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 - 10 of 69

From a Humanitarian to Development Approach: Uganda’s Ground-Breaking Journey to Achieve Sustainable Provision of Water Services to Refugees and Host Communities

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-20) Huang, Ai-Ju ; Njoroge, David Githiri ; Otiego, Lilian ; Danilenko, Alexander

The number of refugees in Africa reached 6.9 million in 2021, nearly tripling over the past 15 years. Uganda alone hosts 1.5 million refugees, making it the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and third in the world. Uganda has progressive refugee management policies that have welcomed refugees into the country for more than 70 years, with the average length of stay being seven to eight years. The pressure on water resources and infrastructure arising from the massive inflow and protracted stay of refugees is high and cannot be sustained solely through humanitarian interventions. The provision of water services in the refugee settlements under the humanitarian context is fragmented, and the actors supporting the refugee response can no longer provide effective and quality services because of financial and capacity constraints. This paper outlines Uganda’s pioneering shift from a traditional humanitarian water service model, designed for short-term emergencies, to a holistic approach that integrates refugees and host communities in long-term national development planning. It illustrates how Ugandan policy makers, the World Bank, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have come together to collectively design interventions at the national and local levels that have advanced this transition. The critical analytics, tools, and road maps generated through those interventions anchored the policy dialogues, reforms, and financing mechanisms that supported the transfer of water systems and provision services from humanitarian partners to national utilities. As a result, US$57 million of donor funds were mobilized and 50 water systems have already been transferred to national water providers, serving approximately 12 percent of the refugees and their host communities. Sharing the lessons learned from Uganda’s experience with World Bank project teams, partners, and other countries managing forced displacement may be beneficial as they strive to improve provision of water services to refugees and hosting communities.
Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: A Guide to Help Small Towns Select Appropriate Options

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-31) Brault, Jean-Martin ; Buchauer, Konrad ; Gambrill, Martin

Small towns in low- and middle-income countries are growing rapidly and struggling to meet the increased demands of wastewater collection and treatment. To avert public health crises and continued environmental degradation, small towns are actively seeking safely managed sanitation solutions, appropriate for their scale, institutional capacity, financial resources, and overarching needs. This document is designed to provide a guide of small-town wastewater treatment processes in order to assist engineers, managers and other stakeholders responsible for wastewater service provision in identifying and selecting appropriate wastewater treatment processes for small towns. This guide is part of a World Bank suite of tools and other material to support World Bank teams and their government counterparts in the planning, design, and implementation of sanitation projects in urbanizing areas. Addressing the specific context of small towns, the format of this guide begins with an introduction of key concepts for a decision maker to understand and then applies a suggested five-step approach to exploring appropriate wastewater treatment technologies, culminating with case studies from three regions applying this approach. It delves into the unique considerations for small-town wastewater treatment and the exploration of corresponding technologies. Before demonstrating the application of the approach, the guide also navigates: (a) factors external to the technologies that define the characteristics and environment of a given small town and that will affect technology choice; and (b) technology-specific information that will ultimately influence decision making. Before embarking on the formal planning and design process, the user is highly encouraged to become familiar with the guide methodology in its entirety while drawing on the principles of the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation approach.
Seeing the Invisible: A Strategic Report on Groundwater Quality

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-23) Ravenscroft, Peter ; Lytton, Lucy

This report describes why, and how, groundwater quality is vital to human health, agriculture, industry and the environment. In turn, this explains why it is so important to World Bank staff and clients, as well as diverse managers and administrators in countries and economies at all stages of development.
Practical Manual on Groundwater Quality Monitoring

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-20) Ravenscroft, Peter ; Lytton, Lucy

This is a companion volume to “Seeing the Invisible: A Strategic Report on Groundwater Quality,” which explains why groundwater quality is so important to managers of development programs in the World Bank and elsewhere. Its purpose is to provide managers and their teams with practical guidance on how to set up and manage a groundwater quality monitoring program. It provides a logical, step-by-step approach that can be tailored to, and grow with, the capacity to implement such a program. The guiding principle is that monitoring is the fundamental activity that shapes our identification of issues, the framing of problems, the design of solutions, and the measurement of the effectiveness of those solutions. Monitoring is often seen as simple and undervalued, but monitoring of groundwater quality, and its interpretation, is technically demanding. On the other hand, it is also extremely rewarding.
Advancing Knowledge of the Water-Energy Nexus in the GCC Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) Jägerskog, Anders ; Barghouti, Shawki

Climate change and increasing population pressure make it increasingly urgent to find ways to improve the management of the water-energy nexus. The desalination, pumping, distribution, and treatment of water use significant energy resources. The extraction and production of energy consume substantial amounts of water resources. In addition, negative effects on the environment are often the consequences of the management of the water and energy sectors. The report highlights the prospects for addressing these and other challenges at the water-energy nexus. It does this by drawing, in part, on some of the most important breakthroughs in the nexus that have come from the region.
Glaciers, Rivers, and Springs: A Water Sector Diagnostic of Nepal

