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This paper addresses the ‘digital imperative’ and how organisations are pressured to digitalise. In comparison to previous studies that often emphasise market pressures to digitalise, this paper focuses on institutional pressures exerted on organisations that lack competitive pressures. By drawing upon institutional theory, which considers the social embeddedness of organisations, it acknowledges that social expectations and approval can shape the way organisations respond to technological change. Based on a study of digitalisation within the water sector, where the perceived benefits of digital technologies are advocated under the label of ‘digital water’, it shows that there are isomorphic processes in place through which the idea of digital water is legitimised. Hence, water utilities are under institutional pressures to digitalise which, in turn, can influence how they respond to digitalisation., QC 20240125

This research examines the resilience of the water sector after a societal collapse, defined by a significant loss of societal complexity. Through Exploratory Modeling and Analysis, this research evaluates how interconnected infrastructures respond to cascading failures caused by disruptions resulting from a societal collapse. The investigation centers on the interdependencies within the water sector, crucial for its function to abstract, treat, store, and distribute water. The model makes use of disruption curves affecting a network of interdependent components to simulate cascading failures, factoring in variables such as population change and contamination rates. The research makes use of expert interviews and economic Input-Output tables to devise the dependency matrix, finding that accurate representation of dependencies is critical for meaningful results. The model allows for adaptation strategies, specific to the dependencies of a sector, which demonstrates potential improvements in water sector performance and suggests that adaptive methods may be more effective and less costly than redundancies. While the model simplifies complex interactions and cannot fully encapsulate the breadth of societal collapse effects, it sheds light on the importance of dynamic dependencies and offers a framework for future studies. These could include integrating more intricate domain-specific models to refine the responses of sectors to disruptions and reduced input. The findings highlight the significance of adaptation as a means to enhance the water sector's resilience., Engineering and Policy Analysis

To challenge the masculinity of the professional water sector, I take in this paper one of the core questions of feminist technology studies as the starting point: why are there so few expert women in technology? By means of a critical feminist reading of policy and research documents, from the 1950s onwards, focusing on Nepal's history of rural development and technology transfer, I trace the origins of expert women's limited participation in politically relevant processes of water decision making. The analysis reveals that both technology-and-development—and women/gender-and-development policy narratives have validated, and continue to validate, women expert's subordinate position in the Nepali water sector. This is partially so, because donors and national governments insufficiently recognize the racial and sexist assumptions that are historically rooted into these policy narratives.

The ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications has led to their widespread adoption across diverse domains like education, self-driving cars, healthcare, and more. AI is making its way into the industry, beyond research and academia. Concurrently, the water sector is undergoing a digital transformation, driven by challenges such as water demand forecasting, wastewater treatment, asset maintenance and management, and water quality assessment. Water utilities are at different stages in their journey of digital transformation, and its decision-makers, who are non-expert stakeholders in AI applications, must understand the technology to make informed decisions. The non-expert stakeholders should know that while AI has numerous benefits to offer, there are also many challenges related to data, model development, knowledge integration, and ethical concerns that should be considered before implementing it for real-world applications. Civil engineering is a licensed profession where critical decision-making is involved. Failure of critical decisions by civil engineers may put their license at risk, and therefore trust in any decision-support technology is crucial for its acceptance in real-world applications. This research proposes a framework called aiWATERS (Artificial Intelligence for the Water Sector) to facilitate the successful application of AI in the water sector. Based on this framework, we conduct pilot interviews and surveys with various small, medium, and large water utilities to capture their current state of AI implementation and identify the challenges faced by them. The research findings reveal that most of the water utilities are at an early stage of implementing AI as they face concerns regarding the blackbox nature, trustworthiness, and sustainability of AI technology in their system. The aiWATERS framework is intended to help the utilities navigate through these issues in their journey of digital transformation.

This paper investigates the role of government-linked companies (GLCs) in public-private partnerships (PPPs) for urban water supply in China. GLCs are corporations in which the government has significant ownership, control and influence while being registered under the same corporate law as private companies. Separate from local governments that own water utilities, they form contractual relationships with local governments (or water utilities owned by local governments) under PPP arrangements, rendering them more accountable and profit-driven. We analyze an emerging PPP model in China's water sector, where GLCs serve as major investors, and assess their effectiveness and limitations. Our findings indicate that the involvement of GLCs improves water utilities' performance, and the quality of their water supply services, while offering potential advantages such as stronger financial capability, higher political risk resistance capacity, and mitigation of public tension. However, concerns persist about risk-sharing, political interference, and local government control. This research contributes to understanding the evolving landscape of PPPs in China's water sector and the potential implications of GLC involvement for urban water supply systems globally.

