This book analyses how a water utility from a developing country, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, that was totally dysfunctional, corruption-ridden and literally bankrupt in 1993, became one of the most successful water utilities of the developing world in only about 15 years. By 2010, some of the performance indicators of this public sector utility were even better than London, Paris or Los Angeles. The book further analyses the enabling conditions that made this remarkable transformation possible. Based on this analysis, a framework is recommended for water utilities from developing countries so that they can also be transformed into functional, efficient, equitable and financially viable institutions on a sustainable basis.

This book highlights what are likely to be the future megatrends in the water sector and why and how they should be incorporated to improve water governance in the coming decades. In this first ever book on megatrends for the water sector, 22 leading world experts from different disciplines representing academia, business, government, national and international organisations discuss what the major megatrends of the future are and how they will radically change water governance in the coming decades.

This book pursues a comprehensive approach so as to arrive at a better understanding of the implications of climate change on sustainable development, focusing on the perspective of water. Climate change is one of today’s most pressing global issues and will become increasingly important in the decades to come, as societies will feel its pervasive impacts in many aspects of their lives. Given that the majority of these climate change impacts will be felt through the medium of water, the book explores the interrelationships and inter-linkages between water, climate change and sustainable development.

This study presents for the first time an independent and authoritative analysis of water quality management in North and South America, and discusses the practices and future implications of the impacts of the current practices in the different countries of the hemisphere. Includes in-depth case studies analyzing water quality management practices at country and state levels, especially in terms of their effectiveness and overall impact.

Asian countries are not homogenous. They are in different stages of social and economic development, with cultural conditions and institutional and legal frameworks varying from one country to another. Therefore, how water can be successfully managed differs from one country to another. The book provides authoritative analyses of how water is being managed in different Asian countries, ranging from the world 's most populous countries like China and India to a city state like Singapore and an island country like Fiji. It also analyses in depth several wide ranging issues like terrorism, human rights, water-energy nexus, and roles of media, along with comprehensive discussions of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks in an Asian water management context. The overall focus is on how water can be managed efficiently, cost-effectively and equitably in various Asian countries.

All except for three papers, were originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

The global attention in recent years has focused primarily on water quantity and allocation issues. Water quality has received significantly less attention than water quantity. Commendable progress has been made by the developed world to control point sources of pollution, but commensurate progress in reducing non-point sources has not been made. In the third world countries both point and non-point sources of pollution are becoming increasingly a serious concern. Already, nearly all water bodies in such countries near and around urban centres have been severely polluted, with very high health and environmental costs.

The book assesses the current status of water quality management in both developed and developing worlds, as well as analysing the effectiveness of economic instruments and legal and institutional frameworks to control water contamination. It outlines the importance of building up social and political awareness to reverse the trend of continuing water quality deterioration, which is likely to be a most challenging task in the coming years.

This book was published as a special issue of International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Old forms of governance in both public and private sectors are becoming increasingly irrelevant because of rapidly changing conditions. Because of these changes, both governance processes and the scope of the institutions through which power is exercised throughout society may have to undergo a radical break with the past and prevailing models of governance. Water sector is an integral part of the global system. Consequently, its governance processes and the institutions responsible for its management must change as well in order to cope with the current challenges and potential future changes. Because of these current and future changes, water governance may have to change more during the next 20 years compared to the past 2000 years, if societal expectations are to be successfully met. All these changes will make water governance more complex than ever before witnessed in human history. Improving water governance will require good and objective analyses of case studies from different parts of the world as to what has worked, why and the enabling environments under which good governance has been possible. The present volume analyses case studies of good water governance from different parts of the world, and for different water use sectors. It concludes with an analysis of the critical issues that should be considered for water governance and a priority research agenda for improving water governance in the future. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation is essential for human survival and for maintenance of a decent quality of life. Currently, more than a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and more than two billion people lack proper sanitation. In 1992, the United Nations proclaimed that water should be considered to be a human right. This position, however, has not been accepted by many developed and developing countries. This book systematically and comprehensively analyzes the legal development of the concept of water as a human right; implications for the national governments, and international and national organizations for the implementation of this concept; progress made in different Middle East and North African countries to provide every individual access to clean water and sanitation, constraints faced to assure universal access to water-related services and how these constraints can be overcome, and an overall research agenda in areas where more knowledge is necessary.

There is no question that water pricing and public-private partnership can improve water management practices in the future. However, this concept is neither the cure-all many proponents argue, nor the disaster its opponents forecast. Providing a comprehensive and objective assessment of what does and does not work, where, why and under what circumstances, this informative collection assesses the social, economic, equity and institutional implications. This cohesive set of carefully selected essays, the result of The Third World Centre for Water Management and the Inter-American Development Bank's decision to objectively and critically assess the experiences in these areas, transcends the current dogmatic debate on these complex issues. Providing an in-depth analysis and assessment of the main issues and constraints of water pricing, private sector participation and their affect on water supply, the collection draws on illustrative case studies from Argentina, Brazil, the USA and Western European countries amongst others. This is a special issue of the Journal of Water Resource Development.