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) Joseph, George ; Shrestha, Anne

Nepal is rich in water resources with a dense network of glaciers, lakes, rivers, and springs that originate in the Himalayas. However, only an estimated 15 billion cubic meters (BCM) of the 225 BCM water available annually is utilized for economic and social purposes. Several elements have contributed to this low rate of utilization, including Nepal’s rugged geography, inadequate institutional capacity, a history of prolonged political instability, and highly skewed seasonality - more than 80 percent of the precipitation in a year falls within a span of four months. For sustained economic growth and poverty reduction, and to enhance shared prosperity, Nepal must increase its investments in water-related infrastructure and institutions and improve the effectiveness of these investments. Although there is much to be done to harness this vital resource, it is important to broaden the development focus and integrate hydropower in a larger water resource management strategy. This strategy will ensure that water is available for basic and economic needs - even through the dry season - as a core component of Nepal’s overall development plan. Given Nepal’s development context and challenges, this document aims to analyze the most pressing sector challenges and identify strategic sector priorities that are aligned with the country’s partnership framework. It offers a snapshot of water in Nepal’s development story and situates the water sector in the broader context of the national economy, highlighting the importance of managing water resources for sustained economic growth and poverty reduction. It then presents five pressing sector-related challenges and concludes with a set of priority areas.
Water in Circular Economy and Resilience: The Case of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-23) World Bank

This case study is part of a series prepared by the World Bank’s Water Global Practice to highlight existing experiences in the water sector. The purpose of the series is to showcase one or more Two of the main pillars of a circular economy are resource efficiency and zero (or minimum) waste. By significantly reducing water losses and improving operational efficiency, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) is embracing circular economy principles toward a more sustainable future.of the elements that can contribute toward a Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (WICER) system. This case focuses on the experience of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Moldova: Water Security Diagnostic and Future Outlook

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11-18) Smets, Susanna ; Midgley, Amelia ; Mao, Zhimin ; Vladicescu, Veaceslav ; Neumann, James E. ; Strzepek, Ken ; Pricop, Felicia

Over the past two decades Moldova has achieved major development results: poverty more than halved between 2007 and 2014, and shared prosperity for the poorest households rose sharply. Yet Moldova’s growth model is volatile, unsustainable, and is losing strength. Water underpins much of Moldova’s ability to rekindle dynamism in its economy and to provide outcomes for the health and well-being of its people and environment. Yet gaps remain in understanding the country’s water resources endowments. This diagnostic suggests that in 2018 water availability is not a binding constraint to development. Even in the presence of future changes in demand, there are limited or manageable physical constraints to water security. Going beyond a focus on the water balance, this report assesses Moldova’s water security and identifies important water-related challenges that may hinder progress in economic and human development. Moldova’s water security is threatened by poor infrastructure and suboptimal institutional performance. Through an assessment of service delivery, water resources management and risk mitigation, and an analysis of institutional arrangements and sector expenditure data, this diagnostic establishes a set of policy recommendations on how water should be sustained and leveraged to support Moldova’s development. This report provides a new, comprehensive, and balanced view of water security in Moldova, highlighting the complex water issues that Moldova must tackle to improve its water security. It seeks to elevate water security as an issue critical for national development by providing stakeholders with a stocktaking and outlook on water-related risks, and opportunities in which water can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction.
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.
Considerations for Financial Facilities to Support Water Utilities in the COVID-19 Crisis

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-17) World Bank

The objective of this document is to lay out the options and considerations in the design of facilities to provide emergency financial support to water utilities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It builds on the experiences of previous financial crises (such as the global financial crisis of 2007–08 and the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997), including their impact and responses to them. Its main audience is government policy makers trying to develop financial responses to ensure utilities continue to function during the crisis, as well as the World Bank country teams and Task Team Leaders assisting them. The type of facility described in this document may be based on an existing one or related mechanisms (fiscal transfers, guarantees, subsidy programs, or others), or it could be the kernel of a new institution or financing instrument that may continue to have a role in sector financing after the crisis. Considering this, the paper recognizes that there will likely be a need to consider new external borrowing in the context of ensuring macroeconomic and fiscal stability. Many emerging markets were already showing signs of over-indebtedness before the COVID-19 crisis and the costs associated with the pandemic will only increase the demand for resources, including public debt. Macro-economic stability must be anchored on sustainable paths of public and external debt, and countries will need to consider this in coordination with ongoing initiatives by the Group of Twenty (G20), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and others to ensure debt sustainability and transparency.