Objective: Cybersecurity threats are a growing concern around the world. Research found that the weakest element in the cybersecurity chain is that of the human. The use of security technologies failed to address the problem in instances where employees engage in activities that place themselves and the company at risk. Hence, the role human factors play in cybersecurity is crucial. The present study aims to examine the effects of information security issues awareness, top management support, leadership, information security policy and cybersecurity awareness training on risky cybersecurity behaviour among employees in water sector.   Method: The quantitative method was applied in this study. The data were collected from 425 employees from four water companies located in northern states of Malaysia. The respondents are selected using disproportionate stratified random sampling technique. The survey was conducted using questionnaire. PLS-SEM was used to test the proposed hypotheses.   Results: The results show that security issues awareness and top management support are negatively related to risky cybersecurity behaviour. This suggest that the greater security issues awareness and top management support, lower the tendency to engage in risky cybersecurity behaviour among employees. Contrary to the prediction, cybersecurity awareness training was found to be positively related with risky cybersecurity behaviour.   Conclusions: The findings of the study have several theoretical and practical implications. Security issues awareness and top management support are important factors to avoid threat of cyber-attacks. By ensuring cybersecurity, water security is stored hence the well-being of people is taken care since water is a fundamental need of human lives. The stability and security of the country also can be maintained with secure and sustainable water resiliency. Finally, the economic losses due to cyber-attacks can be reduced.

Most water utilities have to handle a substantial number of customer complaints every year. Traditionally, complaints are handled by skilled staff who know how to identify primary issues, classify complaints, find solutions, and communicate with customers. The effort associated with complaint processing is often great, depending on the number of customers served by a water utility. However, the rise of natural language processing (NLP), enabled by deep learning, and especially the use of deep recurrent and convolutional neural networks, has created new opportunities for comprehending and interpreting text complaints. As such, we aim to investigate the value of the use of NLP for processing customer complaints. Through a case study about the Water Utility Groningen in the Netherlands, we demonstrate that NLP can parse language structures and extract intents and sentiments from customer complaints. As a result, this study represents a critical and fundamental step toward fully automating consumer complaint processing for water utilities., Sanitary Engineering

Most water utilities have to handle a substantial number of customer complaints every year. Traditionally, complaints are handled by skilled staff who know how to identify primary issues, classify complaints, find solutions, and communicate with customers. The effort associated with complaint processing is often great, depending on the number of customers served by a water utility. However, the rise of natural language processing (NLP), enabled by deep learning, and especially the use of deep recurrent and convolutional neural networks, has created new opportunities for comprehending and interpreting text complaints. As such, we aim to investigate the value of the use of NLP for processing customer complaints. Through a case study about the Water Utility Groningen in the Netherlands, we demonstrate that NLP can parse language structures and extract intents and sentiments from customer complaints. As a result, this study represents a critical and fundamental step toward fully automating consumer complaint processing for water utilities., Sanitary Engineering

Non-PR, IFPRI5, DSGD, This working paper takes stock of Pakistan's water resource availability, delineating water supply system and its sources including precipitation and river flows, and the impact of increasing climatic variability on the water supply system. In particular, the paper focuses on the current water usage and requirements in the agricultural sector, and how changing climatic conditions will affect the consumption patterns. With inflows expected to become more variable in the coming years, the severity of climatic extremities will become more pronounced, driving up water demands in addition to the demand increase from a rising population and urbanization. Over extraction of groundwater resources is also disturbing the water calculus and pushing the country towards a critical demand-supply gap.

Climate change and water security have become the most challenging global issues of this era, especially for developing countries like Pakistan. Amid many hindrances, poor governance has been identified as one of the most pressing reasons for ineffective action to tackle multifaceted and integrative climate-water issues in Pakistan. This article, therefore, applied a systematic literature review methodology to examine the current climate-water governance archetype, including key areas, major elements, critical gaps, and potential strategy in Pakistan. This study found that key climate-water governance areas in Pakistan are: river basin and watershed management, agriculture and irrigation management, urban and domestic water issues, floods, droughts and disaster management, groundwater management, and transboundary management. Moreover, it is revealed that the major governance elements are political commitment and leadership, policy formulation and regulation, institutional capacity and coordination, stakeholder engagement, and resource management, technology, and infrastructure development. The article also discusses how Pakistan has not effectively employed most of the identified governance elements to tackle its climate-water problems, lacking mostly in political, policy, institutional, coordination, and infrastructure aspects. In conclusion, a four-dimensional governance strategy, encompassing leadership, policy, institutions, and stakeholders is proposed to improve water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in Pakistan.

The water sector needs to increase its resource efficiency; failure to do so may have negative effects on economic development and growth. Achieving a higher level of innovative capacity within the water sector may govern a country's capacity to meet specific water challenges while becoming still more important for ensuring sustainable economic development. Traditional water technologies are reaching their stagnation point; in a transition to more sustainable technologies, eco-innovation is the core driver. Based on the national innovative capacity (NIC) as an analytical framework, - indicators that govern the innovative capacity of the water sector were tested in a comparative analysis of Europe versus China, representing respectively, an early mover and a late mover in the green economy agenda. Additionally, an analysis of the evolution of the water technological development is provided. The innovative capacity in the water sector was found to be strongly related to the national innovative strategy. Environmental regulations, research and development and international collaboration were all found to be determinants for both Europe's and China's NIC in the water sector. The level of direct investments and private research and development, on the other hand, were found to be a determinant for China only. However, the evolution of the NIC determinants could not provide any insight as to whether China may reach the same level of NIC in the water sector as Europe. This analysis contributes nonetheless to increasing the level of understanding in the field of water innovation dynamics - providing insights - as to why Europe and China present different innovative capacities in the water sector.

