Policymakers in Arab countries have shifted from solely supply-side solutions for water management to also emphasizing demand-side approaches like conservation. National frameworks have been established in most countries to oversee water resources according to Agenda 21 guidelines. The primary strategy for sustainable water use is protecting current supplies through harvesting rainwater, safeguarding storage, and maintaining traditional systems. Relying solely on desalinated water risks volatility from oil prices. Improving irrigation efficiency in agriculture and reducing high water use crops can optimize groundwater use. Different cost recovery options for water provide varying incentives, with increasing block rates that charge more for higher usage levels being most effective for conservation. However, solutions must be tailored to individual country contexts and ensure afford
Policy Tools to Achieve Urban Water SecurityRobert Brears
TRADITIONALLY, URBAN WATER managers, faced with increasing demand for water alongside varying levels of supplies, have relied on largescale, supply-side infrastructural
projects, such as dams and reservoirs, to meet increased demands for water. This supply-side approach, however, is under increasing pressure from climate change, rapid population and economic growth and even land-use changes impacting the availability of good quality water of sufficient quantities. To enhance urban water security, water managers are turning towards demand-side management.
Policy Tools to Achieve Urban Water SecurityRobert Brears
TRADITIONALLY, URBAN WATER managers, faced with increasing demand for water alongside varying levels of supplies, have relied on largescale, supply-side infrastructural
projects, such as dams and reservoirs, to meet increased demands for water. This supply-side approach, however, is under increasing pressure from climate change, rapid population and economic growth and even land-use changes impacting the availability of good quality water of sufficient quantities. To enhance urban water security, water managers are turning towards demand-side management.
Poyry - Are you ready for the Age of Confluence? - Point of ViewPöyry
Our global ecosystem is evolving. We have entered a new era, characterised by an increasingly complex mesh of interconnections and linkages across the world’s major resource groups: land, biomass, energy, fresh water, chemicals, manpower, and metals and minerals. Another parallel phenomenon is emerging: our digital and
bio-based worlds are also converging. We are living in what we call the ‘Age of Confluence’.
It is time for industries to understand and master the bio-economic implications of these interconnections – or risk facing serious issues, which cut deep into the core of a
sustainable future.
Presented by Olufunke Cofie at the National WASH Action Plan Research and Capacity Building Agenda Setting Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria on February 17-18, 2020.
Natural resource conflicts and community organisations in BangladeshCAPRi
Presented at the CAPRi International Workshop on Collective Action, Property Rights, and Conflict in Natural Resources Management. June 28th to July 1st, 2010, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
http://www.capri.cgiar.org/wks_0610.asp
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Walid SalehOECD Environment
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Walid Saleh, PhD, Chief Technical Advisor and Head of office – Aden, U.N. FAO, Republic of Yemen
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Felipe Or...OECD Environment
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Felipe Ortega, Head of Division of Division Agribusiness and Rural Development, European Investment Bank
Presentation by Gabriela Weber de Moralis from Finance in Motion at the Low Emissions Advantage event on the sidelines of COP23.
More information about the event series: https://bit.ly/AgAdvantage
Presented by IWMI's Ian Makin (Lead Specialist – Revitalizing Irrigation) at the 4th African Regional Conference on Irrigation and Drainage (ARCID), on April 27 in Cairo, Egypt.
Presented as the keynote presentation of the first plenary session (Tools and techniques for improving land and water productivity - I) at the side-event on "Improving Salt and Water Management in the Nile Delta", session 2:
Poyry - Are you ready for the Age of Confluence? - Point of ViewPöyry
Our global ecosystem is evolving. We have entered a new era, characterised by an increasingly complex mesh of interconnections and linkages across the world’s major resource groups: land, biomass, energy, fresh water, chemicals, manpower, and metals and minerals. Another parallel phenomenon is emerging: our digital and
bio-based worlds are also converging. We are living in what we call the ‘Age of Confluence’.
It is time for industries to understand and master the bio-economic implications of these interconnections – or risk facing serious issues, which cut deep into the core of a
sustainable future.
