Showing papers in "Water Policy in 2012"

TL;DR: Water markets in Australia9s Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) and the western USA are compared in terms of their ability to allocate scarce water resources as mentioned in this paper, finding that the gains from trade in the MDB are worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year (note that all monetary units of dollars in this article are treated as US$ because Australian$ are converted at par).

TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the performance of Portugal and Italy in this sector and identify the impact of the ownership structure on efficiency, and discuss the benchmarking results of their research and draw some policy implications.

TL;DR: In this paper, the determinants of a household's decision to purchase bottled water or invest in a purification system were analyzed based on a survey of 10,000 households, and they found that negative perceptions of tap water quality (health and taste concerns) affect the decision to buy bottled water and home purification, with much greater effect on bottled water consumption.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess the efficiency of the urban water supply system in 27 selected Indian cities and apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) as an analytical tool to measure technical efficiency.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the fundamental individual values that underpin behavior in relation to water use and investigate the typologies of unauthorized water use, its main potential impacts, potential root causes and reflections on imperfect institutions and social norms.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the potential for a local role in environmental water management through the lens of the subsidiarity principle: the notion that effective governance devolves tasks to the lowest level with the political authority and capacity to perform them.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a framework comprising time, space and human values, as well as biophysical processes (e.g., engineering), spatial strategies (i.e., urban design) and adaptive strategies.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the use of benchmarking in general and its application to the drinking water sector and discuss some of the pitfalls of benchmark studies and provide some examples of benchmarked in the water sector.

TL;DR: In this article, the contingent valuation method is applied to estimate the non-market environmental benefits of using reclaimed water to maintain river flow levels in the Segura River Basin in south-eastern Spain.

TL;DR: Cost-benefit analysis can provide decision-makers with a comparison of the impacts of two or more water policy options using methods that are grounded in time-tested economic principles.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors derived basin-wide allocation policies from a hydro-economic model that considers the largest existing and planned hydraulic infrastructure and irrigation schemes in the Zambezi river basin, and showed that the economic value of water varies spatially, driven primarily by large changes in elevation and on the locations of existing or proposed dams.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply a novel approach to investigate trends in water governance regimes, using Bangladesh as an example, by considering both shifts indicated by policy documents and the quality of governance perceived by water user groups.

TL;DR: In this article, the potential for water savings from irrigation efficiency improvements in California, USA is analyzed, and the authors show that water conservation and efficiency improvements are particularly effective in dry years, when agricultural water demand is greater and conflicts over scarce water resources are more severe.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the efficiency of a sample of Spanish urban water systems by considering water leaks in a network as undesirable outputs and discuss the possible relationship between efficiency and tariffs charged to users.

TL;DR: This article identified points of convergence between the great religious traditions in addressing human-nature relations, as well as presenting a critical evaluation of whether these approaches have in fact affected environmental conservation in representative countries.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported the findings of three water point mapping (WPM) studies carried out in three rural districts of Tanzania covering 3,363 water points, which included measurements of basic quality parameters (692 analyses) and characterisation of the year-round continuity of service, in addition to the data collected in standard WPM campaigns.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess direct losses of the affected economic sectors, indirect costs to the rest of the economy and non-market welfare losses caused by environmental damage and household water restrictions.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the results of comprehensive inventories made of water-related conflict and cooperation occurring in five districts in Africa, Asia and Latin America between 1997 and 2007.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that from a normative perspective water should be discussed in the plural term (waters) as they constitute a variety of "things" with a similar chemical composition.

TL;DR: The Water Framework Directive has introduced a new governance approach that offers implementing agencies in EU Member States policy discretion to implement ecological ambitions as discussed by the authors, and the aim of this paper was to gain insight into the way regional actors use this discretion and into the rationale behind their behaviour.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the historical priority given to surface water development, the relative neglect of groundwater management, shortfalls in information about connections between groundwater and surface water, gaps and exemptions in surface water and groundwater use entitlements and rules, coordination problems, and limited stakeholder engagement.

TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors focused on applying system dynamics (SD) methodology to evaluate different water use scenarios and their associated water resource carrying capacity (WRCC) for the North China Plain (NCP).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take forward the IWMI-FAO-ADB (Asian Development Bank) recommendation of a five-pronged approach for revitalizing Asia's irrigation and provide a region-specific road map for doing this.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that adaptation should not be viewed as a separate initiative, but rather as a goal and perspective incorporated into every level of planning and decision-making.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that solving water and food problems is not only a technical challenge but also a problem of fundamental ethical values and political will, and highlight three technological advances (desalination, information technology, and modern groundwater abstraction technology) and one concept (virtual water).

TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of the German Odra river basin and the governance of nutrient pollution whose origins are located all along the river and which specifically impacts coastal zones is presented, where actors most relevant to this management problem, that is, public administrations operating within different administrative boundaries, the agricultural sector and environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

TL;DR: In this article, an analysis framework consisting of three types of governance activities and factors determining a regime's adaptive capacity was developed, based on the theory of transition management and adaptive governance.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the causes beyond budgetary reasons, and have used Kingdon's streams model to structure the policy design and implementation process, and to analyze the co-evolution of politics, policies, and social-ecological context.

TL;DR: Water allocation decisions with enormous values at stake confront humanity as discussed by the authors, and these decisions are confounded because they entail the protection of the global commons for which there is no successful experience to draw on.

TL;DR: In this article, a case study of local level water institutions in Bangalala village in the Makanya catchment, Tanzania is presented, where the authors looked at how they dynamically interact and give rise to interdependencies between water users which facilitate coordination and collective action.