Download or read book The Italian Water Industry written by Andrea Gilardoni and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-01-03 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the water sector as it is structured in Italy, presenting innovative engineering, financial and managerial solutions implemented by the Italian water sector, through the experiences of its major stakeholders. The main themes addressed include water regulation, financing infrastructures, economic performance of the leading companies, abstraction, potabilization, distribution, treatment and purification technologies, energy production, and organizational restructuring. The last part of the work presents company profiles with important financial indicators, as well as future strategic postures. Written by leading Italian experts, the book reflects the remarkable advances that have been made in the field of water governance and environmental management. The book is especially valuable for researchers, water professionals, utility managers, as well as policy makers and foreign investors looking for opportunities. This work has been prepared as part of the research activities of the Observatory on Sustainable Water Industry, one of Agici’s Research and Advisory units.
Download or read book Water Management in Italy written by Andrea Guerrini and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the water sector as it is structured in Italy. The first part describes the legal framework which rules the sector in Italy, its evolution since the last 20 years, and its weaknesses. The second part describes the governance of Italian water utilities, distinguishing full public-owned companies from public-private partnership and private companies. The third part reports insights on water utilities performance to enquire the presence of economies by scope, scale and density in the Italian water sector, and to verify the presence of any differences in terms of efficiency and tariffs among public and private firms. The fourth part describes the investment policies carried out by water utilities, observing the total amount of per capita investments and the actual realization of planned investments. The fifth part describes if and how utilities applied water conservation practices to incentive the sustainable water use.
Download or read book Water Resources of Italy written by Giuseppe Rossi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-04-17 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a comprehensive framework of the current state of water resources in Italy and of the main stages of the evolutionary way in the last decades for achieving an integrated, sustainable and equitable water resources management. The main paradigms of water resources development are identified as: i) engineering and economic approach to water resources exploitation, ii) focus on pollution control and water-excess management, iii) a comprehensive approach toward a sustainable and equitable distribution of resources and effective risk reduction of water-related disasters. After a section devoted to the analysis of some historic stages in the legislation framework and the governance of water and soil, with particular reference to planning, design, building and operation of water systems, two sections deal with the estimation of water resources availability on national territory and estimation of water demands in municipal, agricultural, industrial, ecosystem sectors. The complex problems that the Italian society has to solve in the water field and the main challenges of a changing world are discussed in the fourth section of the volume. The book will not only be useful for water professionals, but also for citizen who like to discern the key factors which delay the recognition of water as a resource for life. The description of the problems and adopted solutions could also serve as a guideline for similar situations encountered in other countries, improving the preparation of the responsible people.
Download or read book Water Law Policy and Economics in Italy written by Paolo Turrini and published by Springer. This book was released on 2022-05-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the most important water-related issues that centre on Italy, analysed from several disciplinary perspectives – such as hydrology, economics, law, sociology, environmental sciences and policy studies – in order to promote full understanding of the challenges the country is facing and the ways it could best tackle them. Despite the misconception that Italy is a water-scarce country, is in fact quite rich in water resources. Such resources, however, are unevenly distributed over the Italian territory. Italy’s northern regions rely on quite an abundant quantity of freshwater, whereas in the southern area water endowment is limited. Moreover, climatic differences between North and South contribute to widen the divide. This disparity has notable consequences of socio-economic character, some of which, in turn, feed back into the environmental conditions of Italian regions: pollution, floods, landslides and droughts are among the problems affecting the country. There are numerous features of water use and consumption that distinguish Italy from other comparable countries, such as the significant role played by agriculture (a water-intensive activity), a lead position in the consumption of bottled water, lower-than-average prices of water and a far-from-optimal efficiency of waterworks. All such aspects, and many others, make Italy an essential case study.
