Download or read book Privatization of Water Services in the United States written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-09-20 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the quest to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of water and wastewater services, many communities in the United States are exploring the potential advantages of privatization of those services. Unlike other utility services, local governments have generally assumed responsibility for providing water services. Privatization of such services can include the outright sale of system assets, or various forms of public-private partnershipsâ€"from the simple provision of supplies and services, to private design construction and operation of treatment plants and distribution systems. Many factors are contributing to the growing interest in the privatization of water services. Higher operating costs, more stringent federal water quality and waste effluent standards, greater customer demands for quality and reliability, and an aging water delivery and wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure are all challenging municipalities that may be short of funds or technical capabilities. For municipalities with limited capacities to meet these challenges, privatization can be a viable alternative. Privatization of Water Services evaluates the fiscal and policy implications of privatization, scenarios in which privatization works best, and the efficiencies that may be gained by contracting with private water utilities.
Download or read book Manual on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for Practitioners written by Robert Bos and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-15 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Manual highlights the human rights principles and criteria in relation to drinking water and sanitation. It explains the international legal obligations in terms of operational policies and practice that will support the progressive realisation of universal access. The Manual introduces a human rights perspective that will add value to informed decision making in the daily routine of operators, managers and regulators. It also encourages its readership to engage actively in national dialogues where the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation are translated into national and local policies, laws and regulations. Creating such an enabling environment is, in fact, only the first step in the process towards progressive realisation. Allocation of roles and responsibilities is the next step, in an updated institutional and operational set up that helps apply a human rights lens to the process of reviewing and revising the essential functions of operators, service providers and regulators.
Download or read book Water and Sanitation in the World s Cities written by Un-Habitat and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This is surely the most impressive and important publication to come out of the UN system for many years.' Peter Adamson, founder, New Internationalist, and author and researcher of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children from 1980 to 1995 The world's governments agreed at the Millennium Summit to halve, by 2015, the number of people who lack access to safe water. With rapidly growing urban populations the challenge is immense. Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities is a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the problems and how they can be addressed. This influential publication by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) sets out in detail the scale of inadequate provision of water and sanitation. It describes the impacts on health and economic performance, showing the potential gains of remedial action; it analyses the proximate and underlying causes of poor provision and identifies information gaps affecting resource allocation; it outlines the consequences of further deterioration; and it explains how resources and institutional capacities - public, private and community - can be used to deliver proper services through integrated water resource management.
Download or read book Water and Sanitation Services in Europe 1981 1990 written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water and Sanitation Services written by Jose Esteban Castro and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-04 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Substantially reducing the number of human beings who lack access to clean water and safe sanitation is one of the key Millennium Development Goals. This book argues and demonstrates that this can only be achieved by a better integration of the technical and social science approaches in the search for improved organization and delivery of these essential services. It presents a historical analysis of the development of water and sanitation services in both developed and developing countries, which provides valuable lessons for overcoming the obstacles facing the universalization of these services. Among the key lessons emerging from the historical analysis are the organizational and institutional diversity characterizing the development of water and sanitation internationally, and the central role played by the public sector, particularly local authorities, in such development. It also explores the historical role played by cooperatives and other non-profit institutions in reaching rural and peri-urban areas, as well as the emergence of new forms of organization and provision, particularly in poor countries, where aid and development agencies have been promoting the self-organization of water systems by local communities. The book provides a critical exploration of these different institutional options, including the interaction between the public and private sectors, and the irreplaceable role of public funding as a condition for success. The book is divided into two parts: the first reviews theoretical and conceptual issues such as the political economy of water services, financing, the interfaces between water and sanitation services and public health, and the systemic conditions that influence the provision of these services, including the diversity of organizational and institutional options characterizing the governance and management of water and sanitation services. The second section presents a number of country or regional case studies, each one chosen to highlight a particular problem, approach or strategy. These case studies are drawn from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, covering a wide range of socio-economic and political contexts. The book will be of great interest to advanced students, researchers, professionals and NGOs in many disciplines, including public policy and planning, environmental sciences, environmental sociology, history of technology, civil and environmental engineering, public health and development studies.