Transboundary rivers and lakes are often the remaining new sources of water that can be developed for human uses. These water sources were not used in the past because of the many complexities involved. Written and edited by the world 's leading water and legal experts, this unique and authoritative book analyses the magnitudes of the transboundary water problems in different parts of the world. It also examines difficulties and constraints faced to resolve these problems.

There is no question that water pricing and public-private partnership can improve water management practices in the future. However, this concept is neither the cure-all many proponents argue, nor the disaster its opponents forecast. Providing a comprehensive and objective assessment of what does and does not work, where, why and under what circumstances, this informative collection assesses the social, economic, equity and institutional implications. This cohesive set of carefully selected essays, the result of The Third World Centre for Water Management and the Inter-American Development Bank's decision to objectively and critically assess the experiences in these areas, transcends the current dogmatic debate on these complex issues. Providing an in-depth analysis and assessment of the main issues and constraints of water pricing, private sector participation and their affect on water supply, the collection draws on illustrative case studies from Argentina, Brazil, the USA and Western European countries amongst others. This is a special issue of the Journal of Water Resource Development.

The book is the first pioneering study to assess the impacts of the megaconferences on water policies, programmes and projects at global, regional and national levels. The results are bleak. The evaluation indicated that except for the UN Water Conference, held in Argentina in 1977, the impacts of the subsequent megaconferences have been at best marginal in terms of knowledge generation and synthesis, poverty alleviation, and/or environmental conservation.

This is a global survey and assessment of the structure, evolution, and performance of water institutions administration policies and regulatory practices in regional, national, and international settings. The coverage includes analysis and discussion of the rationale for institutional innovations, based on case study findings; specific suggestions for sustainable institutional design; and recommendations for implementing institutional reforms.

This is a Festschrift in honour of Professor Asit K. Biswas, for his manifold contributions to water resources policy and management and his extensive efforts over six decades to generate, synthetize, apply, and disseminate knowledge at national and global levels. Global Water Resources: Festschrift in Honour of Asit K. Biswas includes invited contributions on global water issues from 23 globally renowned leaders in the public and private sectors, as well as academia, who have made significant contributions to the field of water resources policy, management, development and governance. The vision and expertise of this distinguished group of experts provides a unique focus on unfolding water issues and their bearing on world development This book will be of great value to scholars, students, and policymakers interested in water resource governance, sustainable development, and climate change. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This book focuses on policies and governance on how to build the resilience of cities to droughts and floods in the short-, medium-, and long-term. There are discussions on how cities prepare for, cope with, learn from, manage, and recover from these extreme events. The chapters also consider aspects such as changing paradigms, policy responses under uncertainty, scenario development, institutional responses, adaptive forecasting, governance perspectives, infrastructure development, overall investments, and technological innovation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction are discussed at length. Most of the cities and regions studied are in Asia, however, cities from Oceania, Europe, Africa, and North America are also included. Analyses are not limited to cities but to the basins and regions from which urban populations obtain their resources, and on which their resilience depends. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This is a Festschrift in honour of Professor Asit K. Biswas, for his manifold contributions to water resources policy and management and his extensive efforts over six decades to generate, synthetize, apply, and disseminate knowledge at national and global levels. Global Water Resources: Festschrift in Honour of Asit K. Biswas includes invited contributions on global water issues from 23 globally renowned leaders in the public and private sectors, as well as academia, who have made significant contributions to the field of water resources policy, management, development and governance. The vision and expertise of this distinguished group of experts provides a unique focus on unfolding water issues and their bearing on world development This book will be of great value to scholars, students, and policymakers interested in water resource governance, sustainable development, and climate change. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Singapores journey during the past 45 years is an outstanding example that, in spite of multiple hardships, pragmatic policies, clear visions, long-term planning, forward-looking strategies and political will, as well as a relentless urge to improve, can result in strong foundations for sustainable development. This book describes the journey of Singapores development and the fundamental role that water has had in shaping it. What makes this case so unique is that the quest for self-sufficiency in terms of water availability in a fast-changing urban context has been crucial to the way development policies and agendas have been planned throughout the years. The authors analyse plans, policies, institutions, laws and regulations, water demand and water supply strategies, water quality and water conservation considerations, partnerships and importance of the media. They assess overall how all these issues have evolved in response to the dynamic needs of the city-state. The study of Singapore shows how a dynamic society can address development without losing its focus on the environment. In the city-state, environmental concerns in general, and water concerns in particular, have played a major role in its transformation from a third word to a first world country. How and why this transformation took place is the main focus of this authoritative book.

Singapores journey during the past 45 years is an outstanding example that, in spite of multiple hardships, pragmatic policies, clear visions, long-term planning, forward-looking strategies and political will, as well as a relentless urge to improve, can result in strong foundations for sustainable development. This book describes the journey of Singapores development and the fundamental role that water has had in shaping it. What makes this case so unique is that the quest for self-sufficiency in terms of water availability in a fast-changing urban context has been crucial to the way development policies and agendas have been planned throughout the years. The authors analyse plans, policies, institutions, laws and regulations, water demand and water supply strategies, water quality and water conservation considerations, partnerships and importance of the media. They assess overall how all these issues have evolved in response to the dynamic needs of the city-state. The study of Singapore shows how a dynamic society can address development without losing its focus on the environment. In the city-state, environmental concerns in general, and water concerns in particular, have played a major role in its transformation from a third word to a first world country. How and why this transformation took place is the main focus of this authoritative book.

