2eq/year and energy consumption of 136,328 MWh/year were reduced by 27.65% for GHG emissions and 16.48% for energy consumption for the improved urban water cycle. The outcomes of this research are expected to achieve sustainable cities and combat climate change.

Remunicipalisation of water services in Europe. Comparative study of the Neapolitan and Parisian cases

Abstract After the politicisation of urban water services governance, over a hundred European cities have implemented water services remunicipalisation reforms inspired by the theory of water management as a common. This paper aims to answer questions about the contextual variables that impact the water utility governance processes and the factors that determine the policy-makers' choices. In particular, the work reconstructs the water remunicipalisation reforms of Paris (2009) and Naples (2011) with the Process-Tracing method, compares them, evaluates their outcomes and formulates previsions about their continuance. We base the analysis on qualitative data collected by documentary investigations and 27 in-depth interviews with protagonists of the remunicipalisation processes. Despite implementing the same management model, the water remunicipalisation has produced profoundly different governance processes and outcomes. The Parisian remunicipalisation was quick, efficient, almost conflict-free, and produced a slight implementation gap, whereas the Neapolitan one was long, complex, highly conflictual and generated a substantial implementation gap. Contextual variables and actors’ behaviour are essential in explaining water policy reform outcomes. The protagonists of analysed reforms have taken decisions based on opportunities and limits defined by their local contexts and the relational systems in which they are historically embedded.

Dynamic life cycle assessment for water treatment implications

Long-term impact tracking of urban water services is an important scientific basis for the sustainable development goals of future foreground systems. This study developed a dynamic life cycle assessment (DLCA) method that considers temporal variation and the resulting impacts to address the challenges of water treatment facilities based on the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA) and system dynamics (SD) models. The model was then demonstrated and validated for a water treatment facility in the Kinmen Islands, Taiwan. The SD model simulates long-term water demand in terms of growth in the domestic, agriculture, livestock, and manufacturing sectors, which provides specific inventory data for LCA calculations, with the aim of showing the impact change for future water treatment scenarios. The results showed that using imported water and reclaimed water reduced Kinmen's reliance on groundwater from 77 % to 43 % and reduced the vulnerability of urban water services. The environmental impact of water treatment plants is determined to be strongly related to the efficiency of water treatment. In the long run, wastewater treatment plants can reduce their impacts with an increase in efficiency (3.7 % impact reduction). Additionally, the development of reclaimed water technology and water savings can reduce the impact by 19 % and 13.7 %, respectively, compared to the implementation of desalination. In terms of energy policy, more profound energy savings were observed when energy saving and structure transformation were simultaneously carried out. On the other hand, desalination poses the most political risk and has energy-associated environmental impacts. The DLCA results from this study showcase the trend of impact variation over time and thus provide valuable insights for future policy-making in mapping out the benefits and priorities of policy promotion.

Stakeholders in Ghana’s water sector development and implications for rural water tariff payment: a review

ABSTRACT Despite the separation of rural and urban water services under models of service delivery suitable to rural and urban areas in Ghana, there is still evidence of urban water service extensions to some rural communities. Using content analysis of the mainstream literature and documentary report, the study reveals that there are overlapping stakeholder roles as some rural communities are still connected to urban water services, yet not given preferential treatment under water tariff regulation and policy provisions. This leads to water tariff arrears in affected rural areas compared with their urban counterparts.

Can Tanker Water Services Contribute to Sustainable Access to Water? A Systematic Review of Case Studies in Urban Areas

Tanker water markets (TWM) supply water services in many urban areas, including those unconnected to public infrastructures. Notwithstanding, they have been associated with outcomes in conflict with sustainability goals of water policy, e.g., through inequitable and unaffordable supply or by contributing to groundwater overexploitation. So far, the literature dedicated to TWM has primarily conducted case studies embedded in diverse local contexts, which impedes the comparison and transfer of insights. In this article, we systematically summarize existing empirical knowledge on TWM and assess to what extent normative claims about the impacts of TWM on sustainability goals are supported by evidence. We use the concept of sustainable access, which combines notions of what constitutes access to water and what characterizes sustainable supply of services. The available evidence suggests that TWM have two key functions in urban water systems: (1) They provide services at otherwise unavailable levels, particularly with respect to the temporal availability and spatial accessibility of the service, and (2) they extend access to areas without or with low-quality network supply, typically low-income communities on the fringe of cities. From the perspective of sustainable access, we find that TWM can provide high service levels and thus fill a specific gap in the landscape of urban water services. Due to comparatively high prices, however, it is unlikely that these services are affordable for all. The combination of heterogeneous access to cheaper (subsidized) piped water and marginal pricing in TWM results in allocation outcomes that are not coherent with existing notions of equitable access to water. However, there is little convincing evidence that TWM necessarily result in unsustainable water use. The literature indicates that urban water governance in the studied areas is frequently characterized by a lack of effective institutions, which impedes the regulation or formalization of TWM.

Adoption of water reuse technologies: An assessment under different regulatory and operational scenarios

Water reuse technologies may alleviate the water scarcity problems that affect many world regions, but their adoption is still limited. In particular, key actors in the adoption of water reuse technologies are water utilities, that provide both urban water and wastewater treatment services. Water utilities are embedded in the urban water system, which includes several stakeholders (urban water users, citizens at large, the environment) that may drive or pose barriers to water reuse adoption. Therefore, to ensure a smooth introduction of water reuse technologies, it is fundamental to understand how water reuse interacts with the existing urban water system and impacts its stakeholders. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on water reuse by conceptualizing the interaction between water reuse technologies and the urban water system and its stakeholders, and addressing the adoption decision of water utilities by assessing its economic and environmental consequences. Based on a review of literature, policy and other secondary documents, and on primary data coming from interviews with experts from a water utility operating in Southern Italy, the study models the utility's response to a shift from urban to reuse water. It then simulates how reuse water introduction impacts on the utility and other stakeholders of the water system, under various regulatory and operational scenarios defined through a thorough analysis of policy documents and literature. Results show that the adoption of water reuse reduces the utility's margin by cannibalizing urban water demand, but appropriate policy measures may enhance the economic sustainability of reuse. System-level performances, such as impact on freshwater savings, costs for users, effects on the public budget, are also assessed, showing how different regulatory options moderate the intensity of impacts for the different stakeholders of the water system. Furthermore, the adoption of reuse water by the most distant users is found to enhance the economic sustainability of reuse and positively impact the utility's margin.

Theorising approaches to social movement spatialities: Local and global contestations of neoliberal water services

AbstractThis paper examines different ways of studying – and thereby understanding – social movement spatialities. For more than a decade, literature on the geographies of social movements has explored the multiple spatialities of mobilisation, using concepts like scale, network, place, and territory. Drawing on existing contributions, the study provides a critical engagement that differentiates between several forms of research agendas involving contrasting epistemologies. This engagement contributes to opening up a conceptualisation of multiple analytical approaches by (1) analysing wider processes and political goals spanning different movements, characterised as ‘cross‐cutting spatialities’; (2) studying the more specific and diverse spatiotemporal realities within particular movement cases, which describe their ‘complex‐situated spatialities’; and (3) considering how inherent tensions arise between the different political practices of specific movements, displaying ‘contradictory spatialities’. The reading of these approaches is framed within a relational perspective that employs them in an empirical study of local and global struggles against neoliberalised urban water services. The paper explores the spatial practices of an urban place‐based movement struggle in Johannesburg and a global labour union federation for public service workers – representing two vantage points in the fight for water justice and the human right to essential services. The study demonstrates how the analytical approaches inform one another through complementary but also contrasting perspectives on movement politics.