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.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 11

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.
Overcoming Drought in India : Adaptation Strategies for the State of Andhra Pradesh

(Washington, DC, 2010-04) World Bank

The study objectives were designed to enhance the state's capacity to assess long-term effects of drought and increase resilience to drought risks at state, district, and community levels. The process for development of study objectives featured extensive consultation with affected sectors, and with state and national programs that aim to address the effects of drought. The study aimed to: (i) develop a framework for simulating long-term impacts of drought in drought-prone areas and at state levels; (ii) conduct risk assessments of the impacts under different scenarios; and (iii) assist the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) in development of a strategy for adapting to frequent drought and water deficits. During the study, a model was developed as a powerful tool for thorough drought risk assessments and for investigation of risk coping strategies and climate scenarios on crop yield and production. The model was calibrated using local farming practices and crop selection (that is, rice, maize, jowar (sorghum), sunflower, and groundnut,) in the eight selected districts. The report presents results at the district level. Challenges in determining the economic impacts included: the slow onset of droughts that spread over long periods and large areas; the significant indirect losses; the need to link local impact analysis with statewide analysis; and the linkages between the different sectors and subsectors of the economy, the flow of goods and services and employment.
Environmental Health and Child Survival

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

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.
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.
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.
Securing Water for Agriculture : A Guide to Investment Decisions

(Washington, DC, 2009-04) World Bank

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.
Toward Cleaner, Cheaper Power : Streamlined Licensing of Hydroelectric Projects in Brazil

(Washington, DC, 2009-02) World Bank

Brazil is confronted with steadily increasing demands for electricity. The country has the ability to meet that demand by developing its considerable hydropower potential, but the regulatory process that governs the approval of new hydroelectric plants imposes unnecessary delays that push up project costs and increase uncertainty. The process, among other reasons, has created a shortage of investment in otherwise viable hydropower projects in favor of less efficient and more harmful technologies. Brazil's electricity sector serves roughly sixty million residential and commercial customers and generates revenues of US$20 billion. With demand growing at a rate of 4.4 percent annually, an additional 3,000 megawatts of generating power will be needed by 2015. The cost of the new power plants needed to provide that power is estimated at US$40 billion. Presently, five-sixths of the country's power needs are met by hydroelectric plants, though in recent years only half of the new plants receiving licenses to begin construction have been hydroelectric. The other half of the licenses have been issued for coal, diesel, and nuclear plants that provide electricity at higher unit costs than hydroelectric plants and have greater adverse effects on people and the environment. The seeming anomaly can be explained by the fact that the licensing process for thermal plants is simpler and more predictable than that for hydroelectric plants.
Lessons for Managing Lake Basins : Measuring Good Governance

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01) Hirji, Rafik

Lakes and reservoirs play a central role in integrated water resources management. Yet lake and reservoir basins have not received sufficient attention in global water policy discussion, even though lakes are essential to the lives of much of the world's population, and provide habitat for aquatic life. An analysis of experiences and lessons learned from 28 lakes around the world sought to identify practical lessons learned from management of lake basins, create new knowledge on lake basin management, fill an important gap in knowledge of lake basin management in developing countries, and derive lessons from internationally funded projects. The main focus of this note is to summarize the monitoring and evaluation indicators of good governance in lake basin management that were developed.
Managing Lakes and Lake Basins for Sustainable Use

(Washington, DC, 2009-01) World Bank

Lakes and reservoirs are the world's major repository of accessible freshwater. They are central to the livelihoods and economies of a large fraction of the world's population, as well as being centers of aquatic biodiversity. They play a central role in integrated water resources management. Yet in spite of their importance and the growing threats to them, they have not received sufficient attention in the global discussion on water policy. The Lake Basin Management Initiative (LBMI) was implemented as a cooperative program supported by a partnership of many international agencies to draw on global knowledge on Lake Basin management. An analysis of experiences from 28 lakes around the world sought to identify practical lessons learned from management of lake basins, create new knowledge on Lake Basin management, fill an important gap in knowledge of lake management in developing countries, and derive lessons from internationally funded projects.
Protecting the Quality of Public Water-Supply Sources : A Guide for Water Utilities, Municipal Authorities, and Environmental Agencies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01) Foster, Stephen ; Hirata, Richardo ; Gomes, Daniel ; D'Elia, Monica ; Paris, Marta

Water-supply quality is too often taken for granted. Because we can see rivers and streams, they command most attention when talk turns to water quality but subsurface aquifers are every bit as important as a source of public water-supply and are also under threat of pollution. Acting now to protect them makes sound economic sense, because it is always cheaper to maintain the quality of groundwater resources, and of individual water-supply sources, than to mitigate the damage once done. But timely action depends on awareness of the urgent need to protect groundwater and to do this the authors must be able to identify clearly the threats they face. Because it is unrealistic to prohibit all potentially-polluting activities and the economically sound approach is to identify what are the most significant pollution threats, which parts of the land surface are most vulnerable to pollution of underlying groundwater and whether any such pollution will impact existing public water-supply sources. Such a procedure, which is described in this book, provides the direct focus required on the protection measures necessary to conserve the quality of any given groundwater supply source.