Water Papers
183 items available
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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
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Publication
Toward Efficient and Sustainable River Basin Operational Services in Indonesia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08)Since the introduction of the Water Law in 2004, national river basin management in Indonesia has been carried out by 30 public river basin management organizations (RBOs), called either Balai Besar Wilayah Sungai(s) (BBWSs) or Balai Wilayah Sungai(s) (BWSs); the two are referenced together here as B(B)WSs. These national government agencies fill both regulatory and management functions, as well as undertaking construction, operation, and maintenance of river infrastructure and irrigation systems larger than 3,000 hectares. Provincial water agencies also provide water resource and river basin management in provincial basins and basins of national river territories, in coordination with the national river basin agencies. -
Publication
Republic of Peru Robust Decision-Making in the Water Sector: A Strategy for Implementing Lima’s Long-Term Water Resources Master Plan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-30)This study draws upon state-of-the-art methods for decision making under deep uncertainty (DMU) to give SEDAPAL and decision makers in Lima answers to pressing questions. It draws upon several methodologies including Robust Decision Making, Decision Scaling, and Adaptive Pathways, to prioritize the investments in SEDAPAL’s Master Plan. Together these methods help define an investment strategy that is robust, ensuring water reliability across as wide a range of future conditions as possible while also being economically efficient. -
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Capacity Development for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management in India
(Washington, DC, 2015-06-26)This paper's objective is to strengthen the capacity of various institutions in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation for sustainable water resources management, and to develop training tools for innovative techniques for further dissemination to state agencies and other stakeholders. -
Publication
Evaluation of Water Services Public Private Partnership Options for Mid-sized Cities in India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06)Successful mid-sized cities will be vital to India’s growth and prosperity in the coming decades. Indian cities are home to over 375 million people now, and their population is likely to double by 2035. Yet water supply in most mid-sized cities falls short of Government of India benchmarks for service, efficiency and cost recovery. In many of them water flows in the pipes for 2 hours a day or less, its quality is poor, and it is provided by utilities that cannot even cover their operating costs. Following a brief introduction to the three city case studies (section two), the report lays out the Indian water sector’s unique challenges, and using case examples to substantiate findings (section three). The challenges include day-to-day operational issues associated with running a utility, as well as policy and planning issues that affect the utility’s governance and investment planning to meet current and future demand. The results of a financial viability gap analysis, applied to Bhubaneswar and Coimbatore reveal the magnitude of improvements required, and the key drivers that affect the utilities’ financial performance (section four). These complex challenges make traditional PPP models, Management Contracts, Concessions and Leases, less amenable for use in mid-size Indian cities. As section five describes, this is because the traditional models are too risky for the operator or government or too limited in scope to create lasting improvements. The remaining sections focus on explaining the design and procurement strategy for the two innovative PPP models, the phased performance based contract and the Joint Venture (JV) Partnership (section six and seven). These models have the potential to deliver better results than the traditional PPPs and business as usual scenarios. This is because in addition to reforming dysfunctional utilities into focused and accountable organizations, they are able to respond to information uncertainty, include strong incentives, have clear sources of funding, and promote capital efficiency. -
Publication
Professionalization Contracts for Small Municipal Water Service Providers in India: Business Model Development
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06)Professionalization contracts are a new concept. The aim of these contracts is to enlist the support of specialized private firms in turning public water utilities into competent professional operators. This report looks at how the business model for such contracts may work. This report builds on fieldwork and consultation in India. The model described in this report reflects two weeks of meetings with water sector stakeholder in India, including a workshop held at the World Bank country office in Delhi on 22 March 2011. The report gives introduction in section one. It describes briefly the need for professionalization contracts in India, and the target market section two. It then summarizes what the contractor will do, and how this differs from traditional capacity building, as well as from traditional public private partnership (PPP) concepts such as management contracts section three. The report then describes the complementary policy and institutional reforms that will be needed at the state and local government levels to make professionalization contracts successful section four. Section five looks at the political economy of professionalization contracts, identifying risks, and how these risks can be mitigated through design of the institutional reforms and the business model. Section six then turns to the true business model aspects by describing indicative costs of the professionalization contract and the complementary investments required. Section seven considers what the sources of funding for these costs would be, and section eight goes on to explain how the contractor will be paid, and hence the incentives under which it will operate. Section nine looks at the market of potential contractors, and examines their incentives to participate. Finally, section ten sets out some considerations for developing the concept. -
