The state as a stimulator of wastewater treatment policy: a comparative assessment of three subnational cases in central Mexico

River basin management and decentralisation reforms are promoted worldwide for solving water pollution problems. In Mexico, governmental efforts have been made to operate wastewater treatment plants countrywide, but federal administrations have not achieved their intended outcomes. Acknowledging the role of governance in the implementation of wastewater treatment policy, this paper analyses three cases in central Mexico and addresses the question: How does the governance context affect the implementation of the wastewater treatment policy in central Mexico? A governance assessment tool is applied to answer the question. The assessment allows an understanding of the governance context and is paired with a comparative case study design. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documents reviews. The results indicate that the governance context mainly restricts the implementation of the wastewater treatment policy. In all subnational three cases, the river basin management and decentralisation reforms have not reached their objectives. By comparing the three cases, we found that the state level can play a relevant role to decrease fragmentation and to increase the coherence of the wastewater treatment policy. Therefore, strengthening the involvement of the state government and the improvement of mechanisms that limit political machinations can increase the supportiveness of the governance context

Interactive outranking approaches for multicriteria decision-making problems with imprecise information

PROMETHEE is a powerful method, which can solve many multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problems. It involves sophisticated preference modelling techniques but requires too much a priori precise information about parameter values (such as criterion weights and thresholds). In this paper, we consider a MCDM problem where alternatives are evaluated on several conflicting criteria, and the criterion weights and/or thresholds are imprecise or unknown to the decision maker (DM). We build robust outranking relations among the alternatives in order to help the DM to rank the alternatives and select the best alternative. We propose interactive approaches based on PROMETHEE method. We develop a decision aid tool called INTOUR, which implements the developed approaches

Knowledge co-production and transdisciplinarity: Opening Pandora's box

This Special Issue aims to reflect on knowledge co-production and transdisciplinarity, exploring the mutual interaction between water governance and water research. We do so with contributions that bring examples from diverse parts of the world: Bolivia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Namibia, the Netherlands, Palestine, and South Africa. Key insights brought by these contributions include the importance of engaging the actors from early stages of transdisciplinary research, and the need for an in-depth understanding of the diverse needs, competences, and power of actors and the water governance system in which knowledge co-production takes place. Further, several future research directions are identified, such as the examination of knowledge backgrounds according to the individual and collective thought styles of different actors. Together, the eight papers included in this Special Issue constitute a significant step toward a better understanding of knowledge co-production and transdisciplinarity, with a common thread for being reflective and clear about their complexity, and the political implications and risks they pose for inclusive, plural and just water research and governance. © 2019 by the authors

Drought Awareness through Agricultural Policy:Multi-level action in Salland, The Netherlands

This chapter focuses on the Salland region of the Netherlands and presents our analysis regarding the role of governance context on the new irrigation policy of the Water Authority of Groot Salland (Waterschap Groot Salland—WGS). The irrigation policy was adopted in early 2013 by the five water authorities in the eastern Netherlands. Given the drought conditions in this region, the policy is concerned with finding a balance between the use of groundwater and surface water by farmers and the water needs of vulnerable nature areas