Water P-Notes
51 items available
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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
Climate Change and Urban Water Utilities : Challenges and Opportunities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06)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. -
Publication
Tanzania - Public Expenditure Review (PER) of the Water Sector
(Washington, DC, 2010-06)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. -
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
Template for Assessing the Governance of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Service Providers : A Tool for Understanding Water System Effectiveness
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-04)The template is a tool to assess the performance of an urban water supply and sanitation (WSS) service provide by taking into account the governance, policy, and management context it operates in. The template complements extensive work done on comprehensive performance indicators through the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities (IB-NET). These metric indicators measure service coverage, efficiency, reliability, financial sustainability, environmental sustainability, and affordability to provide reliable data about the quality of WSS service and the performance of WSS service providers. -
Publication
Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects - Part 1: Findings and Recommendations and Part 2: Case Studies
(Washington, DC, 2010-04)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. -
Publication
Making the Most of Scarcity : Accountability for Better Water Management in the Middle East and North Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)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. -
Publication
Environmental Health and Child Survival
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)Interest in environmental health has increased in recent years, largely because the most vulnerable groups remain disproportionately exposed to and affected by health risks from environmental hazards. More than 40 percent of the global burden of disease attributed to environmental factors falls on children below five years of age, who account for about 10 percent of the world's population. Children are especially susceptible to environmental factors that put them at risk of developing illness early in life. Malnutrition is an important contributor to child mortality; malnutrition and environmental infections are inextricably linked, but these links have been forgotten or neglected by policy-makers. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently convened an expert panel, which concluded that about 50 percent of the consequences of malnutrition are in fact caused by inadequate water and sanitation provision and poor hygienic practices. Recent recognition of environmental linkages with malnutrition highlights the urgent need to develop a spectrum of interventions to reduce exposure to environmental risks. -
Publication
Securing Water for Agriculture : A Guide to Investment Decisions
(Washington, DC, 2009-04)How can the world grow more food, increase incomes, reduce poverty, and protect the environment with growing numbers of mouths to feed and increasingly constrained resources? A big part of the answer lies in better management of agricultural water. Agricultural water management (AWM) encompasses irrigation on both a large and small scale, drainage of irrigated and rain fed areas, watershed restoration, recycling of water, rainwater harvesting, and better in-field water management practices. There is considerable scope for improving returns on water from agricultural use. The key economic challenge is to set up an incentive framework that encourages efficient water use and profitable high value agriculture. Evidence indicates that such a framework improves efficiency and accountability, raises productivity, and promotes sustainable and environmentally responsible resource use. At the same time, irrigation schemes pose a financial challenge: to recover costs at a rate sufficient to finance services to farmers. The broad challenge is to encourage both large- and small-scale private investment. -
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
Key Topics in Public Water Utility Reform
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01)Urban water supply services have traditionally been provided by state-owned, water utilities. In the past decades, many governments have tried to turn state-owned water utilities into effective and viable organizations with mixed success. Why have some public utilities become more efficient service providers, while others have not been able to break the vicious cycle of low performance and low cost recovery? The World Bank report "key topics in public water utility reform" presents a framework of attributes of well functioning utilities and how they have introduced key institutional measures. It thus aims to help water and sanitation sector practitioners to choose and apply public utility reform approaches.