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

Now showing 1 - 10 of 23
  • Publication
    From Source to Sea: South Asia Water Initiative Completion Report 2013 - 2021
    (Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank
    This Completion Report summarizes cumulative results and outcomes for the South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI) Phase 2 (from 2013-2021). SAWI’s objective was to increase regional cooperation in the management of the major Himalayan river systems in South Asia to deliver sustainable, fair, and inclusive development and climate resilience. Four interlinked pathways supported the outcomes: (i) building confidence and trust among the countries – mainly by convening regional technical dialogues; (ii) generating new technical knowledge, including in partnership with others, for national programs to use and to help shift stakeholder perceptions; (iii) building capacity of key institutions and stakeholders by exposing them to regional collaboration efforts elsewhere and training them in the use of new tools and technologies to strengthen water resource management; and (iv) scoping and leveraging investments, most notably World Bank investments so that these new approaches could be embedded and taken to scale.
  • Publication
    Joining Forces to Combat Protracted Crises: Humanitarian and Development Support for Water and Sanitation Providers in the Middle East and North Africa
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-02-05) World Bank; ICRC; UNICEF
    Protracted crises in urban contexts of the Middle East and North Africa region present a growing challenge for water supply and sanitation (WSS) service providers and, in turn, the governments and international organizations that support them. The protracted nature of crisis in countries characterized by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) transcends conventional notions of (pre-, during, and post-) crisis management. This report examines five pernicious problems identified by WSS service providers operating in protracted crisis in the Middle East and North Africa region. The five problems are: (1) inadequately governed water resources management; (2) aggressive competition from alternative providers (tanker trucks), undermining network services; (3) paralysis of high-tech wastewater treatment plants; (4) escalating energy costs of off-grid generation; and (5) the cashflow crunch as service provider costs jump and revenues fall. The pernicious problems are shown to stem from precrisis vulnerabilities that have their origins in the rapid period of urbanization and infrastructure expansion across the Middle East and North Africa region. Humanitarian and development actors should strengthen their partnerships in both anticipating and responding to protracted crises. Strengthening humanitarian-development partnerships to support WSS service providers in these ways will address key aspects of precrisis resilience building and also of resilience (re)building in protracted crisis.
  • Publication
    Remote Sensing of Water Quality in the Valle de Bravo Reservoir, Mexico
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10) World Bank
    This case study assessed ongoing initiatives to address surface water pollution issues in Mexico, working in partnership with the Comision Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA), the national agency responsible for the administration of water resources and its management. Particular focus was placed on a pilot case study application of remote sensing techniques to detection of water-quality issues in the Valle de Bravo reservoir. This assessment will contribute to a better understanding of options for water-quality remote sensing capabilities and needs. It will assist in identifying appropriate remote sensing tools and devising an application strategy to support decision making regarding the targeting and monitoring of nutrient pollution prevention and mitigation measures.
  • Publication
    Remote Sensing of Water Quality in Laguna del Sauce, Uruguay
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05) World Bank
    Laguna del Sauce is a water supply reservoir located in the Department of Maldonado (Uruguay), approximately 15 kilometers west of Punta del Este and 100 kilometers east of Montevideo. This case study assessed ongoing initiatives to address surface water pollution issues in Uruguay, working in partnership with a team of government agencies charged with water resource management. This assessment will contribute to better understanding of options for water-quality remote sensing capabilities and needs. It will also assist the government of Uruguay in identifying appropriate remote sensing tools and devising an application strategy to provide information needed to support decision making regarding the targeting and monitoring of nutrient pollution prevention and mitigation measures.
  • Publication
    Toward Managing Rural Drinking Water Quality in the State of Punjab, India
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-01) World Bank
    Rural drinking water quality is an emergent issue in the State of Punjab. In response to health concerns related to children being exposed to metals in some regions, and reports of higher incidence of cancers in the state, the department of drinking water supply and sanitation conducted blanket testing of all its water supply sources. The objective of this study was to systematically examine the drinking water quality issue and provide practical guidance to the state on possible responses. The state’s commitment to addressing this issue is highlighted by its allocation of 59 million dollars for a component to improve water quality through the Punjab Rural Water and Sanitation Sector Improvement Project, financed by the World Bank. While the study seeks to provide an analytical basis for understanding the occurrence and impact of the contamination, practical actions have been explored and demonstrated to allow the state to begin actively managing the water quality issue. The study is designed around three key areas: understanding the problem; taking appropriate action; and institutional sensitization and action. This report is a first step toward understanding and managing water quality issues in the state. It provides an analytical basis for moving forward and has demonstrated approaches that have yielded valuable lessons for scale-up. The next steps are for the state to identify key actions and develop detailed action plans for implementation.