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Beyond Downscaling : A Bottom-Up Approach to Climate Adaptation for Water Resources Management
(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-09-11)This report focuses on how we achieve water sustainability over long timescales - decades, even centuries from now. These timescales are important and relevant to our decisions about planning, infrastructure, and institutions today. Many of the methods we use to manage water, directly or indirectly, commit us to future decision pathways and restrict us from making other, alternative decisions. Across the first four chapters, this report describes the challenges of including climate change in water management decision-making and provides an overview of current practices in the adaptation field. After considering the pros and cons of these practices, the book concludes with a framework for an adaptation approach supported by Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA). -
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Applying Results-Based Financing in Water Investments
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-05)Given the broad array of issues and the complexity faced by the water sector as a whole (from irrigation to flood protection, to water conservation and hydropower), there is great demand for future exploring the potential of RBF and tackling the questions still unanswered about many of its operational dimensions. This document takes a closer look at some of the practical aspects of implementing various RBF water schemes. Chapter 2 provides an analytical framework to explore if and when RBF can be a viable option, shedding light on some key factors and preconditions that are necessary for RBF to work--with the understanding that it can be used either as an alternative or a complement to a more traditional input-based funding scheme. Chapter 3 then revisits the concepts discussed in the analytical framework through the analysis of various case studies of RBF approaches in different water-related areas. Some of the case studies are based on actual projects already implemented or ongoing, while others are an illustrative elaboration, given the lack of practical cases to use as sources. Chapter 4 presents some conclusions and lessons learned. The key challenges that are likely to be encountered in designing an RBF scheme deal with: the clarity and level of certainty of the relationships from input to output to outcomes (causal links); the ease and availability of measurable indicators; and, consequently, the optimal determination of the necessary incentive(s) to align the goals of the principal with the agents' deliverables. Appendix A presents a glossary of RBF concepts and acronyms. Appendix B presents specific results and indicators which may be relevant for different sectors. -
Publication
The Water Portfolio of the World Bank: Insights from a Review of Fiscal Year 2011
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06)This report presents insights from the FY11 review of the World Bank s water portfolio. The report includes a methodological section followed by reviews of four broad areas: the water related commitments managed by the World Bank Group (WBG) for FY011; the water-related commitments of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and of the International Development Association (IDA) for FY11; water-related projects approved in FY11; and analytic and advisory activities (AAA), in particular economic and sector work (ESW) and technical assistance (TA), delivered in FY11. The focus of the report is on the new IBRD and IDA commitments in FY11, which are analyzed not only based on data provided in the World Bank s project database but also with data generated by reviewing the Project Appraisal Documents (PADs) using a newly developed questionnaire. Some of the key findings of the FY11 review are the following: Water-related IBRD and IDA commitments comprised about 95% of the overall WBG managed commitments for water. From FY02 to FY11 they grew more than five-fold, from US$1.3 billion to US$7.4 billion largely driven by increased commitments for water supply and sanitation. In FY11 a total of 105 water-related IBRD and IDA projects were approved. Commitments by region were largest for the East Asia and Pacific Region (EAP) and the South Asia Region (SAR) with 30% and 29%, respectively. With regard to the number of projects, Africa was by far the leading Region with 33 projects. Of the 105 water-related projects, only 22% were mapped to the Water Sector Board (WAT) and most of these were water supply and sanitation projects. -
Publication
Approaches to Conducting Political Economy Analysis in the Urban Water Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-09)Progress in urban water supply and sanitation has been slow over the past few decades. The sector suffers from issues of equity and efficiency. Today, more than 780 million people are still without access to improved sources of water, and 2.5 billion lack improved sanitation. Those average figures mask huge disparities between the rich and the poor, the poor consistently have less access to reliable services than the non-poor. Even those who do have networked service often suffer from irregular service and poorly maintained infrastructure. A search of more than 12,000 observations on the water utility benchmarking website, the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET), indicates that 37 percent of water utilities in the developing world do not even cover operations and maintenance costs from their internal revenue. Overall, political economy analysis provides a practical and useful operational tool that World Bank task team leaders and other urban water specialists can employ in their sector and project work. -
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Managing the Invisible : Understanding and Improving Groundwater Governance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06)Groundwater is playing an increasingly important role in domestic, industrial and agricultural water supply. With the advent of the tube well and driven by the rapid growth of demand for agricultural and municipal water, annual global groundwater extraction has increased in recent decades from 100 k