Download or read book Process Benchmarking in the Water Industry written by Renato Parena and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2002-03-01 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Free market mechanisms increasingly influence former monopoly sectors such as water and wastewater services with requirements for more transparency and efficiency. Small and large-scale consumers alike demand greater insight into how drinking water tariffs are structured and into the level of service. Public and private shareholders require guarantees on water supply at a reasonable price, with the requisite quality (both of service and product) and reliability together with careful eco-management. Developing sound policies requires information on key industry issues such as water resources, public health, water services, the environment and the cost of providing the level of the service demanded by customers and regulators. Similarly, informed decision-making on issues of ownership, industry structure, competition policy and effective regulation requires accurate analysis of performance across the industry throughout the world. In many sectors of industry Performance Indicators and Benchmarking exercises are widely used as suitable management tools for gaining and maintaining continuous improvement and competitive advantage. Addressing the need to promote best practice principles as part of the advocacy for the advancement of water and sanitation services is currently one of the major governance issues that IWA is challenged to tackle. The objective is to develop generally accepted procedures and methodologies able to provide decision makers with an overall perception of the utility performance as a sound basis for making strategic choices. This requires the definition of a reference framework for Performance Indicators and Benchmarking methodologies, as well as adequate models of aggregation that fit the basic needs of the key types of user. The Task Force on Performance Indicators (operating within the IWA Operation and Management Specialist Group) and the Task Force on Benchmarking (operating within the IWA Statistics and Economics Specialist Group) were set up with the remit to develop the definition of such a common language. The Task Force on Benchmarking carried out a survey among the countries represented inside the Statistics and Economics Specialist Group with the aim of designing a framework of the various national approaches to Benchmarking in terms of: The type, degree evolution and main adopted concepts of Benchmarking Development of the above concepts in focusing Benchmark objectives The survey indicated that, in the main, initiatives of Process Benchmarking are voluntary and non-systematic. It is evident that many water utilities are on what the European Foundation for Quality Management calls the "start-up" level in terms of Business excellence (or continuous improvement) and are keen to find best practices to compare with. The Task Force on Benchmarking moved to the second step, borrowing the European Commission's DG III recommendation that identify benchmarking as an important tool to improve competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises in Europe according to the methodologies developed and applied in large corporations. With the objective of developing a generally accepted concept and a methodology with wide applicability, deeper analyses were then made of Process Benchmarking procedures adopted in the Nordic countries and in The Netherlands. As a result this Manual aims to present well-devised guidelines for establishing a management tool based on the use of Process Benchmarking methodologies that will allow future systematic and rigorous performance comparisons to be made within the water industry. Contents Main benchmarking experiences in a water context How far we are on benchmarking Benchmarking methodologies in the Netherlands and the Nordic countries One coherent philosophy for two different approaches Process Benchmarking approach Key numbers and definitions References Relations between process benchmarking and performance indicators Introduction letter and questionnaires
Download or read book Governance and Performance of Water Utility Firms written by Stefano Pozzoli and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-24 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Italy, the debate about the reform process, that has involved the water sector for several years, cannot be considered concluded. It seems exclusively ideological and often it does not consider the business administration perspective, which certainly could make a contribution to the solution of different problems. Politicians and researchers, for example, show very little interest for the economic and financial performance of water utility firms, focusing almost exclusively on the different ways for providing the services or on the ownership structure. This work analyzes the variables characterizing the outsourcing process in the water sector. It also explores the connection of such variables with the performance of companies and local government authorities involved in the delivery process. Subsequently, the work explains the results of an exploratory analysis of different cases in the international context, making also a comparison about the performance. Lastly, the work verifies the existence of some best practices and evaluates the adaptability of these best practices in the Italian context.
Download or read book Facing the Challenges of Water Governance written by Simon Porcher and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-19 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Access to water is one of the most pressing global issues of the twenty-first century, particularly when set against the background of a rapidly growing global population. This book provides a cutting-edge, comprehensive overview of the challenges facing water governance and regulatory choices. The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals set forward an ambitious agenda of providing universal access to good quality water supply and sanitation services within a financially constrained environment: however, the various peculiarities of each country regarding water governance makes it difficult to identify and implement the best practices and benchmarks. Drawing together empirical studies from countries around the world, the editors and contributors combine extensive data to review the individual challenges facing each country, from the supervision of autonomous regulatory bodies to the question of centralization and the influence of local utility companies. This pioneering and practical volume will be of interest and value not only to students and scholars of water governance, but also to practitioners and regulators.