Public procurement for innovation (PPI) is a powerful, underutilized demand-side innovation policy instrument. How this instrument can contribute to meeting societal challenges, which require goal-oriented transformation of socio-technical systems, remains unclear and is explored in this article. This article draws on the transitions and PPI literature to propose transformative processes to which PPI can contribute and identifies factors that determine the effectiveness of PPI in meeting societal challenges. The propositions are explored with a case study on the procurement of radically new flood barrier technology, using event history mapping analysis. The article concludes that, under certain conditions, PPI can contribute to the transformative processes of (1) the articulation of societal demands to direct challenge-driven transformation; (2) the development and production; (3) selection; and (4) the diffusion and use of new technologies to meet these societal demands. The article ends with policy recommendations on how PPI can help meet societal challenges.

Given the success of the Private Finance Initiative in the United Kingdom and the large-scale ideological shift to neoliberalism, supporters of public-private partnerships (PPPs) argue that the theoretical benefits of the management approach (innovative financial mechanisms, budgetary relief, increased economic and technical efficiency, and transfer of risk to the private partner) can allow governments in low-income nations to close the infrastructure gap in the water sector. Utilizing a Social Ecological framework, this Master’s Thesis examines these claims by identifying the sources of supply and demand for Water, Sanitation, and Health (WASH) PPPs. Drawing from the World Bank Private Participation in Infrastructure database, the research discovers that the majority of projects are found in middle-income economies, with investment stemming primarily from public – rather than private – partners. The data also reveals that despite being touted as a panacea for development and growth, since the 1990s PPPs are responsible for only 11.12 percent of gained water access. Given the high cost of project cancellation and distress in the water sector (20 percent of total investment), the thesis also explores the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that determine project success. A thorough literature review based on both outcome- and output-based project metrics revealed a total 13 CSFs. The thesis concludes that given the high economic, political, and social requirements of these partnerships, in its present form, the management approach is not an appropriate solution for promoting WASH infrastructural growth in developing economies.

Given the success of the Private Finance Initiative in the United Kingdom and the large-scale ideological shift to neoliberalism, supporters of public-private partnerships (PPPs) argue that the theoretical benefits of the management approach (innovative financial mechanisms, budgetary relief, increased economic and technical efficiency, and transfer of risk to the private partner) can allow governments in low-income nations to close the infrastructure gap in the water sector. Utilizing a Social Ecological framework, this Master’s Thesis examines these claims by identifying the sources of supply and demand for Water, Sanitation, and Health (WASH) PPPs. Drawing from the World Bank Private Participation in Infrastructure database, the research discovers that the majority of projects are found in middle-income economies, with investment stemming primarily from public – rather than private – partners. The data also reveals that despite being touted as a panacea for development and growth, since the 1990s PPPs are responsible for only 11.12 percent of gained water access. Given the high cost of project cancellation and distress in the water sector (20 percent of total investment), the thesis also explores the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that determine project success. A thorough literature review based on both outcome- and output-based project metrics revealed a total 13 CSFs. The thesis concludes that given the high economic, political, and social requirements of these partnerships, in its present form, the management approach is not an appropriate solution for promoting WASH infrastructural growth in developing economies.

The capacity to anticipate and respond to climate change can critically shape vulnerability, influencing whether a country experiences harm from exposure to stresses or is able to cope, adapt and realize sustainable outcomes. This paper presents the results of a study that evaluates capacity in relation to the health and water sectors in Vietnam. The study presents informants’ views on the adequacy of financial resources, understanding of vulnerability and adaptation, training needs, information requirements and levels of cooperation as well as their priorities to address adaptation. The perceptions of respondents on challenges and obstacles faced in developing adaptation strategies are also examined. Training on vulnerability and increasing funds for adaptation were reported as the top priorities, indicating that the inadequacy of human and financial resources is the most significant challenge to effective adaptation in the study context. Difficult and weak cooperation was also widely considered to be a barrier. The paper concludes that there are significant interconnected constraints on adaptive capacity in Vietnam that are further exacerbated by governance issues, such as inadequate cooperation and transparency in sharing information and data. This paper identifies priorities for action to address the challenge of climate change adaptation.

