Public-private partnerships: spreading the three Rs

The privatization of government services is a complex, long-term endeavor with significant contractual, financial, operational and political considerations. This article addresses the very different perspectives of government and business toward privatization and identifies areas for negotiation based on examples in the water, solid waste, housing, energy and telecommunications sectors. The article also addresses the fundamentals of privatization—risks, responsibilities and rewards—and the ways in which business and government assess and allocate (or spread) these elements. The article then stresses that each entity must move beyond these basic assessments to better appreciate the legitimate perspectives of their counterparts at the negotiating table. Only then may a critical blending of goals and expectations begin to emerge and form the foundation for a successful privatization programme.     

Privatization and Europeanization: The Changing Context of Water Supply in Britain and France

This paper examines changes in the provision of water services, and in particular drinking water supply, in two Member States of the European Union, Britain England and Wales and France, by considering the impact of the twin processes of water service privatization and the Europeanization of environmental regulatory regimes. The paper demonstrates that in two nations with very different water service traditions, the articulation of these processes has led to profound shifts not only in management style but also in the perception of drinking water supply as a service to consumers. The British and French models are compared as are their responses to these twin processes. It is argued that while the British model has proved more responsive to the exigencies of European Union environmentalstandards,this has been at the expense of public confidence. In France, the existence of a well established traditional management style is, potentially, under greater long term threat from the growth of private water companies and the increasing importance of European legislation.     

The small-scale water provider in Paraguay: bringing private sector efficiency to water resource use and the provision of drinking water to the poor

This article provides a case study of small-scale private sector provision of water supply in Paraguay, where the Government has sought sector policy reforms that would encourage private investment in drinking water supply. Ironically, while the Government has focused almost entirely on garnering the interest of large private international water companies, much smaller local firms have already made significant investments in drinking water services for the poor, all without any participation or encouragement from the Government. Outside Paraguay's two major cities, Asunción and Ciudad del Este, large numbers of aguateros currently provide piped potable water to lower-income people. Though the aguateros have little legal footing — they are in many respects informal and unregulated —they have constructed as much as one third of all the new drinking water connections in these two cities over the past 20 years. The small-scale water systems in Paraguay offer a model of financial, economic, and water-use efficiency. This article asserts that an abundance of groundwater resources, cheap access to electricity for pumping, and a spirit of informal investment, among other variables, has spawned widespread use of this approach. This article documents and analyzes the features of these independent small-scale water providers in Paraguay and the efficiency they bring to the use of water resources in meeting drinking water demands among the poor. It also cautions against policies that may trample on such entrepreneurial spirit in the name of State-managed privatization.     

Privatizing the minerals sector

The end of the Cold War presents new challenges for the dynamics associated with mineral resources development. Broader approaches are needed to help mineral rich developing countries develop their minerals sector. These countries need to embark upon programmes of policy reform and privatization in order to make their mineral resources industries more efficient and responsive to free market forces (such as supply and demand and price), and to turn mineral sector decision making over to the private sector. This article examines the use of policy reform and privatization strategies to increase mineral resource production in developing countries, thereby contributing to both developing country economic growth and developed country access to mineral supplies .     

Constructing a Strategic, National Resource: European Policies and the Up-Scaling of Water Services in the Algarve, Portugal

Water management has been significantly reshaped throughout recent decades in Europe and worldwide. Vivid examples of this restructuring include Southern European coastal zones which have been transformed into the European “pleasure periphery” over the last 40 years, requiring significant changes in water service provision. Taking it as an illustrative case of the Southern European coastal freshwater crisis and the way different European Member States have dealt with it, the article provides an account of the Algarve, indicative of typical Portuguese dynamics, and compares it with developments in other European countries. Expanding demands on water services in this region led to a crisis situation throughout the nineties, which was resolved by shifting physical infrastructures and competencies to the supra-local level. The re-scaling of water management was instrumental to expanding national control over the sector at the expense of local authorities and privatization. The national level used European funds and regulations to re-configure the institutional and infrastructure set-up in order to provide for tourism and agricultural expansion. Quality tourism was constructed as a decentral, hegemonic state spatial project, with the Algarvian’s entire water resource base being put at its disposal. The solution found illustrates a modified version of the supply side and surface water oriented “hydraulic paradigm” in Portugal: geared towards tourism and urban areas and the maintenance of irrigation agriculture. Delays in infrastructures, ideological preferences, maintaining national control over strategic water services and territoriality contributed towards the construction of water services as part of this hegemonic state spatial strategy for tourism expansion.     