Download or read book Water Law Policy and Economics in Italy written by Paolo Turrini and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-05-12 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the most important water-related issues that centre on Italy, analysed from several disciplinary perspectives – such as hydrology, economics, law, sociology, environmental sciences and policy studies – in order to promote full understanding of the challenges the country is facing and the ways it could best tackle them. Despite the misconception that Italy is a water-scarce country, is in fact quite rich in water resources. Such resources, however, are unevenly distributed over the Italian territory. Italy’s northern regions rely on quite an abundant quantity of freshwater, whereas in the southern area water endowment is limited. Moreover, climatic differences between North and South contribute to widen the divide. This disparity has notable consequences of socio-economic character, some of which, in turn, feed back into the environmental conditions of Italian regions: pollution, floods, landslides and droughts are among the problems affecting the country. There are numerous features of water use and consumption that distinguish Italy from other comparable countries, such as the significant role played by agriculture (a water-intensive activity), a lead position in the consumption of bottled water, lower-than-average prices of water and a far-from-optimal efficiency of waterworks. All such aspects, and many others, make Italy an essential case study.
Download or read book Utilities Reform in Twenty First Century Australia written by Malcolm Abbott and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilities Reform in 21st Century Australia: Providing the Essentials traces the development and consequences of the economic reform measures undertaken in the utilities sector in Australia (communications, energy, water/wastewater services, and transport) in the last years of the 20th century, and early decades of the 21st century. In doing so, it looks at the process of reform across industries, and across the state and federal jurisdictions, to identify what motivations the various governments had for pursing reform, how change varied across jurisdictions, and what issues arose in the process. Although by the mid-1990s all states and territories and the Australian Government were committed to reforming utilities as part of the National Competition Policy, not all pursued this reform with the same degree of speed and breadth of action. The broad trends of economic reform in Australia, and abroad, are also touched upon, to provide an outline of the wider context in which the reform of the utilities occurred. This book, therefore, explores the relationship between politics and society on the one hand and economic reform on the other; as well on as the efforts of governments in Australia to promote economic growth and the wealth of Australians in an increasingly complex and challenging global economic climate.
Download or read book The Italian Utilities Industry written by Andrea Gilardoni and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-21 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the fundamental changes that the Italian public utilities sector has undergone in the last two decades. Since the late 1990s, liberalisation and privatisation have replaced state-owned monopolies at both the national and local level, new technologies have created a broad range of new opportunities for power generation and distribution, and a redesigned public policy agenda has brought to the fore a whole set of new priorities. In this fast-changing environment, firms have redrawn their strategies, redesigned their business architectures and models, invested in infrastructure and R&D, taken advantage of growth opportunities at home and abroad, opened up their ownership structure, revised their offerings, and developed a new approach to customers. As a result, a radically altered market structure has emerged. As the sector tackles the overriding challenge of sustainability and energy transition, the book takes stock of such past and ongoing developments through the direct testimonies of various stakeholders: the companies in the energy, water, and waste management sectors that are at the forefront of this sweeping transformation; regulators; financial partners; and management consulting firms. The diversity of perspectives and wealth of information presented make this book a valuable resource for anyone wanting to grasp the direction, intensity and causes of change, as well as the nature of the challenges that lie ahead. This work has been prepared as part of the research activities of the Observatory on Alliances and Strategies in the Pan-European Utility Market, one of Agici’s Research and Advisory units.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Network Industries written by Matthias Finger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, network industries around the world have gone through periods of de- and re-regulation. With vast amounts of sometimes conflicting research carried out into specific network industries, the time has come for a critical over-arching assessment of this entire industry in order to provide a platform of understanding to aid future research and practice. This comprehensive resource provides an orientation for academics, policy makers and managers as to the main economic, regulatory and commercial challenges in the network industries. The book is split into sections covering market, policy, regulation, management perspectives, whilst all of the key network industries are covered, including energy, transport, water and telecommunications. Overseen by world-class Editors and experts in the field, this inter-disciplinary resource is essential reading for students and researchers in international business, industrial economics and the industries.
Download or read book New Directions in Productivity Measurement and Efficiency Analysis written by Tihomir Ancev and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores novel research perspectives on the intersection of environmental/natural resource economics and productivity analysis, emphasizing the link between productivity and efficiency measurement and environmental impacts. The purpose of the book is to present new approaches and methods for measuring environmentally adjusted productivity and efficiency, and for incorporating natural resources in standard national accounting practices. These methods are applicable in many contexts, including air and water pollution, climate change, green accounting, and environmental regulation
Download or read book Charting the Water Regulatory Future written by Julien Chaisse and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-01-27 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about the issues, challenges and directions currently faced by water as a key resource for mankind. The book aims at providing a finer understanding of the water regulatory future. The contributions in this book are grouped around specific themes. In Part I, the contributions address the water challenge to public international law. In Part II, the authors explore the most pressing ethical, legal, and social issues. In Part III, the discussion covers the economic drivers shaping the future of water.
