Water Papers

183 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16997

Water Papers are produced by the Water Global Practice, taking up the work of the predecessor Water Unit, Transport, Water and ICT Department, Sustainable Development Vice Presidency.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Using the Hydropower Sustainability Tools in World Bank Group Client Countries: Lessons Learned and Recommendations

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12) Lyon, Kimberly

The Hydropower Sustainability Tools (HSTs) are a suite of assessment tools and guidance documents developed by a multi-stakeholder forum, aimed at driving continuous improvement in hydropower development and operations. They are useful beyond their original purpose as audit tools and can be used in World Bank Group (WBG) client countries to build capacity for sustainable hydropower. The environmental, social, and governance topics addressed by the HSTs are deliberately aligned with WBG frameworks, which provides opportunities for the tools to be used as complements to World Bank Group standards, including to help clients meet WBG requirements and support WBG staff in their due diligence and supervision. It is, however, important that WBG staff should give careful thought to selecting the tool that is most appropriate, given the nature and status of a project, and in a way that is consistent with policy requirements. The tools can also be used voluntarily by WBG client countries in the absence of WBG financing. The HSTs are widely regarded as useful reference tools and recognized as the best currently available measuring stick for principles of sustainable hydropower.
Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Scheme: A Macroeconomic Assessment of Public Investment Options

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01) World Bank

Maximizing the benefits from public sector investments requires a clear, predictable, and transparent process informed by robust analyses that can facilitate multicriteria considerations of different options and alternatives. However, the tools available to governments to assess the costs and benefits of different investment strategies are often too general or specific to determine the optimal investment strategy. This paper aims to improve the tools available to facilitate the assessment of the macroeconomic implications of large infrastructure projects and enhance the capacity for management of public investment decisions. The macroeconomic assessment of public investment options (MAPIO) model was applied to the Batoka Gorge hydroelectric scheme to provide an analysis of impacts on key macroeconomic variables. The MAPIO model shows the project provides a robust financial and economic investment option with a net positive impact on the national economies in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. The estimates are considered conservative and the returns remain robust when subjecting the model to extreme assumptions to test the sensitivity of the results. However, it is important to acknowledge the model limitations, which does not include noneconomic benefits, costs, or impacts on other sectors. Any investment decision should involve a multicriteria assessment that considers the full range of options and alternatives that may be available to achieving the development objectives.
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Middle East and North Africa: Scenarios for a Sustainable Future

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06) Borgomeo, Edoardo ; Jagerskog, Anders ; Talbi, Amal ; Wijnen, Marcus ; Hejazi, Mohamad ; Miralles-Wilhelm, Fernando

Water, energy, and agriculture have been conventionally dealt with separately in investment planning. For each of these sectors, regulatory frameworks, organizations, and infrastructures have been put in place to address sector-specific challenges and demands. As the Middle East and North Africa works towards building a more sustainable future, a nexus approach that considers the risks and synergies among these sectors is needed. To demonstrate the added value of a nexus approach, this report applies scenario analysis and integrated assessment modelling of the water-energy-food nexus to the Middle East and North Africa. The analysis finds that water scarcity increases in all countries in the region over the coming decades, mostly due to growing demands. More importantly, the analysis finds that many countries in the region could run out of fossil groundwater by 2050 unless measures to curb unsustainable abstraction are implemented. The impacts of growing scarcity on agriculture are significant, with production projected to drop by 60 by 2050 in some countries. On the upside, reducing the dependence of the agricultural and energy sectors on water and transitioning to renewable energies can reduce water scarcity, at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This report is targeted to policy makers, the academic community, and a wider global audience interested in exploring the interactions between water, agriculture, and energy.
Wastewater: From Waste to Resource - The Case of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03) World Bank

A set of case studies was prepared as part of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice initiative 'Wastewater. Shifting paradigms: from waste to resource' to document existing experiences in the water sector on the topic. The case studies highlight innovative financing and contractual arrangements, innovative regulations and legislation and innovative project designs that promote integrated planning, resource recovery and that enhance the financial and environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants. This case study documents Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Wastewater: From Waste to Resource - The Case of Ridgewood, NJ, USA

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03) World Bank

: A set of case studies was prepared as part of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice initiative “Wastewater. Shifting paradigms: from waste to resource” to document existing experiences in the water sector on the topic. The case studies highlight innovative financing and contractual arrangements, innovative regulations and legislation and innovative project designs that promote integrated planning, resource recovery and that enhance the financial and environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants. This case study documents Ridgewood, New Jersey, USA.
Greenhouse Gases from Reservoirs Caused by Biogeochemical Processes

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-12) World Bank

Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is fundamental to the mitigation of climate change. It has become increasingly important to estimate and report on GHG emissions to enable the implementation of mitigation measures to limit or reduce total emissions. In most cases, such estimation is fairly simple, using known emission factors per surface area or per produced energy unit. However, GHG emissions from reservoirs created for the purpose of electricity generation, water security, or flood protection are very difficult to estimate, and no single emission factor or formula can be applied. The purpose of this note is therefore to provide guidance to World Bank Group (WBG) staff on how to assess GHGs from reservoirs in preparation of dam infrastructure projects. The note discusses: (i) the major biogeochemical processes causing GHG emissions from reservoirs; (ii) the state of current knowledge, and (iii) recommendations for assessing GHG emissions caused by biogeochemical processes for planned reservoirs.
Economic Rationale for Cooperation on International Waters in Africa: A Review

