Water Papers

2019-08, Goksu, Amanda, Bakalian, Alex, Kingdom, Bill, Saltiel, Gustavo, Mumssen, Yogita, Soppe, Gerard, Kolker, Joel, Delmon, Vicky

Since 2016 the World Bank has explored a wide range of country experiences in delivering better water supply and sanitation services. The analyses led to publication of three new global frameworks for designing water reforms: Policy, Institutional, and Regulatory Incentives, which looks at the broader sector enabling environment; Water Utility Turnaround Framework, which looks at utility-level reforms; and Maximizing Finance for Development, which looks at shifting the financing paradigm to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. The three frameworks—individually and as a compendium—set forth the key principles of a more holistic approach to reform that diverges from the traditional focus on infrastructure economics to a deeper understanding of the behavior of and between sector institutions and of the people within those institutions. Each country-specific reform path will gradually bring the sector to higher degrees of maturity with a strong focus on improving financial sustainability. This summary note integrates the three lines of work—utility reform, sector reform, and sector finance—for readers to understand the critical links between the three spheres. New contributions of this note are a Maturity Matrix for assessing where a country is in its reform process and where it wants to go and a Maturity Ladder that identifies typical actions to move from one stage of maturity to the next. Tools and references are also provided to help governments start on their reform path.

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.

2017-06, Salisbury, Chris, Head, Brian W., Groom, Eric

In 2016, the International Water Centre (IWC), with funding from the World Bank, commenced a review of the water utilities reform processes in Australia. The aim of this work is to explore the key success factors in the reform of urban water supply services through a study of the Australian example, from which relevant lessons can be drawn for other countries. To meet this aim, the IWC and researchers from the University of Queensland have sought to identify commonalities and differences between the steps taken by the various states and water utilities during Australia’s experience of reform in the urban water sector. One goal of our research is to reveal insights into the interplay between the state level of reform and regulation and national framework agreements. The related story of regulatory oversight, as part of the overall reform process, has been examined elsewhere. For example, the role of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in New South Wales is important to that state’s pricing, regulatory, and sector reforms. Because there are many lessons to be learned from the New South Wales case, including and beyond IPART, the urban water sector reforms in New South Wales are the subject of a case study. Thus, this report analyzes urban water reforms initiated by recent national agreements in Australia, and demonstrates variations between jurisdictions and between approaches at different times. The analysis focuses on water utilities in the major cities (principally the state-level capital cities). The analysis also demonstrates how the Australian urban water reform process is part of a wider and longer series of national and subnational regulatory reforms since the late 1980s. These include competition policy reform, corporatization of government agencies, and the formation in the 1990s of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The COAG was crucial for bringing all states on board for reform in Australia, but there are major questions about how such coalition building among governmental leaders and senior bureaucrats can be adapted to the circumstances of other countries.

2019-05, Groves, David G., Bonzanigo, Laura, Syme, James, Engle, Nathan L., Rodriguez Cabanillas, Ivan

Lima is the capital of and largest city in Peru, with an estimated population of about 10 million people. SEDAPAL, Lima’s water utility, provides water to most of the metropolitan region. While SEDAPAL is generally able to meet the current needs of its customers and respond effectively to most drought conditions that have been experienced in the past, it faces a number of challenges doing so in the future. A rapidly growing population and expanding city will likely increase demand. Currently available surface and groundwater supplies that SEDAPAL relies on are also just adequate to meet current needs. Changes in these supplies would challenge SEDAPAL’s ability to manage drought conditions. This study evaluates the performance of SEDAPAL’s current drought management plan against future droughts and proposes augmentations. This study takes a deeper look into the operation of the system, the different triggers, other possible augmentations than those related to increasing supply. The audience of this report includes SEDAPAL and stakeholders from Lima as well as other water managers and researchers interested in drought management planning methodologies and case studies. This study is novel, as it uses methods for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty to explore uncertainty in near-term drought management conditions and identify drought management strategies robust to these uncertainties

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 Atotonilco de Tula, Mexico.

2016, World Bank

The objective of this document is to provide guidance for managing the urban water cycle in a sustainable manner, with a focus on cities in developing countries. In doing so, the Bank is promoting a paradigm shift to more holistic and sustainable management of urban and water resources by applying an Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) approach to the broad water challenges commonly faced in developing country cities around the world. IUWM is not a new concept; its principles have been outlined elsewhere before and are referred to in a variety of ways (Cities of the Future (IWA) or Water Sensitive Cities (Wong 2009) and with different acronyms (Sustainable Drainage Systems (SUDS), in the UK, or Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), in Australia). The objective of this guidance note is not to add to the theoretical framework but to provide practical references and recommendations for the Bank and for other development practitioners working on the issues of water in cities in developing countries. IUWM is multi-sectorial in nature, and this note specifically targets staff working in several Global Practices of the Bank: Water (particularly urban Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) and Water Resources Management (WRM)), Urban (particularly urban services provision, Disaster Risk Management, and urban upgrading), Environment, and Climate Change, as well as Social and Environmental Specialists involved in the design and implementation of Bank projects. A separate version of the Guidance Note will be published for an external audience, aimed at Bank clients such as municipal, central and regional governments, water utilities, river basin authorities, urban planners, and other relevant stakeholders and decision makers. After a brief introduction to the concept of IUWM (section one), this guidance notes profiles the different IUWM approaches applied in three types of city: a water-scarce, fast-developing city (Windhoek, Namibia), an expanding city subject to climate extremes (Melbourne, Australia), and a dense, flood prone city (Rotterdam, the Netherlands). It also profiles an example of Bank engagement under an IUWM approach in a fast-growing city in a middle-income country (Vitoria in Espirito Santo, Brazil). The final section of the guidance note showcases a potential methodology for applying an IUWM approach in a city, from the initial engagement and diagnostic phases toward the application of a full IUWM umbrella framework under which a program (or a series of operational loans and analytical activities) can be implemented.

2018-04-05, World Bank

Water scarce cities face unprecedented challenges: rapid urbanization and growth have put pressure on dwindling resources, and cities are further stressed by climate change and conflict shocks. Most operate under unsustainable water management practices, based on linear, engineering-based approaches, yet government planners and others are unaware how this situation could lead to major water shortages. This report, using information from the Water Scarce Cities Initiative, attempts to compile innovative approaches—based on cities' successful responses to water scarcity—to inspire a new kind of urban water security. The Water Scarce Cities report intends to magnify the successes of those urban areas and to stimulate knowledge exchange between global cities, their policy makers and, most important, the practitioners. It first seeks to shift predominant, outdated, mostly linear, and siloed thought patterns that sometimes lead to disjointed and costly investment decisions without necessarily providing protection against depleting resources or an increasingly adversarial climate. It then demystifies innovative urban water practices, including managing conventional resources such as aquifers more effectively, tapping new and nonconventional resources such as wastewater, con-trolling demand, or engaging differently (such as showing how the practices were done and what can be learned from them). The goal is to engage meaningfully with diverse water scarce cities to facilitate concrete engagement, product development, and technical assistance.

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 Durban, South Africa.