Download or read book Water and Liberalisation written by Matthias Finger and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In most network industries, new dynamics are leading to an unprecedented opening up to competition and private sector participation. With the development of a single European market, the in-stages liberalisation process of public utilities has spread to almost all sectors. However, the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector is considered somehow different and it has been excluded until recently from the restructuring processes achieved in other sectors. Water and Liberalisation: European Water Scenarios presents a better understanding of the specific demands of the WSS sector. Covering the operators' strategies, the regulatory dynamics as well as their interactions on the evolution of the sector, it addresses the likelihood, the nature, and the forms the WSS sector may take in Europe in the foreseeable future. Adopting a neutral political stance, the book analyses the implications of alternative scenarios in economic, ecological, social, legal, and institutional terms. Key sections include: In depth introduction to the current situation in the WSS sector; The European water supply and sanitation markets; The institutional framework of the water supply and sanitation sector in the EU: a comparative analysis; Analysis of the EU explicit and implicit policies and approaches in the sector; Analysis of the strategies of the water operators in Europe scenarios on the evolution of the water sector in Europe; Economic, environmental, & social implications of the scenarios; Major implications per scenario.
Download or read book Regulation of Water and Wastewater Services written by Rui Cunha Marques and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06-30 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, published in collaboration with ERSAR, presents a unique account of governance and regulatory methods used by different countries, states and municipalities that will help regulators and governments all over the world to improve their regulatory approaches. It is the first book to compile such an amount of data about regulatory processes of a wide number of countries from the five continents. It discusses how the characteristics of water and wastewater services call for regulation and how different countries apply distinct regulatory methods. By showing 18 country case-studies, the book offers an interesting perspective as the regulatory models adopted vary immensely depending on geographical location, nature and strength of institutions and governments, political ideology, features and level of development of the countries. In addition, it provides examples of best practices that may be important for policy-makers to enhance the regulatory processes adopted in each country. It looks closely at rules imposed by state and local governments concerning regulatory issues and how they are being applied. Regulation of Water and Wastewater Services covers the fundamental and practical concepts and issues regarding the regulation of water and wastewater services. It describes and compares the regulatory methods adopted in several countries and provides a global overview on regulation. There is detailed coverage of topics such as quality of service regulation, economic regulation and public service obligations. This book is suitable for regulators, academic researchers and students, consultants, operators and managers, policy-makers and other stakeholders. Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read and share material related to this title: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/RegulationofWaterandWastewaterServicesAninternationalcomparison Author: Rui Cunha Marques, Center of Urban and Regional Systems (CESUR), Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon in collaboration with the Portuguese Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority (ERSAR)
Download or read book Integrated Evaluation for the Management of Contemporary Cities written by Giulio Mondini and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-06-06 with total page 629 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book highlights a selection of the best papers presented at the 2016 SIEV conference “The Laudato sì Encyclical Letter and Valuation. Cities between Conflict and Solidarity, Decay and Regeneration, Exclusion and Participation”, which was held in Rome, Italy, in April 2016, and brought together experts from a diverse range of fields – economics, appraisal, architecture, energy, urban planning, sociology, and the decision sciences – and government representatives. The book is divided into four parts: Human Ecology: Values and Paradigms; Integral Ecology and Natural Resource Management; Intergenerational Equity; and How to Enhance Dialogue and Transparency in Decision-making Processes. Cities are where 72% of all Europeans live, and this percentage is expected to rise to 80% by 2050. Given this trend towards urbanization, cities are continuously growing, which also entails a growing risk of social segregation, lack of security and mounting environmental problems. All too often, today’s cities have to cope with social and environmental crises, shifting the European urban agenda towards regeneration processes. Urban regeneration is more complex than merely renovating existing buildings, as it also involves social and environmental problems, inhabitants’ quality of life, protecting tangible and intangible cultural resources, innovation and business.
Download or read book Handbook of Production Economics written by Subhash C. Ray and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-06-02 with total page 1797 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This three-volume handbook includes state-of-the-art surveys in different areas of neoclassical production economics. Volumes 1 and 2 cover theoretical and methodological issues only. Volume 3 includes surveys of empirical applications in different areas like manufacturing, agriculture, banking, energy and environment, and so forth.
