Water supply development and tariffs in Tanzania: From free water policy towards cost recovery

The article describes the historical development of water tariff policy in Tanzania from the colonial times to present. After gaining independence, the country introduced “free” water policy in its rural areas. Criticism against this policy was expressed already in the 1970s, but it was not until the late 1980s that change became unavoidable. All the while urban water tariffs continued to decline in real terms. In rural and periurban areas of Tanzania consumers often have to pay substantial amounts of money for water to resellers and vendors since the public utilities are unable to provide operative service. Besides, only a part of the water bills are actually collected. Now that the free water supply policy has been officially abandoned, the development of water tariffs and the institutions in general are a great challenge for the country.     

Design of environmentally and socially conscious water metering tariffs for the UK

England is one of the few industrialised countries where water metering is not compulsory. Most households instead pay a fixed charge regardless of use. Yet water consumption is already at the limit of resources and beyond them in some regions. Despite the need to control demand, compulsory water metering has not been implemented largely because of concerns about the regressive impact on poorer households. This research analysed new data from Anglian Water on household water consumption and income to examine the distributional impacts of ten different hypothetical tariff designs. It was found that it was possible to design revenue-neutral metered tariffs that would cause only a small percentage of low-income households to lose and most to gain. With sensitive design, the social concerns about compulsory water metering can be dealt with.     

ANALYSIS OF NEW TECHNIQUES FOR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN WATER PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The growing demands by the public for a more active role in planning have recently generated considerable interest among researchers and planners in the subject of public involvement techniques. Numerous surveys have found that standard public participation techniques (e.g., public hearings) by themselves are considered inadequate. Several techniques that have potential for overcoming some of the limitations of standard public involvement techniques have recently been developed. This paper describes several of these new techniques and analyzes each of them in terms of their potential utility in water resources planning.     

THE ROLE OF ADVISORY BOARDS IN A WATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY1

ABSTRACT: Since Saskatchewan assumed the responsibility for managing the Province's water resources in 1930, the importance of the Province's water resources has been recognized by assigning the responsibility for managing the resource to higher levels in the government structure. With such recognition, there tended to be an overlapping of responsibilities that resulted in undefined areas of jurisdiction and duplication of services. Also, there was no opportunity for direct public participation in the management structure. These deficiencies were recognized, and following a series of public hearings a “Cabinet Committee on Water Concerns” in 1983 concluded that the most appropriate government structure for managing the water resources of Saskatchewan would be a Crown corporation. As a result, in 1984 the Saskatchewan Water Corporation was formed and given the responsibility to manage, administer, develop, control, and protect the water and related land resources in Saskatchewan. An important aspect of this responsibility was that the corporation should initiate a process of public involvement. Thus, six “Regional Watershed Advisory Boards” were established. The Advisory Boards provide the Corporation with a linkage to the general public by providing advice, participating in policy revision and development, and assisting Corporation staff in other related water management activities.     

Managing the intractable: communicative structures for management of hexachlorobenzene and other scheduled wastes

This paper explores issues of governance and decision-making structures associated with the problem of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste at Botany in New South Wales. From a government perspective, the problem is ‘downstream’ of a well-known national controversy over whether Australia should have a high-temperature incinerator (HTI) to ‘dispose’ of such scheduled wastes. The 1992 decision not to proceed with HTI followed an extensive process of public consultation, which, against the expectations of industry and government, saw the emergence of Australia-wide community opposition. Alternative national management plans were formulated for the treatment of several types of organochlorine waste, with the scheme of these plans first approved in 1993 by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). The HCB Management Plan is one of three such plans (the others being for PCBs and organochlorine pesticides). With this, ANZECC established the Scheduled Waste Management Group comprising government officials, and the National Advisory Body (NAB) made up of stakeholders. Officially the NAB had oversight of the HCB problem until 2002 when it was disbanded. As a result of the HTI experience, new community consultation protocols were introduced in association with the alternative management plans. For HCBs, which are confined almost entirely to Orica's Botany site in southeastern Sydney, this led to the establishment of the Community Participation and Review Committee (CPRC), a representative body with review and advisory functions. This paper draws conclusions from this history about government processes of decision making, the role of individual and institutional actors, the central importance of trust, and the democratisation of risk management. Using concepts delineated by McDonell [1991. Toxic waste management in Australia: why did policy reform fail? Environment 33(6), 11–13, 33–39; 1997. Scientific and everyday knowledge: trust and the politics of environmental initiatives. Social Studies of Science 27, 819–863.] we identify swings towards, then away from institutionalised trust. Across two decades, government and industry have placed faith in centrally controlled mechanisms for public participation, hoping to garner trust and legitimate privileged technological solutions. On the ‘backswings’, these processes have seen public trust dissipate in the face of government misunderstanding of the opportunities for effective bureaucratic interventions.     