Download or read book Decentralised Sanitation and Reuse written by Piet Lens and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2001-03-01 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, Decentralised Sanitation and Reuse places public sanitation in a global context and provides a definitive discussion of current state-of-the-art sanitation technologies. It shows how these technologies can be implemented to integrate domestic waste and wastewater treatment in order to maximize resource recycling in domestic practice. Decentralised Sanitation and Reuse presents technical solutions for on-site collection and transport of concentrated waste streams, and focuses on the compromise between reliability and minimal water wastage. A whole range of available sustainable technologies, both low and high-tech, to treat concentrated (black water) and diluted (grey water) streams are addressed in detail from the fundamental scientific and engineering points of view. Sociological, economic and, particularly, environmental and public health aspects are essential issues within this book. The necessity of new infrastructure implementation and the resulting challenges for a good number of economic branches are illustrated with examples from architecture and town planning. Decentralised Sanitation and Reuse will be an invaluable resource for a wide academic and professional readership active in the fields of environmental protection and public sanitation. Contents The DESAR concept for environmental protection Waste and wastewater characteristics and its collection on the site Technological aspects of DESAR Environmental and public health aspects of DESAR Sociological and economic aspects of DESAR Architectural and urbanistic aspects of DESAR
Download or read book Water and Sanitation Services written by Jose Esteban Castro and published by Earthscan. This book was released on 2012 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on how to provide clean water for all - one of the key Millennium Development Goals, this book integrates technical and social perspectives. A broad, international range of case studies are provided, from developed, middle income and developing countries, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Download or read book Risk Management of Water Supply and Sanitation Systems written by Petr Hlavinek and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-04-28 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each year more than 200 million people are affected by floods, tropical storms, droughts, earthquakes, and also operational failures, wars, terrorism, vandalism, and accidents involving hazardous materials. These are part of the wide variety of events that cause death, injury, and significant economic losses for the countries affected. In an environment where natural hazards are present, local actions are decisive in all stages of risk management: in the work of prevention and mitigation, in rehabilitation and reconstruction, and above all in emergency response and the provision of basic services to the affected population. Commitment to systematic vulnerability reduction is crucial to ensure the resilience of communities and populations to the impact of natural and manmade hazards. Current challenges for the water and sanitation sector require an increase in sustainable access to water and sanitation services in residential areas, where natural hazards pose the greatest risk. In settlements located on unstable and risk-prone land there is growing environmental degradation coupled with extreme conditions of poverty that increase vulnerability. The development of local capacity and risk management play vital roles in obtaining sustainability of water and sanitation systems as well as for the communities themselves. Unfortunately water may also represent a potential target for terrorist activity or war conflict and a deliberate contamination of water is a potential public health threat. An approach which considers the needs of communities and institutions is particularly important in urban areas affected by armed conflict. Risk management for large rehabilitation projects has to deal with major changes caused by conflict: damaged or destroyed infrastructure, increased population, corrupt or inefficient water utilities, and impoverished communities. Water supply and sanitation are amongst the first considerations in disaster response. The greatest water-borne risk to health in most emergencies is the transmission of faecal pathogens, due to inadequate sanitation, hygiene and protection of water sources. However, some disasters, including those involving damage to chemical and nuclear industrial installations, or involving volcanic activity, may create acute problems from chemical or radiological water pollution. Sanitation includes safe excreta disposal, drainage of wastewater and rainwater, solid waste disposal and vector control. This book is based on the discussions and papers prepared for the NATO Advanced Research Workshop that took place in Ohrid, Macedonia under the auspices of the NATO Security Through Science Programme and addressed problems Risk management of water supply and sanitation systems impaired by operational failures, natural disasters and war conflicts. The main purpose of the workshop was to critically assess the existing knowledge on Risk management of water supply and sanitation systems, with respect to diverse conditions in participating countries, and promote close co-operation among scientists with different professional experience from different countries. The ARW technical program comprised papers on 4 topics, : (a) Vulnerability of Wastewater and Sanitation Systems, (b) Vulnerability of Drinking Water Systems, (c) Emergency response plans, and (d) Case studies from regions affected by Drinking Water System, Wastewater and Sanitation System failures.
Download or read book The Future of Public Water Governance written by Christopher A. Scott and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-11-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The privatization of water supply and wastewater systems, together with institutional restructuring of governance – through decentralization and the penetration of global firms in local and regional markets – have been promoted as solutions to increase economic efficiency and achieve universal water supply and sanitation coverage. Yet a significant share of service provision and water resources development remains the responsibility of public authorities. The chapters in this book – with case evidence from Argentina, Chile, France, the USA, and other countries – address critical questions that dominate the international agenda on public versus private utilities, service provision, regulations, and resource development. This book presents varied perspectives – largely complementary but at times contrasting – on public and private governance of water. Public authority in general is being reasserted over service provision, while resource development and investments in infrastructure continue as a mix of public and private initiatives. But more important, increased oversight and regulation of market-based initiatives that until recently were touted as panaceas for water supply and sanitation are increasingly being reconsidered on the basis of social equity, environmental, and public health concerns. This book was based on the special issue of Water International.
Download or read book Guidelines for Drinking water Quality written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 1993 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume describes the methods used in the surveillance of drinking water quality in the light of the special problems of small-community supplies, particularly in developing countries, and outlines the strategies necessary to ensure that surveillance is effective.