The design of appropriate tools to deal with future stresses requires an understanding of the potential pressures, either opportunities or threats. This report identifies and describes different pressures of critical importance for the water sector, taking into account that global trends often take diverse forms and have dissimilar impacts on a local scale. Chapter 1 introduces the UWCS components and the sustainability approach considered in this context. In Chapter 2 the different pressures affecting UWCS are framed according to the sustainability dimensions: environmental, social and economic. A general description of relevant pressures is presented in terms of context situation, geographic dependency and expected tendencies for the future. Chapter 3 identifies possible future trends on UWCS according to those pressures. Their consideration will allow many countries to undergo considerable changes and to define strategies to solve impending problems and exploit emerging opportunities. Based on the identified trends for the water sector, Chapter 4 presents the prediction of major global change pressures and its impacts on Pilots of TRUST. The two annexes of this report present the principal climatic drivers, in terms of the future projection of weather variables (precipitation and temperature) in the areas of the TRUST pilot cities

The design of appropriate tools to deal with future stresses requires an understanding of the potential pressures, either opportunities or threats. This report identifies and describes different pressures of critical importance for the water sector, taking into account that global trends often take diverse forms and have dissimilar impacts on a local scale. Chapter 1 introduces the UWCS components and the sustainability approach considered in this context. In Chapter 2 the different pressures affecting UWCS are framed according to the sustainability dimensions: environmental, social and economic. A general description of relevant pressures is presented in terms of context situation, geographic dependency and expected tendencies for the future. Chapter 3 identifies possible future trends on UWCS according to those pressures. Their consideration will allow many countries to undergo considerable changes and to define strategies to solve impending problems and exploit emerging opportunities. Based on the identified trends for the water sector, Chapter 4 presents the prediction of major global change pressures and its impacts on Pilots of TRUST. The two annexes of this report present the principal climatic drivers, in terms of the future projection of weather variables (precipitation and temperature) in the areas of the TRUST pilot cities

Does distance matter for collaborative knowledge production? This question has intrigued scholars and policy makers for a long time. Distance does not only have a geographical dimension, but also an organisational, cognitive and social dimension. These dimensions feature prominently in the national and transnational research policies of the past decades. The object of study in this thesis is the water sector. This field has a large strategic relevance, and it is an interesting field for proximity research because of its high organisational and cognitive diversity, and because its challenges are specific to local conditions, but not bound by administrative and cultural borders. The research question of this study is: How is collaborative knowledge production in the water field influenced by geographical, organisational, social and cognitive proximity of the actors involved? This study shows that geographical, organisational and social proximity all three have a positive effect on the propensity of actors to collaborate. Knowledge users turn out to be more susceptible to this effect than knowledge producers. Social and cognitive proximity also have a positive effect on the occurrence of reported outcomes of collaboration. Geographical and organisational proximity have a negative effect on explicit outcomes, but a positive effect on tacit outcomes of collaboration. This study ends with recommendations for research policy to build and strengthen collaborative knowledge production networks., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

This study analyzes the institutional role in the implementation of PPPs in the water sector. The institutional approach in this paper will be focused on the organizational structure and regulation. The purpose of this study is to map the role and institutional problems in the development of water infrastructure and analyze the important steps that can be done to strengthen the institutions in the implementation of PPP in infrastructure clean water. An analytical technique used in this study is a descriptive analysis. The analysis showed that the institutional strengthening both regulations and institutions are absolutely necessary to maximize the role and functions of the institution concerned. The working relationship between institutions that have not been harmonious and well integrated so that there is an overlap of authority in implementing PPP. Institutional strengthening with the increase of personnel resources of the central government and the regional government with capacity building through the understanding of the legal aspects, financial and other technical aspects in the preparation of the PPP contract. From the regulatory side, the PPP law is very comprehensive and experienced improvements to accommodate the dynamics. The central and local government should have the same understanding in the implementation of regulations that provide security and certainty for the private sector to invest in the water sector.

Does distance matter for collaborative knowledge production? This question has intrigued scholars and policy makers for a long time. Distance does not only have a geographical dimension, but also an organisational, cognitive and social dimension. These dimensions feature prominently in the national and transnational research policies of the past decades. The object of study in this thesis is the water sector. This field has a large strategic relevance, and it is an interesting field for proximity research because of its high organisational and cognitive diversity, and because its challenges are specific to local conditions, but not bound by administrative and cultural borders. The research question of this study is: How is collaborative knowledge production in the water field influenced by geographical, organisational, social and cognitive proximity of the actors involved? This study shows that geographical, organisational and social proximity all three have a positive effect on the propensity of actors to collaborate. Knowledge users turn out to be more susceptible to this effect than knowledge producers. Social and cognitive proximity also have a positive effect on the occurrence of reported outcomes of collaboration. Geographical and organisational proximity have a negative effect on explicit outcomes, but a positive effect on tacit outcomes of collaboration. This study ends with recommendations for research policy to build and strengthen collaborative knowledge production networks., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Recent years have seen a growth in mobile applications and services in the water sector addressing some of the sector’s governance challenges. The sustainability rate is however low and there is a lack of research on the “real” benefits. Through an in-depth analysis of four cases (interviews and field visits), this article seeks to understand the common benefits and challenges for increased and sustainable use of mobile applications in the provision of water services. The results reveal that the benefits are improved service delivery, new and better data, strengthened consumer voice, and reduced costs. Common challenges include lack of incentives to use the system, user costs, user privacy, absence of basic infrastructure, lack of responsiveness, and limited marketing. It concludes that increased transparency is never an end in itself and that accountability requires willingness, capacity, and the mandate to act on part of the responsible institution.