Presented by Olufunke Cofie at the National WASH Action Plan Research and Capacity Building Agenda Setting Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria on February 17-18, 2020.
Natural resource conflicts and community organisations in BangladeshCAPRi
Presented at the CAPRi International Workshop on Collective Action, Property Rights, and Conflict in Natural Resources Management. June 28th to July 1st, 2010, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
http://www.capri.cgiar.org/wks_0610.asp
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Walid SalehOECD Environment
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Walid Saleh, PhD, Chief Technical Advisor and Head of office – Aden, U.N. FAO, Republic of Yemen
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Felipe Or...OECD Environment
Presentation - Seventh Roundtable on Financing Agricultural Water - Felipe Ortega, Head of Division of Division Agribusiness and Rural Development, European Investment Bank
Presentation by Gabriela Weber de Moralis from Finance in Motion at the Low Emissions Advantage event on the sidelines of COP23.
More information about the event series: https://bit.ly/AgAdvantage
Presented by IWMI's Ian Makin (Lead Specialist – Revitalizing Irrigation) at the 4th African Regional Conference on Irrigation and Drainage (ARCID), on April 27 in Cairo, Egypt.
Presented as the keynote presentation of the first plenary session (Tools and techniques for improving land and water productivity - I) at the side-event on "Improving Salt and Water Management in the Nile Delta", session 2:
The drafting process the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to water should resist overly rigid approaches to implementation and target setting which could limit development options for poor countries. Key challenges include realistic targets, carefully considering the local context to address the needs of the poor, and promoting sustainable water resources development in a way that values healthy ecosystems. Read IWMI’s new report here: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Books/PDF/setting_and_achieving_water-related_sustainable_development_goals.pdf
Presentation by Peter G. McCornick & Julie van der Bliek at the Water for Food Conference, Seattle, October 19, 2014.
The project involves finding the intersection between major global economic and social challenges and business’s unique ability to resolve them. It is about creating value – value that endures -- through an interconnected system of stakeholders where business takes the lead
Sustainability and the Cost of Compliance with the Clean Water Act: Implement...Judith Marquez
Stormwater programs have contributed to significant improvement in our nation’s water quality. However, while very important, stormwater programs are also very costly. This paper describes the difficulty in adequately funding the stormwater program in Huntington Beach, CA with general funds. While water and wastewater fees have become the norm, stormwater fees have not, but are being developed in cities nationwide, and should be developed in Huntington Beach. A review and comparison of other cities that have developed dedicated funding determined that it requires a change in policy. Through implementing a utility fee the City of Huntington Beach will be able to acquire necessary funds to adequately fund its stormwater program.
The World Circular Economy Forum presents the world’s best circular economy solutions and gathers together the most recognised experts and decision makers in the field. The event is organised by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. Read more: www.wcef2019.com
1. Water Cost Recover Options
Mohamed Abdel Raouf, Program Manager in Environment Research at the Gulf
Research Centre, UAE
Policy-makers in the Arab World have now shifted from entirely supply solutions to demand
management, highlighting the importance of using a combination of measures to ensure
adequate supplies of water for different sectors.
In most countries, effective national institution frameworks have been set up to meet the
demand for water resources management. All the countries of the region have developed
national water plans keeping within the broad lines of Agenda 21.
The first and foremost strategy for sustainable use of water resources is to protect and
conserve the available resources. This calls for harvesting every drop of water through
rainwater harvesting, protecting the natural and manmade storage reservoirs as well as
groundwater aquifers. Besides developing new systems and technologies, protecting the
traditional systems such as the Aflaj in some countries such as Oman is also imperative.
More importantly, reliance on desalinated water alone could be a risky policy considering the
volatile nature of oil prices and revenues. The sustainable use of groundwater resources
should be a consideration in the overall integrated water resource management policy of each
country.