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-02-15) Namara, Regassa Ensermu ; Giordano, Mark

Transboundary river basins cover 62 percent of Africa's total area and, with the exception of island states, every African country has at least one international river in its territory. Thus, transboundary water governance in Africa is central to any national or regional water strategy and any economic, poverty reduction, and environmental strategy. Despite the potential payoff from water cooperation, forging meaningful agreements for shared water management faces numerous challenges. Impediments to negotiated cooperation include differences in up- and downstream views on water rights and histories of water use; negotiating philosophies focused on the belief that water is a zero-sum game; geographic and political power differentials that conflict with basin-wide solutions; and uncertainty over basic water resources data that increase the perceived risks of cooperation. For cooperation to occur, riparian states, other stakeholders, and the facilitators of negotiation must be aware of the possible benefits of cooperation, whether benefit distribution will be shared, and what pathways are most likely to overcome potential barriers to negotiation. Economic theory and empirical analysis can play a productive role in providing the necessary information. This paper provides a review of the challenges to transboundary water cooperation, pathways for overcoming those challenges, and the role of economics in facilitating the discovery of those pathways. While it is written to focus on African transboundary waters, the report draws from broader transboundary water literature. Appendices include case studies on both game theory and hydro-economic analysis in transboundary cooperation for several river basins, including some from Africa. The limited studies that have quantified the gains from cooperation or costs of noncooperation show that the potential benefits are substantial. Recognizing the potential gains and costs for all parties provides a motivation for cooperation. The likelihood of cooperation around river basins is minimal if cooperation does not benefit the respective actors involved. In the final analysis, cooperation should be voluntary based on the self-interest of riparian states.
Rehabilitation of Hydropower : An Introduction to Economic and Technical Issues

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-09) Goldberg, Joseph ; Espeseth Lier, Oeyvind

Section one provides a concise summary of the results of the study and includes an overview of the conclusions as well as lessons learned based on the assessment of the case studies. Section two gives the context for the study including the definition of a set of hydroelectric project development options as background to related discussions of rehabilitation later in the report. Section three provides an overview of the contents of this report. Section four discusses the development and application of an assessment tool to facilitate the rapid assessment of regional hydropower inventories. This assessment tool has been applied to a data base and inventory of generating station information in the African and Central American regions to identify possible candidates for rehabilitation. The characteristics of the two inventories are outlined in the section and details of the approach and the results of the application of the tool to the two regions are given in annex A. Section five presents a screening-level economic assessment model which quantifies potential costs and benefits associated with hydropower rehabilitation, concluding with generally accepted economic parameters. Details of the development of the economic model are given in annex B. Section six summarizes the application of the economic model to the two data base and inventory of generating station information for the two regions (Africa and Central America). The application of the economic model is not intended to provide site-specific economic parameters for each station since there is insufficient information in the data base for this. The objective of modeling is to provide an order-of magnitude market assessment of the potential for rehabilitation based on the limited data available in the data base. Section seven presents a summary of the important elements of a number of case studies involving historical rehabilitation and expansion projects. The section is the source of a list of overall lessons learned which is presented in the conclusions section. Section eight is a summary of issues which covers the spectrum of Incentives to Barriers associated with the rehabilitation of hydro projects under three broad categories: technical, financial, and environmental or institutional.
Resilience to Climate Change-Induced Challenges in the Mekong River Basin : The Role of the MRC

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-05) Schmeier, Susanne

Climate change and its consequences, ranging from increased water variability to more extreme weather events and from sea level rise to ecosystem changes, introduce new challenges to transboundary watercourses, which already face a variety of collective action problems due to their border-crossing nature. Other changes occurring in river basins, such as changing water-use patterns, development of large infrastructure schemes, and changing socioeconomic development levels of riparian states also challenge the institutional capacity of current cooperative management mechanisms. Thus, River Basin Organizations (RBOs), which manage the river basins, must be highly adaptive to ensure not only resilience to change but also long-term sustainable development of the basin and its people. This paper examines the 'adaptation capacity' of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which manages the Mekong River Basin, a river basin particularly vulnerable to challenges related to climate change as well as to human-caused change. Resilience may be encoded in treaty provisions, but in practice it depends on a broad array of factors, most importantly the capacity of the major institution established by the riparian states to cooperatively manage the river basin. Several key points have been identified regarding the contribution of the MRC to increasing resilience to environmental and human-caused change in the Mekong River Basin. The aim of the paper is to assess the adaptation capacity of a particular RBO, the MRC, and the related resilience of the Mekong River Basin with regard to climate change but including other challenges such as hydropower development and the related change induced in the basin. This assessment is based on an analytical framework developed with the overall aim to provide a means for assessing the adaptation capacity of RBOs and thus apply it to other river basins as well.