The decisions people make, and the actions they take, depend on how they conceptualize and experience time. This fundamental and influential factor is seldom acknowledged, little understood, and rarely considered explicitly in planning; be that for the material systems or the knowledge systems in the water sector. The objectives of the research that is described in this thesis were (1) to characterize similarities and differences in the Time Perspectives of people working in the water sector worldwide and (2) to theorize about how this temporal ambiguity influences, and can be used for, water planning and setting research agendas. First an interpretive framework was developed including a model of Time Perspective, which was designed to make clear the most fundamental assumptions about the (relationships between) aspects of an individual’s Time Perspective that influence the decisions they make and the actions they take. This model builds on explicit foundations from Critical Realism and brings together psychological theories of motivation and internal time consciousness. The model formed a framework that was used to develop the Foreseeable Future Multi-measure Method. This new method was designed to characterize relevant aspects of an individual’s Time Perspective in an integrated fashion. It is a structured interview with five successive steps that are sequenced to account for socially acceptable responses and to facilitate triangulation: 1. Describe the goals and events that motivate the interviewee’s decisions and actions 2. Characterize the structure and orientation of the interviewee’s concept of time 3. Measure the temporal extension of the interviewee’s motivational objects 4. Triangulate the indirect measures with direct questions by completion of sentences 5. Triangulate the preceding measures with an inventory for typifying orientation The Foreseeable Future Multi-measure Method was used to interview 309 managers, practical workers, and scientists in the N, Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The decisions people make, and the actions they take, depend on how they conceptualize and experience time. This fundamental and influential factor is seldom acknowledged, little understood, and rarely considered explicitly in planning; be that for the material systems or the knowledge systems in the water sector. The objectives of the research that is described in this thesis were (1) to characterize similarities and differences in the Time Perspectives of people working in the water sector worldwide and (2) to theorize about how this temporal ambiguity influences, and can be used for, water planning and setting research agendas. First an interpretive framework was developed including a model of Time Perspective, which was designed to make clear the most fundamental assumptions about the (relationships between) aspects of an individual’s Time Perspective that influence the decisions they make and the actions they take. This model builds on explicit foundations from Critical Realism and brings together psychological theories of motivation and internal time consciousness. The model formed a framework that was used to develop the Foreseeable Future Multi-measure Method. This new method was designed to characterize relevant aspects of an individual’s Time Perspective in an integrated fashion. It is a structured interview with five successive steps that are sequenced to account for socially acceptable responses and to facilitate triangulation: 1. Describe the goals and events that motivate the interviewee’s decisions and actions 2. Characterize the structure and orientation of the interviewee’s concept of time 3. Measure the temporal extension of the interviewee’s motivational objects 4. Triangulate the indirect measures with direct questions by completion of sentences 5. Triangulate the preceding measures with an inventory for typifying orientation The Foreseeable Future Multi-measure Method was used to interview 309 managers, practical workers, and scientists in the N, Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

International cooperation for reaching development goals has expanded gradually since the 1950s. The effectiveness of the Overseas Development Aid (ODA) has become a topic of great public interest. A growing body of experience exists to demonstrate that finance alone is not sufficient for development, and capacity and knowledge are increasingly seen as the constraints to proper decision making, adsorption of funds, and effective results on the ground. This book presents the investigation into the role of Knowledge and Capacity Development (KCD) in public water management in Indonesia and the Netherlands. The two cases indicate that the institutional environment matters for the type of knowledge and capacities that are allowed and also determines the formal organisational structure and KCD mechanisms in use. They further show the importance yet the low valuation of tacit knowledge, while the Indonesian case also shows that tacit knowledge is the most important asset gained from international post-graduate education. The conceptual model introduced in this book has provided a measure of knowledge and capacity at three nested levels: the institutional, organisational and individual level. It provides insight in the numerous contextual factors that influence knowledge and capacity and KCD mechanisms present., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

International cooperation for reaching development goals has expanded gradually since the 1950s. The effectiveness of the Overseas Development Aid (ODA) has become a topic of great public interest. A growing body of experience exists to demonstrate that finance alone is not sufficient for development, and capacity and knowledge are increasingly seen as the constraints to proper decision making, adsorption of funds, and effective results on the ground. This book presents the investigation into the role of Knowledge and Capacity Development (KCD) in public water management in Indonesia and the Netherlands. The two cases indicate that the institutional environment matters for the type of knowledge and capacities that are allowed and also determines the formal organisational structure and KCD mechanisms in use. They further show the importance yet the low valuation of tacit knowledge, while the Indonesian case also shows that tacit knowledge is the most important asset gained from international post-graduate education. The conceptual model introduced in this book has provided a measure of knowledge and capacity at three nested levels: the institutional, organisational and individual level. It provides insight in the numerous contextual factors that influence knowledge and capacity and KCD mechanisms present., Water Management, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Local governments are increasingly entering into partnerships with the private sector in the “externalization” of public service delivery. While the financial and non-financial interests of the partners involved may appear to be in opposition and potentially un-reconcilable, this is not always the case, especially where governance arrangements exist to align and balance the requirements of financial and non-financial performance. Such arrangements are analysed here with reference to Estonia’s largest water company with mixed public-private ownership. It has a business-like management that facilitates a combination of good non-financial performance (quality and affordability) and considerable financial performance (profitability.