  • Publication
    Watershed: A New Era of Water Governance in China - Thematic Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-01) World Bank
    Each of the chapters presented in this report is based on a series of 15 thematic reports. They provided the basis for the joint identification of key priority reforms by the World Bank and China that were bought together and published in an accompanying Synthesis Report. Topics included: (1) overview of water governance in China; (2) evaluation of China’s water security status and issues; (3) advancing water quality markets in China; (4) macro-economic impacts of water scarcity and redlines in China; (5) re-examining the Three Red Lines Policy; (6) water rights verifications and transactions; (7) best practices in cost-benefit analysis for water investments; (8) water prices, taxes, and fees; (9) flood risk management and protection; (10) ecology compensation and governance; (11) legal reform for water governance; (12) China’s water management administrative system and its reform; (13) technical innovation and development of an information platform in China; (14) Public Private Partnerships and water governance in China; (15) summary and overall design of China’s water governance system. These discussions emphasized key issues for water governance in China, including the need for a stronger legislative foundation for water governance; enhanced basin-scale governance institutions; harmonization of existing policy tools, such as water permits and water rights; better information and data-sharing; and the need to promote ecosystem resilience. Based on these consultations and discussions, a final set of 15 key recommendations have been put forward. These recommendations form the core of the accompanying Synthesis Report. Each priority area is the subject of a separate chapter focusing on the rationale for each of the policy recommendations, drawing on research completed by each study team.
  • Publication
    New Avenues for Remote Sensing Applications for Water Management: A Range of Applications and the Lessons Learned from Implementation
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06) World Bank
    Water management agencies in many parts of the world are currently missing big opportunities to increase their capacity to monitor water resources. This report presents a range of remote sensing applications to support water resources management and decision-making, and discusses implementation approaches and their sustainability going forward. These were developed within the second phase of the global initiative on remote sensing for water resources management, conceived to help mainstream beneficial remote sensing uses in operational projects of the Bank, and to facilitate the adoption in World Bank client countries. This report is addressed to water practitioners in general, technical staff in national water agencies, and project leads from development and financing institutions. The goal of the report is to present insights from innovative remote sensing applications to help address specific water resources management challenges. The results presented include constraints identified in the adoption of remote sensing, the approaches adopted to make applications functional in different contexts, the project applications themselves, insights on their sustainability, and ways forward.
  • Publication
    Better Data, Better Results: Remote Sensing as a Tool for Monitoring Water Quality in Lake Toba, Indonesia
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06-01) World Bank
    Lake Toba is a unique natural asset of global significance with a rich cultural heritage located in the North Sumatra Province of Indonesia. Located 904 meters above sea level and with a maximum depth of more than 500 meters, this 87-kilometer-long lake provides a wide range of economic and environmental goods and services for more than half a million people and 400 villages in the seven districts covered by the lake's 3,658 square kilometer catchment. However, sustaining the long-term economic and environmental value of Lake Toba depends on addressing the deterioration of water quality. This technical guidance note reports on the potential benefits of using remote sensing as part of an integrated strategy to improve the monitoring and management of water quality in Lake Toba.
  • Publication
    From Waste to Resource - Shifting Paradigms for Smarter Wastewater Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean: Background Paper VI. Market Potential and Business Models for Resource Recovery Products
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019) World Bank
    This background paper is part of the supporting material for the report “From Waste to Resource: Shifting Paradigms for Smarter Wastewater Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean,” a product of the “Wastewater: from waste to resource,” an initiative of the World Bank Water Global Practice.
  • Publication
    From Waste to Resource - Shifting Paradigms for Smarter Wastewater Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean: Background Paper III. The Role of Modeling in Decision Making in the Basin Approach
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019) World Bank
    This background paper is part of the supporting material for the report “From Waste to Resource: Shifting Paradigms for Smarter Wastewater Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean,” a product of the “Wastewater: from waste to resource,” an initiative of the World Bank Water Global Practice.