Groundwater policy and planning

Groundwater policy defines objectives, ambitions and priorities for managing groundwater resources, for the benefit of society. Planning translates policy into programmes of action. Both are often part of a wider water resource policy and planning framework, but the specific challenges pertaining to groundwater have traditionally received less attention than surface water. The terms ‘policy,’ ‘strategy’ and ‘plans’ are used interchangeably in many countries and contexts

Transparencia Intercultural. Interfaz entre las Instituciones Modernas y Tradicionales en el Saneamiento y Agua Potable

El presente documento es el Informe Final de la iniciativa de investigación conjunta "Transparencia Intercultural." La investigación es un colaboración entre el Fondo para el Logro de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio (F-ODM), el UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI (WGF), el Centro para la Gobernanza del Agua del PNUD en SIWI (Estocolmo), y la Universidad de las Regiones Autónomas de la Costa Caribe Nicaragüense (URACCAN). Los resultados de la investigación sugieren rumbos para avanzar, a partir del análisis de experiencias valiosas, y mediante el diálogo intercultural que permitió identificar las opciones potenciales de servicio, los métodos de gestión y los cambios de comportamiento que sirvan tanto para lograr las necesidades y aspiraciones tradicionales o indígenas como para lograr los requisitos de la prestación moderna o burocrática de servicios

Legal and other institutional aspects of groundwater governance

This chapter defines the linked concepts of groundwater governance and groundwater management, explaining how they differ from each other. Then, it describes the prevailing legal instruments for, and the institutional aspects of, groundwater management and governance

Wastewater governance and the local, regional and global environments

This paper introduces the themed section featuring selected papers from the 2017 World Water Week. The Week focused on 'Water and waste: reduce and reuse', in line with a circular economy, and embraced a broad set of perspectives relating to the challenges of water, sanitation and waste management. This paper reflects on the World Water Week theme and selected papers in the context of broader socio-environmental transitions, and how the governance of wastewater plays out at the local, regional and global levels. The papers explore the construction of engineering knowledge and its implication in pollution management, the monitoring of accountability in the provision of sanitation and water services and the way the equitable distribution of these services can improve girls’ educational attainment. This introductory paper reviews trends in water use, wastewater and reuse, and situates these within an environmental transition framework, showing how pollution burdens and risks are displaced onto the poorest or more distant populations. While these socio-environmental transitions are fuelled by economic growth, it is the policy actions or the overarching framework of governance that set the direction. Broader political alliances can put the necessary regulation in place and channel investments towards the cleaning or protection of the local, regional and potentially also the global environment. Lessening the burdens on disadvantaged people, by extending services, and fragile ecosystems, by curbing pollution, would be the purpose of a socially inclusive, circular, green economy

From Public Pipes to Private Hands : Water Access and Distribution in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

In cities around the world, public water systems have increasingly come to be operated by private companies. Along with an internationally funded investment program to refurbish the dilapidated water infrastructure, private operations were tested also in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Only about a third of the households, however, are reached by the piped water system there; most households purchase water from those with pipe-connections or private boreholes. Thus, water distribution was informally privatized by way of water vending long before formal private sector participation began. This thesis explores individual and collective endeavors in water development, distribution, and access, along with the global and local influences that shaped the privatization exercise. With regard to the lease of Dar es Salaam’s water system, the institutional set-up has been found to mix the British and French models, having influenced the local situation through development assistance and conditionalities tied to loans. The institutional contradictions may have contributed to the conflictive cancellation of the lease arrangement. Due to the public utility company’s lack of operating capital and investment planning, infrastructure development has responded mainly to immediate individual demands, resulting in a spaghetti-like network and structural leakage. The long-standing under-performance and low coverage of the piped water system have forced many people to devise their own ways to access water. This thesis argues that the individually-devised artisan ways of water provisioning constitute the life-line of Dar es Salaam’s water system. Yet, they also undermine and divert resources away from the collectively-devised industrial form of piped water provision

Multi-level sanitation governance: understanding and overcoming challenges in the sanitation sector in sub-Saharan Africa

The provision of sanitation facilities - a basic necessity for human health, well-being, dignity, and development - remains a mammoth challenge for developing countries where the vast majority of the 2.5 billion people without improved sanitation facilities reside. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the regions where decent, dignified, and functional toilet facilities remain largely inaccessible. Most of the countries in SSA will miss the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation. There are sharp contradictions in the region between formal and informal sanitation institutions. There is also a disconnect between actors at the macro, meso, and micro governance levels. This paper shows how multi-level governance analysis, path dependency, and institutional inertia can be used to improve understanding of some challenges in the sanitation sector in SSA, and discusses approaches that can contribute to improving the sanitation situation in a sustainable way. In addition, the paper asserts that demand-driven strategies and private sector involvement in the sanitation sector is paramount for establishing new sanitation paradigms and sociotechnical regimes. We conclude that a good understanding of actors at all levels - their various roles, interactions, and the way they interpret and respond to policies - is key to accelerating progress in sustainable sanitation coverage in SSA

Groundwater policy and planning

Groundwater policy defines objectives, ambitions and priorities for managing groundwater resources, for the benefit of society. Planning translates policy into programmes of action. Both are often part of a wider water resource policy and planning framework, but the specific challenges pertaining to groundwater have traditionally received less attention than surface water. The terms ‘policy,’ ‘strategy’ and ‘plans’ are used interchangeably in many countries and contexts

Legal and other institutional aspects of groundwater governance

This chapter defines the linked concepts of groundwater governance and groundwater management, explaining how they differ from each other. Then, it describes the prevailing legal instruments for, and the institutional aspects of, groundwater management and governance