This thesis analyses the policy assertions of National Competition Policy (NCP) in relation to the actual outcomes in the following key sectors of the Australian economy: Dairy, retail and water. Reference is also made to the relationship between NCP and outsourcing. The research was driven by an awareness of a gap between policy claims and the actual transformations, which have never been assessed by government, despite the substantial nature of the changes ushered in by NCP. In this respect, the thesis reflects a characteristic of Australian political processes since the mid -1980s where neoliberal policy change is also not assessed in terms of outcomes. The thesis contends that in this regard the public interest reflecting the needs of society (families/communities) has not been properly applied. This analysis is theoretically informed by a political economy approach, which gives due weight to the relationship between the economic sphere and society. The Dairy Case Study examines the impacts of the forced removal of the Statutory Marketing Authorities due to NCP and the impacts of increased corporate market dominance of the major retailers over dairy producers (family farms), dairy manufacturers and consumers. The Retail Case Study analyses the role of the large retail companies in pressurizing the state to deregulate the retail market and considers the impacts of NCP on retail suppliers, manufacturers, corporate and independent retailers and consumers and critiques the lack of adequate assessment of the impacts of NCP., The Water Case Study shows how and why the NCP Water 'Agreement' was made prior to the main NCP 'Agreement' and investigates the outcomes, the impacts of climate change and inadequate data that was available on Australia’s water use and water availability prior during the major push for water privatisation/water trading. This analysis of NCP policy prescriptions and their impacts uncovers the shallowness of claimed social gains. In so doing, the thesis makes a modest contribution to de-legitimating the neoliberal project., Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2013

With the rise of principles for water management in the 1990’s such as concepts as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM), many countries have come to review their water policy and sectors. But how does one start in the assessment of a water sector with so many different variables and differences between countries? The objective of this paper is twofold. On the one hand it aims to highlight five different approaches and methods that are commonly used in the assessment of water sectors. On the other hand it aims demonstrate how these methods differ in terms of institutional levels. It is critical to understand that water sectors constitute of different institutional layers that are interconnected and all have different levels of focus where different types of water management decisions are made. Ignoring the existence and relations between these layers would be a critical mistake; without a holistic assessment of a water sector the true factors that influence its performance may never be found., Multi Actor Systems, Technology, Policy and Management

With the rise of principles for water management in the 1990’s such as concepts as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM), many countries have come to review their water policy and sectors. But how does one start in the assessment of a water sector with so many different variables and differences between countries? The objective of this paper is twofold. On the one hand it aims to highlight five different approaches and methods that are commonly used in the assessment of water sectors. On the other hand it aims demonstrate how these methods differ in terms of institutional levels. It is critical to understand that water sectors constitute of different institutional layers that are interconnected and all have different levels of focus where different types of water management decisions are made. Ignoring the existence and relations between these layers would be a critical mistake; without a holistic assessment of a water sector the true factors that influence its performance may never be found., Multi Actor Systems, Technology, Policy and Management

In this research an attempt was made to map the Indonesian water policy network through Social Network Analysis (SNA). Furthermore, the role of the distribution of information and knowledge in this (policy) network with respect to its’ capacity to perform well has been investigated. This research has shown that there are there are some fundamental issues at hand in Indonesian water management that cause systematic underperformance of the sector as whole. Although sector reformation has introduced several principles of integrated water resources management into the Indonesian water sector, positive results in terms of water policy and solutions remain unseen because they are limited by ineffective policy processes and water policy network in transition., Policy Analysis, Multi Actor Systems, Technology, Policy and Management

A notable feature of South Africa’s political landscape between 1994 and 2010 was the high rate of municipal service delivery protests. It is argued in this article that discontent with inferior water and sanitation services played a significant role in the protests. In an effort to comprehend the complex circumstances better, attention is focused on the evolution of water governance in South Africa after 1994. Water was central to the socio-economic transformation of South Africa to a multiracial democracy. Water was also a prominent theme of public discourse in the country’s politics. The government started operating as the custodian of the country’s water supplies on behalf of the people. Moreover, the symbolic value of water has also been turned into a basic human right, according to the country’s Constitution. It is the right of all the country’s people to have access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. Despite the exceptionally progressive legislation the country, by 2004 , faced considerable water governance problems – primarily at the municipal level. Some of the underlying issues are discussed. Attention is also given to the manner in which plans were implemented to try and stem the tide of local civil discontent