Asia's 48 countries have an estimated 1.757 billion urban population and 2.4 billion people in rural areas (or approximately 60 per cent of the global population). Divided into central, eastern, southern, south-eastern and western regions, the continent is also extremely heterogeneous in terms of water quality conditions. The policies and management practices vary significantly from one country to another, and even within one country, depending on specific economic, political, social, environmental, legal and institutional factors. In order to appreciate the complexities associated with water quality policy and management, it is important to acknowledge the multiplicity of interrelated and often conflicting events, issues, actors and interests, both within and outside the water sector that impact them. This complexity, alongside institutional inability for systematic and coordinated collaboration, are potent reasons as to why, in the second decade of the 21st century, formulation and implementation of efficient water quality management policies benefitting humankind and the environment have still not been achieved. The book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Efficient and equitable water, wastewater and stormwater management for the megacities is becoming an increasingly complex task. The special issue will focus on water management in its totality for megacities, including their technical, social, economic, legal, institutional and environmental dimensions through a series of specially invited case studies from different megacities of the world. At present, around one out of two of the earth's 6.3 billion people live in urban areas. Each year, the world population grows by around 80 millions. Practically all of this growth is urban, primarily due to migration. World's urban population is expected to reach 5 billion by 2030, which is nearly 2/3rd more than in 2000, and would mean that 60% of world's population will live in urban areas. The case studies analysed include some of the most interesting and challenging megacities of this planet, Dhaka, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Riyadh and Sao Paulo. They assess different aspects of how water is intermingled in the overall development milleau. The book considers the magnitudes, nature and extent of the present and future challenges and how these could be meet in socially acceptable and cost-effective ways. The contributors are all acknowledged water experts from different parts of the world. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

It is now widely accepted that the world is likely to face a major water crisis unless the present management practices are improved very significantly. Promoted extensively by donors and international institutions over the past 15 years, integrated water resources management (IWRM) has been assumed explicitly to be "the" solution for managing the limited water resources of the world. Hundreds of millions of dollars have now been spent in promoting IWRM in developing countries. However, no serious and objective analysis has ever been undertaken as to whether IWRM has made water management more efficient and equitable in any region of the world than otherwise may have been the case. This pioneering analysis indicates that IWRM has not only been unsuccessful in Latin America, but also is highly unlikely to succeed in the future. The reasons and constraints for this failure are outlined.

This book previously appeared as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This book focuses on policies and governance on how to build the resilience of cities to droughts and floods in the short-, medium-, and long-term. There are discussions on how cities prepare for, cope with, learn from, manage, and recover from these extreme events. The chapters also consider aspects such as changing paradigms, policy responses under uncertainty, scenario development, institutional responses, adaptive forecasting, governance perspectives, infrastructure development, overall investments, and technological innovation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction are discussed at length. Most of the cities and regions studied are in Asia, however, cities from Oceania, Europe, Africa, and North America are also included. Analyses are not limited to cities but to the basins and regions from which urban populations obtain their resources, and on which their resilience depends. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This book highlights the role that both infrastructure and governance play in the context of resilience and adaptation to climate variability and change. Eleven case studies analyze in-depth impacts of extreme events in projects, basins and regions in the Arid Americas (Unites States and Mexico), Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Nepal, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey and South Africa. They discuss the importance of infrastructure (mainly reservoirs) in adaptation strategies, how planning and management aspects should improve in response to changing climatic, economic, social and environmental situations and what the management, institutional and financial challenges would be for their implementation. Governance aspects (policies, institutions and decision making) and technical and knowledge limitations are a substantial part of the analyses. The case studies argue that reservoirs are essential to build resilience contributing to adaptation to climate variability and change. However, that for them to be effective, they need to be planned and managed within a governance framework that considers long-term perspectives and multi-sector and multi-level actor needs and perspectives.

Efficient and equitable water, wastewater and stormwater management for the megacities is becoming an increasingly complex task. The special issue will focus on water management in its totality for megacities, including their technical, social, economic, legal, institutional and environmental dimensions through a series of specially invited case studies from different megacities of the world. At present, around one out of two of the earth's 6.3 billion people live in urban areas. Each year, the world population grows by around 80 millions. Practically all of this growth is urban, primarily due to migration. World's urban population is expected to reach 5 billion by 2030, which is nearly 2/3rd more than in 2000, and would mean that 60% of world's population will live in urban areas. The case studies analysed include some of the most interesting and challenging megacities of this planet, Dhaka, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Riyadh and Sao Paulo. They assess different aspects of how water is intermingled in the overall development milleau. The special issue will considers the magnitudes, nature and extent of the present and future challenges and how these could be meet in socially acceptable and cost-effective ways. The contributors are all acknowledged water experts from different parts of the world. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resource s Development.