In the context of the agriculture sector, given the large amount of groundwater used for
irrigation, the emphasis should be put on improving irrigation efficiency through: (i)
expanding the use of modern irrigation systems and automated irrigation scheduling systems
to increase water productivity; (ii) shifting from low value and high water consuming crops/
vegetables grown in open fields to high value vegetables grown in greenhouses; and (iii)
reducing the area of high water consuming crops such as fodder
There are a number of Environmental Management policy Approaches to handle
environmental issues such as water ones, these include:
• Command-And-Control Instruments (CAC):
Prescribed behavior based on legislative and mandatory regulations that “command”
polluters to “control” specific activities. They are implemented through directives from
regulatory authorities (i.e., government).
• Market-based Economic Instruments (MBI):
Instruments that generally operate through establishing prices for environmental services via
a market.
• Persuasive Measure:
Is used alongside the other two approaches to offset environmental market failures by
internalizing environmental awareness and responsibility into individual decision-making.
Policy mix:
Experience has showed that specific environmental problems such as water problems are
usually addressed by employing a “policy mix” consisting of various command and control
instruments (penalties and fines), economic instruments (incentives) and awareness and
educational programs. This policy mix needs to address different water issues; besides a more
active role should be assigned for civil society organizations in water related decision-making
and a greater role should be given to the private sector to invest in water projects.
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2. In this context, the right cost recovery option plays a very important role in water
conservation which varies from city to city and according to economic conditions.
The following table summarizes the different cost recovery options adopted and its
implications.
Cost Recovery Details Implication-
Options
Flat Rate Constant fee Water-wasteful behaviour
Uniform Rate Price per liter No special incentives
Decreasing Volumetric rate that Ease the incentive to save water at
Block Rates decreases fro higher use- higher use-levels
levels
Increasing Block Volumetric rate that Economize water use
Rates increases for higher use-
levels
Seasonal Rates Higher price in peak Regardful water use in peak times
season of water scarcity
It is worth mentioning here that, one of the recent initiatives are the new tariff system was
introduced in March 2008 by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). The rising
tariffs will make people more conscious of using water efficiently as it would encourage
customers who fall into the higher categories of consumption to cut back on use. Under the
Slab Tariff System, residents using up to 2,000 kilowatts of electricity and up to 6,000
gallons of water will pay a charge of 20 fils per kilowatt and 3 fils per gallon of water used.
Those using over 6,001 kilowatts of electricity and more than 12,001 gallons of water will be
charged an additional 33 fils and 4 fils per unit respectively.
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3. One must admit that this is a step on the right direction to send signals to consumers about
the true cost of water. However, the new tariff does not apply to UAE nationals. In fact, it
would be better to offer them a monetary allowance and charge their wasteful water
consumption instead according to the new DEWA tariff. From the environmental point of
view, this is more environment-friendly.
This increasing block rates unlike other policy options tools such as flat rate or decreasing
block rate, are one of the best cost recovery options as it sets volumetric rate that increases
for higher use-levels and thus Economize water use.
It is worth mentioning here to refer to the issue of "water pricing" because, very recently,
many voices are calling on adopting water pricing as the best solution, the author completely
refuse this policy and believe it is a misleading solution and it is an imported idea from
capitalism which tries to market everything in the world. In fact government of developing
world need to guarantee what is called the basic line life which provides the basic needs for
people. In many developing countries, people, do not have anything to pay. So, how come we
ask them to pay for water? It might be accepted to have some sort of cost recovery in Arab
countries as now water infrastructures, systems and monitoring. Beside, there is an urgent
need to send some signals to customers about importance of conservation especially with
high living standards and high consumption patterns in the Arab countries. However, this
varies from country to country depending on various economic, political and social
considerations. As well as at the same country from time to time and depending on the
country’s situation ion the economic ladder.
The appropriate cost recovery in water sector promotes resource conservation by encouraging
efficient use of water and facilitates cost recovery. Water tariffs must conform to a set of
conditions, of which the most important is that they are affordable for all, especially the poor,
that they are acceptable to the population and that they are administratively and
institutionally feasible.
Finally, there is no one solution that fits all. Every country may need to tailor own
management system to fit its specific needs. Policy measures vary from state to state and
from local to national and regional levels of governance. Different actors naturally perceive
different problems and priorities.
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