A notable feature of South Africa’s political landscape between 1994 and 2010 was the high rate of municipal service delivery protests. It is argued in this article that discontent with inferior water and sanitation services played a significant role in the protests. In an effort to comprehend the complex circumstances better, attention is focused on the evolution of water governance in South Africa after 1994. Water was central to the socio-economic transformation of South Africa to a multiracial democracy. Water was also a prominent theme of public discourse in the country’s politics. The government started operating as the custodian of the country’s water supplies on behalf of the people. Moreover, the symbolic value of water has also been turned into a basic human right, according to the country’s Constitution. It is the right of all the country’s people to have access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. Despite the exceptionally progressive legislation the country, by 2004 , faced considerable water governance problems – primarily at the municipal level. Some of the underlying issues are discussed. Attention is also given to the manner in which plans were implemented to try and stem the tide of local civil discontent

Many governments in developing countries fail to deliver affordable and sustainable water and sanitation services to their people, particularly the poor. Weak governance, insufficient investments in infrastructure, and inadequate tariff structures are considered to be at the core of poor performing water utilities. Since 2006 the UN Secretary General!s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation is promoting the WOP (Water Operator Partnership) concept as a way to improve worldwide access to water supply and sanitation. The WOP is defined as a structured program of cooperation among water operators, implemented through mutual support based on knowledge transfer on a not for profit basis. Vitens Evides International (VEI), an alliance of two Dutch drinking water companies, is involved in different WOPs in Yemen, Vietnam and Mongolia. Each project has its successes, but also difficulties are experienced during the execution of the partnerships. To support future decision making on participation in new partnerships, VEI attaches importance to research on lessons that can be learned so far from the ongoing partnerships. The main question in this research is: What factors decisively affect the performance of a WOP, (how) can these factors be influenced, and what conclusions are to be drawn given a certain state of these factors when assessing the feasibility of a successful WOP? Two of VEI!s currently executed WOPs (one in Da Nang (Vietnam) and one in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)) were analyzed in order to identify the determinants of a successful WOP. Against the backlight of a theoretical framework provided by the New Institutional Economics (NIE), a qualitative holistic approach to case study research was chosen. By doing so, the case study findings provided the opportunity to – apart from drawing conclusions about the determinants of a successful WOP – reflect on the applicability of the NIE theories on the concept of a WOP. The theories provided by the NIE appeared to be unabl, Economics of Infrastructures, Technology, Policy and Management

Many governments in developing countries fail to deliver affordable and sustainable water and sanitation services to their people, particularly the poor. Weak governance, insufficient investments in infrastructure, and inadequate tariff structures are considered to be at the core of poor performing water utilities. Since 2006 the UN Secretary General!s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation is promoting the WOP (Water Operator Partnership) concept as a way to improve worldwide access to water supply and sanitation. The WOP is defined as a structured program of cooperation among water operators, implemented through mutual support based on knowledge transfer on a not for profit basis. Vitens Evides International (VEI), an alliance of two Dutch drinking water companies, is involved in different WOPs in Yemen, Vietnam and Mongolia. Each project has its successes, but also difficulties are experienced during the execution of the partnerships. To support future decision making on participation in new partnerships, VEI attaches importance to research on lessons that can be learned so far from the ongoing partnerships. The main question in this research is: What factors decisively affect the performance of a WOP, (how) can these factors be influenced, and what conclusions are to be drawn given a certain state of these factors when assessing the feasibility of a successful WOP? Two of VEI!s currently executed WOPs (one in Da Nang (Vietnam) and one in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)) were analyzed in order to identify the determinants of a successful WOP. Against the backlight of a theoretical framework provided by the New Institutional Economics (NIE), a qualitative holistic approach to case study research was chosen. By doing so, the case study findings provided the opportunity to – apart from drawing conclusions about the determinants of a successful WOP – reflect on the applicability of the NIE theories on the concept of a WOP. The theories provided by the NIE appeared to be unabl, Economics of Infrastructures, Technology, Policy and Management

This paper is based upon experiences from security assessments of SCADA-systems, including assessment performed at one of Sweden's larger water facility. The paper highlights findings and examines state-of-the-practice control system models. These models are commonly employed in the water sector and provide an abstract representation of the system architecture. These kinds of models are indeed a powerful tool for the facility owners and other stakeholders that needs to understand the system configuration. However, these abstract representations are seldom aligned with the reality. They are more like a choice of blissful ignorance. This paper is like a "red pill" for your organization since it point out the sometimes painful truth about reality. It takes a closer look on some abstract representations and reveals some cases where they actually makes the world look "nicer" than it is from a security perspective. It looks nicer merely because the deficient abstract representations don't really show system weaknesses that could have critical consequences. The overall consequence is that the operator of a water facility can be deceived to believe that the security level is far better than it is in reality, simply because details of the system are not scrutinized enough in his models., QC 20140923

What is the theory behind Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs)? In this contribution PPPs are defined as private sector involvement, where a public and a private partner share the risks related to the necessary investments. Besides complementarity, the other factors contributing to the success of PPPs will be analysed. Evidence concerning India will be used to assess which factors played a role and to suggest a PPP dialogue in India, which would involve all stakeholders before actually embarking on PPPs for urban infrastructure projects such as drinking water and sanitation. It would help to do projects in such a way that they would also benefit the urban poor.

