How Governance Regimes Shape the Implementation of Water Reuse Schemes

The governance dimensions of water reuse scheme development and operation, such as policies and regulatory frameworks, and public involvement and stakeholder collaboration, can serve to both facilitate and constrain wider adoption of water reuse practices. This paper explores the significance and underlying structure of the key governance challenges facing the water reuse sector in Europe. It presents empirical evidence from interviews and focus group sessions conducted at four water reuse schemes: an indirect potable reuse scheme at Torreele (Belgium), the urban reuse of treated municipal wastewater at the London Olympic Park (United Kingdom) and at Sabadell (Spain), and the reuse of agro-industrial effluent for irrigation at Capitanata (Italy). The findings underscore the importance of clarity in policy arrangements around water reuse, as well as of the financial competitiveness of reuse projects compared to alternative water supply options. Operators of water reuse schemes expressed a preference for water quality standards, which focus on appropriateness for use rather than over-emphasise the waters’ origin so that unnecessary treatment and costs can be avoided. Positive public support was widely acknowledged as an important factor in the success or failure of water reuse schemes. We conclude that constructive institutional relationships underpin many of the challenges faced by reuse scheme operators and that greater emphasis should be given to building confidence and gaining trust in water service providers through early identification of how governance regimes shape the viability of new scheme

De energiesector als lichtend of verblindend voorbeeld?

De energiesector wordt in de watersector veelvuldig genoemd als voorbeeld voor de transitie richting een circulaire economie. In hoeverre werkt dit verhelderend of juist verblindend? In deze literatuurstudie laten de auteurs hun licht schijnen op de energiesector als voorbeeld wanneer het gaat om de introductie van nieuwe decentrale technieken. Vanuit zowel een technologisch, economisch, sociaal-cultureel als een institutioneel perspectief brengen de auteurs de contextuele systeemveranderingen die van invloed kunnen zijn op toepassing van decentrale technieken in kaart. Hiermee worden de overeenkomsten en verschillen tussen energie- en watersectoren helder en ontstaat ruimte voor relativering en nuance

Energie- en waterbesparing: Hoe zit het met de actiebereidheid van Nederlanders?

Luchtvervuiling, natuuraantasting, en vooral klimaatverandering zijn vrijwel dagelijks voorpaginanieuws. Voor de aanpak ervan kijkt de overheid naar bedrijven, maatschappelijke organisaties en ook burgers. Het afgelopen decennium deden termen als energieke samenleving (Hajer, 2011), participatiesamenleving (Troonrede 2013) en doe-democratie (Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken, 2013) hun intrede. Beleidsmatig krijgt de maatschappelijke betrokkenheid vorm via bijvoorbeeld initiatieven verpakt als Green Deals1 (Gooskens et al, 2016), Klimaattafels en Regionale Energie Strategieën.2 Zo is het volgens de afspraken in het ontwerp Klimaatakkoord (uit eind 2018) de bedoeling dat op termijn 50% van de elektriciteitsproductie in handen is van lokale partijen.3,4 De burger wordt hierin niet alleen meer gezien als consument, afnemer of belastingbetaler, maar als medeverantwoordelijke voor de (duurzame) productie, beheer en opslag van met name elektriciteit. Ook in andere sectoren zoals water, voedsel en transport is deze tendens zichtbaar. Burgers worden uitgedaagd na te denken over de implicaties voor milieu en klimaat bij hun uiteenlopende keuzes rond voedsel (‘een dagje zonder vlees’), manier van reizen (‘vliegschaamte’), verwarmen (‘graadje lager’), koken (‘van het gas af’) tot tuininrichting (‘onttegelen’) en waterbeheer (‘minuutje korter douchen’)

Governance Regime Factors Conducive to Innovation Uptake in Urban Water Management: Experiences from Europe

Innovative ways to manage the urban water cycle are required to deal with an ageing drinking and waste water infrastructure and new societal imperatives. This paper examines the influence of water governance in enabling transformations and technological innovation uptake in urban water management. A governance assessment framework is developed and applied in three case-studies, examining different scales and types of innovations used to tackle challenges in European urban water management. The methodology combines documentary analysis and interviews to reconstruct historical storylines of the shift in the water governance of urban water management for each site. The research provides detailed empirical observations on the factors conducive to innovation uptake at the local level. Critical governance factors such as commitment to compromise, the necessity to build political support, and the role of "entrepreneurs" and coalitions are highlighted. The paper also explores the role of discursive strategies and partnership design, as well as that of regulative, economic and communicative instruments, in creating barriers and opportunities to initiate and secure change. A number of recommendations targeted at innovators and water managers are presented in the conclusio

Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework

Driven by Europe's pressing need to overcome its water quality and water scarcity challenges, the speed of innovation in the water sector is outpacing that of science. The methodologies available to assess the impact of innovative solutions to water-related challenges remain limited and highly theoretical, which sets boundaries on their application and usefulness to water practitioners. This hampers the uptake of new technologies and innovative management practices, thus foregoing potential gains in resource efficiency and nature protection, as well as wider benefits to society and the economy. To address this gap, the DESSIN project developed a framework to evaluate the changes in ecosystem services (ESS) associated with technical or management solutions implemented at the water body, sub-catchment or catchment level. The framework was developed with a specific focus on freshwater ecosystems to allow for a more detailed exploration of practical implementation issues. Its development, testing and validation was carried out by conducting ESS evaluations in three different urban case study settings. The framework builds upon existing classification systems for ESS (CICES and FEGS-CS) and incorporates the DPSIR adaptive management scheme as its main structural element. This enables compatibility with other international initiatives on ESS assessments and establishes a direct link to the EU Water Framework Directive, respectively. This work furthers research on practical implementation of the Ecosystem Services Approach, while pushing the discussion on how to promote more informed decision-making and support innovation uptake to address Europe's current water-related challenges

Origin and clinical relevance of chromosomal aberrations other than the common trisomies detected by genome-wide NIPS: Results of the TRIDENT study

PurposeNoninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) using cell-free DNA in maternal blood is highly sensitive for detecting fetal trisomies 21, 18, and 13. Using a genome-wide approach, other chromosome anomalies can also be detected. We report on the origin

The Association Between Familial Risk and Brain Abnormalities Is Disease Specific: An ENIGMA-Relatives Study of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Background: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share genetic liability, and some structural brain abnormalities are common to both conditions. First-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (FDRs-SZ) show similar brain abnormalities to patients, albeit with smaller effect sizes. Imaging findings in first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder (FDRs-BD) have been inconsistent in the past, but recent studies report regionally greater volumes compared with control subjects. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of global and subcortical brain measures of 6008 individuals (1228 FDRs-SZ, 852 FDRs-BD, 2246 control subjects, 1016 patients with schizophrenia, 666 patients with bipolar disorder) from 34 schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder family cohorts with standardized methods. Analyses were repeated with a correction for intracranial volume (ICV) and for the presence of any psychopathology in the relatives and control subjects. Results: FDRs-BD had significantly larger ICV (d = +0.16, q <.05 corrected), whereas FDRs-SZ showed smaller thalamic volumes than control subjects (d = −0.12, q <.05 corrected). ICV explained the enlargements in the brain measures in FDRs-BD. In FDRs-SZ, after correction for ICV, total brain, cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, cerebellar gray and white matter, and thalamus volumes were significantly smaller; the cortex was thinner (d < −0.09, q <.05 corrected); and third ventricle was larger (d = +0.15, q <.05 corrected). The findings were not explained by psychopathology in the relatives or control subjects. Conclusions: Despite shared genetic liability, FDRs-SZ and FDRs-BD show a differential pattern of structural brain abnormalities, specifically a divergent effect in ICV. This may imply that the neurodevelopmental trajectories leading to brain anomalies in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are distinct

Public Involvement in Knowledge Generation

Public Involvement in Knowledge Generation is an Open Access co-publication with KWR

Policy entrepreneurs and strategies for change

Despite the fact that we currently witness an increasing interest in the study of the role of agency in policy dynamics, it remains in many respects a puzzle how policy change can be explained, let alone directed. This paper focusses intently on the concept, incidence, and strategic behaviour of policy entrepreneurs. By elucidating their strategic modus operandi, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of the strategies that individual change agents employ in their efforts to effect policy change, as well as to examine their contextual effectiveness. In addition to new data on the incidence and profile of policy entrepreneurs and the (contextual) conditions relating to the selection of strategies, this paper presents a novel typology of entrepreneurial strategies, linking these to circumstances under which they can be effective. Our paper concludes with a discussion on how our findings relate to the main theories of policy change, and what they mean for the larger democratic questions about accountability and legitimacy

Public Involvement in Knowledge Generation

Public Involvement in Knowledge Generation is an Open Access co-publication with KWR