Water P-Notes

51 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9433

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.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 25

Greenhouse Gases from Reservoirs Caused by Biochemical Processes : Interim Technical Note

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04) Liden, Rikard

A decade ago, the contribution of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from reservoirs was estimated to be up to 7 percent of global GHG emissions from all sources. Much research on GHG emissions from reservoirs has subsequently been conducted and recent studies have indicated corresponding global estimate to be less than 1 percent. However, these studies still have a limited coverage of ecosystems and geographic areas, and, more critically, almost none of them have measured the long-term change in GHG emissions over many years. Therefore, the research conducted to date has shown disparity in GHG emission magnitudes from reservoirs, which has caused a debate on methodologies and reliability of results. The purpose of this note is to provide interim guidance to World Bank staff on how to assess GHGs from reservoirs in preparation for dam infrastructure projects. The note describes the major biochemical processes that cause GHGs from reservoirs, provides the status of current knowledge and research, and puts the issue into a global perspective. Based on the state-of-the-art, it makes recommendation on how to assess GHG emissions and how to make preliminary rough estimates of emissions caused by biochemical processes for planned reservoirs.
Climate Change and Urban Water Utilities : Challenges and Opportunities

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06) Danilenko, Alexander ; Dickson, Eric ; Jacobsen, Michael

The impact of climate change is increasingly important for the design, construction, and maintenance of water sector infrastructure. Average global temperatures are on the rise, causing cycles of extreme weather: droughts and flooding are becoming common; seawater levels are rising; and many locations are considerably drier, impacting water sources such as lakes and rivers. Groundwater supplies are under stress due to decreasing precipitation rates and increasing extraction rates. Urban water systems must meet the demands of expanding industry needs and rapid population growth. Pollution adds to the growing threats to water resources, increasing treatment requirements for providing safe water to city residents. With two-thirds of the world's megacities located in regions that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, urban water utilities are facing an increasing need to improve the management of water resources and associated infrastructure. Diversifying sources of water supply will become increasingly important whether through the construction of new storage facilities, the appropriate and sustainable extraction of groundwater, water trading or conservation, or the use of recycled or desalinated water. This water note, based on the input of 20 large utilities around the world presents the perceptions, experiences, and approaches to addressing climate related challenges of urban areas in developing, middle income, and developed countries.
Strategic Environmental Assessment : Improving Water Resources Governance and Decision Making

(Washington, DC, 2010-06) World Bank

The Sustainable Development Network (SDN) calls for elevating the environment into upstream processes such as policy, programmatic, and investment dialogue. In its 2002 environment strategy, the Bank committed to use strategic environmental assessments (SEAs), an environmental planning tool for improving decision-making at the strategic level of decision-making, policies, legislation, strategies, plans, and programs (PLSPP), and as a process for improving public policy design and good governance of natural resources. SEAs share many concepts and characteristics as integrated water resources management (IWRM), the accepted paradigm for efficient, equitable, and sustainable management of water resources since the 1990s. IWRM recognizes the dual nature of the environment as both a water using sector and a provider of services that maintains water resources for all sectors. The overall goal of this report is to help water resources and environment professionals use SEAs to effectively implement the principles of IWRM. It recommends a framework for expanding use of SEAs to mainstream environmental considerations in water resources policy, legislative and, institutional reforms, planning and development lending decision-making as well as for enabling adaptation in the water sector.
Tanzania - Public Expenditure Review (PER) of the Water Sector

(Washington, DC, 2010-06) World Bank

Tanzania initiated a forward-looking National Water Policy (NAWAPO-2002) to promote an integrated approach to water resources management and improve water supply and sanitation service (WSS) delivery in both urban and rural areas. To do this, the Government initiated in 2004 a doubling of budget allocations to the water sector from $60 million to $120 million. It also has shifted the role of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MOWI), moving from central control of water projects to facilitating and funding projects and strengthening sector institutions and capacity at the national, basin, and local government levels. Much of Tanzania's capital budget goes to fund water supply infrastructure, largely driven by the focus on achieving the millennium development goals. Donors supply most of the capital funding and are coordinating funds through a Sector Wide Approach to Planning (SWAp) to maximize effectiveness. This public expenditure review focuses on the quantity and quality of Tanzania's public funding process to assess how well budget allocations for the water sector actually translate into better water and sanitation service delivery.
Directions In Hydropower : Scaling up for Development