1.1 billion people are today living without sustainable access to improved water. The debate over the water sector has been dominated by the discussion over whether public or private actors are the most competent to manage it. In this paper the arguments pro and contra the two positions are presented to try to overview the debate and to try to find new ways to approach the question of the people living without clean water. By examining possible alternatives towards the discussion of public and private actors, it might result in some new approaches on how to move closer towards a solution. One alternative is local, small- scale projects which focus on the situation of the targetgroup in most need. I have in this paper tried to find signs of that the debate is changing in a way that would bring positive outcomes for the people living without access to improved water. The debate is changing, both the private as well as the public sector is changing their ways of working and the alternative approach is increasing its influence. Hopefully the debate can move away from the discussion of ideology and acknowledge the strengths of each other to result in possible solutions of the water problems. With the increasing interest and concern for the question of water there is thus an opportunity for a change in the debate that would benefit the ones living without sustainable access to improved water.

1.1 billion people are today living without sustainable access to improved water. The debate over the water sector has been dominated by the discussion over whether public or private actors are the most competent to manage it. In this paper the arguments pro and contra the two positions are presented to try to overview the debate and to try to find new ways to approach the question of the people living without clean water. By examining possible alternatives towards the discussion of public and private actors, it might result in some new approaches on how to move closer towards a solution. One alternative is local, small- scale projects which focus on the situation of the targetgroup in most need. I have in this paper tried to find signs of that the debate is changing in a way that would bring positive outcomes for the people living without access to improved water. The debate is changing, both the private as well as the public sector is changing their ways of working and the alternative approach is increasing its influence. Hopefully the debate can move away from the discussion of ideology and acknowledge the strengths of each other to result in possible solutions of the water problems. With the increasing interest and concern for the question of water there is thus an opportunity for a change in the debate that would benefit the ones living without sustainable access to improved water.

The Dutch drinking water sector experienced two drastic changes over the last 10 years. Firstly, in 1997, the sector association started with a voluntary benchmarking aimed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the sector. Secondly, merger activity arose. This paper develops a tailored nonparametric model to dissect and distinguish the effects on efficiency of these two evolutions. In particular, we adapt Free Disposal Hull (FDH) to estimate robust and conditional non-oriented efficiency estimates. Parametric COLS (Fourier) tests show the robustness of the model with respect to the specification and its variables. We classify the merger economies into scale economies and increased incentives to fight inefficiencies. Although we detect a significant efficiency enhancing effect of benchmarking, we find insignificant merger economies due to the absence of scale economies and the absence of increased incentives to fight inefficiencies.

This study analyses whether urbanization and poverty have any importance for private sector participation (PSP) in the water sector, in developing countries. In the beginning of the 1990’s there was a surge in the interest of the private sector to participate in water and sanitation projects, after a long period of public dominance. There is a large need for investments since much of the population in developing countries does not have access to water and sanitation services and the demand is increasing. At the same time the water sector is prone to inefficiencies resulting from externalities and natural monopoly characteristics, and is therefore often highly regulated. A negative binominal regression model is used for the analysis. The dependent variable is the number of water and sanitation projects with private sector participation in a country. The independent variables are population, GDP/capita, aid, debt, water resources, government effectiveness, degree of urbanization and degree of poverty. The main results are that urbanization is positively significant for PSP in the water sector, while poverty has no significant effect.

This study analyses whether urbanization and poverty have any importance for private sector participation (PSP) in the water sector, in developing countries. In the beginning of the 1990’s there was a surge in the interest of the private sector to participate in water and sanitation projects, after a long period of public dominance. There is a large need for investments since much of the population in developing countries does not have access to water and sanitation services and the demand is increasing. At the same time the water sector is prone to inefficiencies resulting from externalities and natural monopoly characteristics, and is therefore often highly regulated. A negative binominal regression model is used for the analysis. The dependent variable is the number of water and sanitation projects with private sector participation in a country. The independent variables are population, GDP/capita, aid, debt, water resources, government effectiveness, degree of urbanization and degree of poverty. The main results are that urbanization is positively significant for PSP in the water sector, while poverty has no significant effect.

peer-reviewed, he concept of sustainable risk assessment in industrial wastewater treatment is vital to deter mine the causes and consequences of plant failure. The potential wastewater-related risks that could hamper the operation of the entire manufacturing facility are currently inadequately defined and under researched. This work proposes a framework that includes the comparison of literature and experimental data to quantify the impact of the significant process parameters on the critical process outputs. From the business perspective, managing and minimising risks will be possible when the number of impact parameters is low and the relationships between different parameters are clearly understood. The results show that even only the evaluation of technical risks can provide an assessment platform template for other risk types. Also, the structured and statistically analyzed data sets applied might be further used in the design and development of machine learning platforms algorithms to inform sustainable process outcomes adjusted for various geographical locations and human factors which significantly affect the industrial water sector globally.