Sustainable wastewater management for small communities in the Middle East and North Africa

Accelerated expansion of wastewater services to small communities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is essential in order to address serious concerns over water scarcity and pollution in addition to meeting the demand for convenience and protecting public health. Centralized and conventional wastewater systems are currently the preferred choice of planners and decision-makers in MENA. Water and funding are not available to provide these centralized conventional services to small communities. This paper presents an integrated approach to sustainable wastewater management for small communities in MENA under the severe water resources crisis. The approach calls for a paradigm shift from centralized conventional wastewater systems to decentralized wastewater systems. Management of wastewater in MENA should start at home. Wastewater generation should be reduced through a combination of domestic water conservation measures. On-site systems must be improved and monitored to control pollution and to recover water for non-potable water uses. Should the circumstances not allow the use of on-site systems, wastewater should be transported and managed through a community system applying the principles of decentralized wastewater management and using the settled sewers for wastewater transportation where appropriate. This approach will facilitate the accelerated and sustainable extension of environmentally responsible wastewater services to MENA's small communities. It offers great potential for cost reduction, accommodates the necessary domestic water conservation efforts, reduces freshwater inputs in wastewater transportation thus eliminating unnecessary demand on freshwater, reduces associated environmental risks and increases wastewater reuse opportunities.     

Strategic environmental assessment in China: motivations, politics, and effectiveness

This paper examines how strategic environmental assessment has been practiced at the national level in China through 2005 and why it has been practiced in the manner observed. Based on literature reviews and interviews carried out in 2005 and 2006, we find that bureaucratic politics between environmental and nonenvironmental ministries has limited the legislation and implementation of strategic environmental assessment to environmental assessment (EA) for a set of government plans defined in the 2003 Environmental Impact Assessment Law. Interviewees from environmental and nonenvironmental ministries and key research institutes have reported that few planning EAs have been performed at the sectoral level. Nonenvironmental ministries have either evaded the 2003 Environmental Impact Assessment Law and have not undertaken required planning EA or have organized planning EA on their own without participation by the State Environmental Protection Administration. The rising tension between the environmental and nonenvironmental ministries has limited the role of planning EA as a participatory decision-making tool. In addition to bureaucratic politics, we find that weak public participation and underemphasis on social analysis in planning EA may have further compromised the utility of planning EA.     

Changes in water resources administration in Latin America

Traditionally, in most countries of Latin America, the management of water and water based services has been highly centralized in the public sector. Recently, as the role of government has been reconsidered, many services have been transferred to lower levels of government or to the private sector. At the same time, the emphasis given to water projects as basic development tools has given way to the environmental significance of good water management. Consequently, the approach to water resources management has been modified and space created for the adoption of some of the basic precepts enunciated in the Mar del Plata Action Plan and Agenda 21. In particular, in various countries consideration is being given to water management through river basin institutions .     

Deliberation and Scale in Mekong Region Water Governance

Understanding the politics of deliberation, scales, and levels is crucial to understanding the social complexity of water-related governance. Deliberative processes might complement and inform more conventional representational and bureaucratic approaches to planning and decision-making. However, they are also subject to scale and level politics, which can confound institutionalized decision-making. Scale and level contests arise in dialogues and related arenas because different actors privilege particular temporal or spatial scales and levels in their analysis, arguments, and responses. Scale contests might include whether to privilege administrative, hydrological, ecosystem, or economic boundaries. Level contests might include whether to privilege the subdistrict or the province, the tributary watershed or the international river basin, a river or a biogeographic region, and the local or the regional economy. In the Mekong Region there is a recurrent demand for water resources development projects and major policies proposed by governments and investors to be scrutinized in public. Deliberative forms of engagement are potentially very helpful because they encourage supporters and critics to articulate assumptions and reasoning about the different opportunities and risks associated with alternative options, and in doing so, they often traverse and enable higher-quality conversations within and across scales and within and between levels. Six case studies from the Mekong Region are examined. We find evidence that scale and level politics affects the context, process, content, and outcomes of deliberative engagement in a region where public deliberation is still far from being a norm, particularly where there are sensitive and far-reaching choices to be made about water use and energy production.     

炼化污水“零排放”技术现状与发展趋势

在节能降耗、节水减排已成为国策的背景下,炼化污水集中处理达标排放的末端治理已经不能满足炼化行业发展,炼化污水"零排放"的实施将是大势所趋。在实施炼化污水"零排放"过程中,应深化开展水系统优化、技术创新集成等工作,将节能、节水、减排有机结合,突破制约污水"零排放"的技术瓶颈,并将技术成熟化、管理制度化,形成完整的炼化污水"零排放"技术体系,促进我国炼化企业的可持续发展。