Download or read book Benchmarking Water Services written by Enrique Cabrera Jr and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benchmarking has become a key tool in the water industry to promote and achieve performance targets for utilities. The use of this tool for performance improvement through systematic search and adaptation of leading practices, has expanded globally during the past decade. Many ongoing projects worldwide aim to address different needs and objectives, in varying contexts, with outstanding results and impact. Benchmarking Water Services provides valuable information to everyone interested in benchmarking in the water industry. The text is aimed at utilities considering joining a benchmarking project, experienced practitioners in charge of organizing a benchmarking exercise, consultants, regulators and researchers. The document is presented with a clear practice oriented approach and can be used as a how-to-benchmark guide presented from different perspectives (participants, organizers, supervising bodies). Readers will gain practical insight on real life benchmarking practices and will benefit from the experiences gained in some of the leading benchmarking projects of the water industry (including the IWA-WSAA benchmarking efforts, the European Benchmarking Co-operation and the several benchmarking projects carried out in Austria and Central Europe). The manual also presents the new IWA Benchmarking Framework, which aims to harmonize the terms used to describe benchmarking and performance indicators practices in the water industry, guaranteeing a more fluent and efficient communication. This Manual of Best Practice is edited by the IWA Specialist Group on Benchmarking and Performance Assessment, and co-published by AWWA and IWA Publishing. Praise for Benchmarking Water Services: "The continual trend of conceptual to specifics throughout the book provides for an educational experience each time the book is either casually perused or carefully studied." "The authors (Cabrera, Haskins and Fritiz) diligently pursue the focus of improvement." "Benchmarking Water Services is an in depth and practical ‘must have’ guide for any utility currently engaged in or planning to develop a benchmarking process" - Gregory M. Baird (2012) Benchmarking: An International Journal 19:2. More information about the book can be found on the Water Wiki in an article written by the author: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/TheNewIWABenchmarkingFramework A Spanish language version of this book is available as a free eBook: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/eBookTitlesfromIWAPublishingFreetoDownload-Volume2#HBenchmarkingParaServiciosdeAgua
Download or read book Environmental History of Water written by Petri S. Juuti and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2007-02-01 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The World Water Development Report 2003 pointed out the extensive problem that: 'Sadly, the tragedy of the water crisis is not simply a result of lack of water but is, essentially, one of poor water governance.' Cross-sectional and historical intra-national and international comparisons have been recognized as a valuable method of study in different sectors of human life, including technologies and governance. Environmental History of Water fills this gap, with its main focus being on water and sanitation services and their evolution. Altogether 34 authors have written 30 chapters for this multidisciplinary book which divides into four chronological parts, from ancient cultures to the challenges of the 21st century, each with its introduction and conclusions written by the editors. The authors represent such disciplines as history of technology, history of public health, public policy, development studies, sociology, engineering and management sciences. This book emphasizes that the history of water and sanitation services is strongly linked to current water management and policy issues, as well as future implications. Geographically the book consists of local cases from all inhabited continents. The key penetrating themes of the book include especially population growth, health, water consumption, technological choices and governance. There is great need for general, long-term analysis at the global level. Lessons learned from earlier societies help us to understand the present crisis and challenges. This new book, Environmental History of Water, provides this analysis by studying these lessons.
Download or read book Guidance Note on the Development of Action Plans to Ensure Equitable Access to Water and Sanitation written by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and published by United Nations. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Guidance Note on the development of action plans aims to help countries in translating the priorities identified through the self-assessment into actions. Specific Equitable Access Action Plans are needed to guide a country (or a sub-national entity) efforts to achieve equitable access to water and sanitation by identifying priority actions to be implemented and ways of implementing them. The Note describes the content of Action Plans and their process of development. This Note is mostly intended for government authorities and stakeholders in the water, health, education, social affairs, finance and other relevant sectors that would like to take action to reduce inequities in access to water and sanitation services. It is relevant both to countries that have already completed a self-assessment exercise, and to countries that are considering to embark in an integrated exercise that would include a self-assessment phase and an action planning phase. While the work carried out under the Protocol is primarily geared towards countries in the pan-European region, countries from other regions might also find this Note useful.
Download or read book Water Justice written by Rutgerd Boelens and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An overview of critical conceptual approaches to water justice, illustrated with global historic and contemporary case studies of socio-environmental struggles.
Download or read book Water and Health in Europe written by Jamie Bartram and published by WHO Regional Office Europe. This book was released on 2002 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation in a manner that protects human health and the environment are key development and welfare issues. Water resources vary greatly throughout Europe and within regions, and future water availability is likely to be influenced by a number of factors including climate change, especially in coastal areas. This joint report by the European Environment Agency and the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe highlights the state of Europe's water resources, their health implications, and policy initiatives to address these issues. Aspects considered include: drinking and recreational water quality; health impacts such as waterborne diseases and sanitation; irrigation, industrial and agricultural practices; and water pollution.
Download or read book Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Services on the Threshold of the XXI Century written by Andrei Jouravlev and published by United Nations Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Public and Social Services in Europe written by Hellmut Wollmann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents comparative analyses and accounts of the institutional changes that have occurred to the local level delivery of public utilities and personal social services in countries across Europe. Guided by a common conceptual frame and written by leading country experts, the book pursues a “developmental” approach to consider how the public/municipal sector-centred institutionalization of service delivery (climaxing in the 1970s) developed through its New Public Management-inspired and European Union market liberalization-driven restructuring of the 1980s and early 1990s. The book also discusses the most recent phase since the late 1990s, which has been marked by further marketization and privatization of service delivery on the one hand, and some return to public sector provision (“remunicipalization”) on the other. By comprising some 20 European countries, including Central East European “transformation” countries as well as the “sovereign debt”-stricken countries of Southern Europe, the chapters of this volume cover a much broader cross section of countries than other recent publications on the same subject.