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-04) World Bank

After a period of stagnation, the story of hydropower infrastructure is changing. Emerging global dynamics are recasting the role and value of hydropower in development, recognizing its potential contribution to a complex web of energy security, water security and regional development and integration. In addition to bringing electricity to the 1.6 billion people who lack access, hydropower offers a hedge against volatile energy prices and can play an important role in energy trade and regional power pools. As a renewable energy resource, hydropower's dual role in climate change mitigation and adaptation is critically important.
Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects - Part 1: Findings and Recommendations and Part 2: Case Studies

(Washington, DC, 2010-04) World Bank

Environmental flows are central to equitable distribution of and access to water and services provided by aquatic ecosystems. They refer to the quality, quantity, and timing of water flows required maintaining the components, functions, processes and resilience of aquatic ecosystems that provide goods and services to people. They are fundamental for sustainable water resources development, benefits sharing, and poverty alleviation. Nonetheless, water resources development planners have often overlooked environmental flows or addressed them inadequately. This two-part report, based on the Bank's economic sector analysis, shows their central importance for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and presents data, findings, and recommendations, based on in-depth case study analysis, to help make environmental water allocation an integral part of IWRM.
Making the Most of Scarcity : Accountability for Better Water Management in the Middle East and North Africa

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06) World Bank

Most of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) cannot meet current water demand. Many countries face full-blown crises, and the situation is likely to get even worse. Estimates show that per capita water availability will be cut in half by 2050, with serious consequences for aquifers and natural hydrological systems. Demand for water supplies and irrigation services will change as economies grow and populations increase, with an attendant need to address industrial and urban pollution. Some 60 percent of the region's water flows across international borders, further complicating the resource management challenge. Rainfall patterns are predicted to shift as a result of climate change. The social, economic, and budgetary consequences of these challenges are enormous. The supply of drinking water could become more erratic, necessitating greater reliance on expensive desalination technologies, and increasing drought would require emergency supplies brought by tanker or barge. Service outages would put stress on expensive network and distribution infrastructure. Unreliable sources of irrigation water would depress farmer incomes, economic and physical dislocation would increase with the depletion of aquifers and unreliability of supplies, and local conflicts could intensify. All of this would have short- and long-term effects on economic growth and poverty, exacerbate social tensions within and between communities, and put increasing pressure on public budgets.
Public-Private Partnerships to Reform Urban Water Utilities in Western and Central Africa

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-05) Fall, Matar ; Marin, Philippe ; Locussol, Alain ; Verspyck, Richard

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.
Addressing China’s Water Scarcity

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-05) Xie, Jian

China's water resources are scarce and unevenly distributed. It has the sixth largest amount of renewable resources in the world, but a per capita availability that is only one-fourth the world average and among the lowest for a major country. The country is under serious water stress, and its problems are made more severe by the fact that resources are unevenly distributed, both spatially and temporally. Per capita water availability in northern China is less than one-fourth that in southern China, one eleventh of the world average, and less than the threshold level that defines water scarcity. A monsoonal climate also means that China is subject to frequent droughts and floods, often simultaneously in different regions, as precipitation varies greatly from year to year and season to season. The complexity of water resource management in China requires a transition from a traditional system with the government as the main decision making entity toward a modern approach that relies on a sound legal framework, effective institutional arrangements, transparent decision making and information disclosure, and active public participation. This will require that laws are straightforward and not contradictory, with mechanisms and procedures for enforcing them. It also should entail the creation of a new multi-sectoral state agency tasked with overseeing water management policy at the national level.
Competition or Cooperation? A New Era for Agricultural Water Management

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-04) Ward, Christopher ; Darghouth, Salah ; Minasyan, Gayane ; Gambarelli, Gretel

Reliable supplies of water for agriculture have helped meet rapidly rising demand for food in developing countries, making farms more profitable, reducing poverty, and helping vast regions of the world develop more dynamic and diversified economies. Can these successes be sustained with demand for food rising and water resources waning? That is the challenge now facing policy makers, planners, and practitioners in agricultural water management (AWM), as well as their allies in the World Bank and other development organizations.