Water P-Notes
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These practitioner notes (P-Notes) are published by the Water Sector Board of the Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank Group. P-Notes are a synopsis of larger World Bank documents in the water sector.
Items in this collection
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Publication
Using a Private Operator to Establish a Corporatized Public Water Utility : The Management Contract for Johannesburg Water
(Washington, DC, 2010-04)In post-apartheid Johannesburg, South Africa, the city water authority had fallen into disarray (a common situation with urban services). In 2001, a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) emerged as a way to bring new expertise and efficiency to the delivery of public utility services, where a five-year management contract successfully restored services, built local capacity, and helped put Johannesburg Water on a solid footing. The management contract for water supply and sanitation services in Johannesburg, South Africa presents an entirely different perspective. The municipal government implemented the PPP as an interim measure, part of a program specifically designed to improve the efficiency of municipal public services. While an experienced international operator was brought in, the aim of the PPP was not to transfer management to a private concessionaire for the long run. Instead, the goal was to establish a viable, corporatized public water utility by leveraging the expertise of an experienced private operator for a number of years. -
Publication
Making a Large Irrigation Scheme Work : A Case Study from Mali
(Washington, DC, 2010-04)Located in the heart of Mali, the Office du Niger (ON) is one of the oldest and largest irrigation schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The French, who began the scheme in 1932, planned on developing about 1,000,000 hectares (ha) over a period of 50 years. The scheme did not provide the expected resources for cotton and rice farming, and a major source of exploitation of farmers. Change began in the 1980's with Government/donor led reforms that resulted in dissolving the monopoly power of ON and increasing citizen participation in its management. This report provides the context and details on how the government of Mali became committed to reform of the ON, an irrigated rice scheme. The government's decision is presented as the outcome of a series of small power shifts triggered by pro-reform players. Reform advocates played a key role, and identified opportunities and applied their skills to tilt the power balance between agency and farmers to further goals of sustainability and partnership. Initial steps for reform had a significant impact, as they raised yields and farmer incomes in a single season. Coalitions grew into partnership institutions that became effective enough for government to consolidate them into a legal and financial framework. This case study serves as an illustration of how the World Bank and other donors can help governments turn public irrigation systems into financially sustainable operations. -
Publication
Public-Private Partnerships to Reform Urban Water Utilities in Western and Central Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-05)Western and Central Africa have lengthy experience with public-private partnerships (PPPs), both for water supply and for combined power and water supply utilities. Cote d'Ivoire's successful PPP dates from 1959, and, over the last two decades, as many as 15 out of 23 countries in the region have experimented with PPPs. Eleven PPPs are studied here, and detailed performance indicators are reported for six large cases-Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Gabon. These PPPs all have had at least four years of private operation. Through its successes and failures, the Western and Central African experience offers interesting lessons for other developing countries on how to improve the quality of urban water supply services, increase the efficiency of operations, and establish the financial credibility of the sector. -
Publication
Climate Variability and Water Resources in Kenya : The Economic Cost of Inadequate Management
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01)Eighty percent of Kenya is arid and semi-arid land; yet despite chronic water scarcity, the country has developed only 15 percent of its available safe water resources. Demand for water is expected to rise, owing to population increases and growing requirements for irrigated agriculture, urban and rural populations, industries, livestock, and hydropower. Meanwhile, climate variability and the steady degradation of water resources cost Kenya at least 3.3 billion Kenyan shillings (Ksh) annually. Between 1997 and 2000, the El Nino-La Nina floods and droughts cost an estimated 290 billion Ksh, or 14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the period. While it is not economical to avoid all costs, many of them can be minimized by increased investments in management and infrastructure, and more efficient, accountable, and participatory management and operation of the water sector. -
Publication
Improving Water Security for Sustaining Livelihoods and Growth in Tanzania
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01)The Tanzania Water Resources Assistance Strategy (TWRAS) illustrates that food security, energy security, environmental security, health security, industrial security, and social and economic security all hinge directly or indirectly on water security. The cooperative management and development of rivers, lakes, and aquifers shared with other nations also have significant implications for national security. The TWRAS has guided the preparation of the second generation of the Bank's programmatic and sector wide investments, emphasizing improved linkages between programmatic elements. It argues for an integrated investment program supported by a more empowered, better resourced, and accountable governance regime. The strategy establishes that equitable and sustainable management and development of water resources is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving the outcomes of the national strategy for growth and reduction of poverty, which identifies the following intended poverty reduction outcomes: growth and reduction of income poverty; improved quality of life and social well-being; and good governance and accountability. -
Publication
The Niger River Basin : A Vision for Sustainable Management
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-10)The Niger River Basin Authority (NBA) brings together nine countries to promote integrated water resources management across political borders. The nine - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria have embraced a shared vision to build institutional capacity, political agreement, and public support for cooperation. The countries agree that sustainable management and development of the basin's water resources are necessary to meet natural and man-made threats to their shared resources, and that progress can be achieved by integrating technical data on the hydrology and geography of the river system with judicious political and economic policy. The Niger river basin, home to 100 million people, is a vital and complex asset of West and Central Africa. The continent's third-longest river, the Niger is more than just a source of water. For the people of the nine countries it is a source of identity, a route for migration and commerce, a source of conflict, and now a catalyst for cooperation. Niger, with about 23 percent of the Basin within its borders, depends on river navigation (through Nigeria) to reach the sea. Nigeria, a major food grower on rain-fed and irrigated land, is the final downstream country. Its borders enclose some 80 percent of the Basin's population and about 28 percent of its territory. -
Publication
Engaging Local Private Operators in Water Supply and Sanitation Services
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06)Programs to reform urban utilities and to engage the private sector have tended to focus on large cities and on transactions with large foreign private operators. This is changing, as smaller towns and cities are growing rapidly in many developing countries. Concurrently, decentralization is shifting responsibility for services from national to smaller entities that often cannot finance and manage them effectively. Paralleling this trend, new service models in which local private firms contract with local governments or community associations to provide water supply and sanitation (WSS) services have been proposed in smaller urban contexts. The author examined how these challenges are being addressed in eight World Bank projects in Cambodia, Colombia, Paraguay, the Philippines, and Uganda. In all five countries, the government has sought public-private partnerships to promote sustainability, increase access to services (particularly for the poor), and, except in Cambodia, strengthen the role of local government. All five countries have policies that encourage greater access to services by the poor, to the extent consistent with the paramount goal of financial viability. Investment subsidies, particularly those targeting the poor, have played an important role in all cases. -
Publication
Managing Water Resources to Maximize Sustainable Growth : A World Bank Water Resources Assistance Strategy for Ethiopia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06)This note contains a summary, for practitioners, of the World Bank Country Water Resources Assistance Strategy (CWRAS) report: it concerns managing water resources to maximize sustainable growth and focuses on World Bank water resources assistance strategy for Ethiopia (March 2006). Specifically, the note describes the scope and scale of the impacts of hydrological variability on Ethiopia's economic performance, poverty, natural resources, and socioeconomic conditions, and outlines the Bank's strategic approach to assisting water-related sectors in Ethiopia within an overall development strategy for the country.