Institutional reform in the Andean irrigation sector: Enabling policies for strengthening local rights and water management

For centuries, local and indigenous water rights and rules in the Andean region have been largely neglected and discriminated against. The process of undermining local communities’ water access and control rights continues up to today and not only is it headed by powerful local, national and international water‐use actors encroaching local rights — it is also a direct consequence of vertical State law and intervention practices, and the latest privatization policies. Recognition of and security for the diverse and dynamic local rights and management frameworks is crucial for improving rural livelihoods and even national food security in Andean countries. At the request of the Government of Ecuador — in which at that time the indigenous movement had its political participation — a research mission was organized to formulate a proposal for institutional reform, aiming at the strengthening of the national irrigation sector. In this article, some basic mission results are outlined and analyzed within the scope of four concepts (institutional viability, political democracy, equity, and water rights security), and practical elements for institutional reform are suggested, not only for the Ecuadorian irrigation sector but also other settings. The complementary roles of central Government, local governments and water user organizations in water resources management are emphasized as is the need to strengthen enabling legal and policy frameworks. The importance of translating constitutional recognition of local and indigenous rights and common property systems into practical procedures and institutional structures is also stressed.     

Alternatives for private participation in the provision of water services

Recent years have seen a region-wide movement throughout Latin America and the Caribbean toward wider private participation in the provision of infrastructure, as well as in other public services. This paper discusses the possible benefits from the privatization of water services and illustrates the range of alternatives available for private participation in their provision. These alternatives are analyzed and their possible application in Latin America and the Caribbean is assessed on the basis of examples from the region and other parts of the world. However, the paper does not discuss, in any detail, the theoretical justifications for the movement back to a market system in the provision of public services.     

Public Versus Private: Does It Matter for Water Conservation? Insights from California

This article asks three connected questions: First, does the public view private and public utilities differently, and if so, does this affect attitudes to conservation? Second, do public and private utilities differ in their approaches to conservation? Finally, do differences in the approaches of the utilities, if any, relate to differences in public attitudes? We survey public attitudes in California toward (hypothetical but plausible) voluntary and mandated water conservation, as well as to price increases, during a recent period of shortage. We do this by interviewing households in three pairs of adjacent public and private utilities. We also survey managers of public and private urban water utilities to see if they differ in their approaches to conservation and to their customers. On the user side we do not find pronounced differences, though a minority of customers in all private companies would be more willing to conserve or pay higher prices under a public operator. No respondent in public utility said the reverse. Negative attitudes toward private operators were most pronounced in the pair marked by a controversial recent privatization and a price hike. Nonetheless, we find that California’s history of recurrent droughts and the visible role of the state in water supply and drought management undermine the distinction between public and private. Private utilities themselves work to underplay the distinction by stressing the collective ownership of the water source and the collective value of conservation. Overall, California’s public utilities appear more proactive and target-oriented in asking their customers to conserve than their private counterparts and the state continues to be important in legitimating and guiding conservation behavior, whether the utility is in public hands or private.     

Mathematical modelling and experimental validation of solar drying of mushrooms

This article presents two mathematical models for drying mushrooms considering the shrinkage effect. Both the models consider the physical changes of mushrooms during drying using the diffusion equation. A convective term is presented in the first model while, in the second model, the effective diffusion co-efficient is employed. Although the diffusion co-efficient is mainly dependent on the water content of the mushrooms, both models are suitable for analyzing the drying process. Moreover, in this study it has been demonstrated that both models are equivalent. The Genetic Algorithmic process was used to estimate the parameter values in different conditions. The information regarding the moisture content and the thickness evaluation taken from the models shows the best fit with the experimental data. The mathematical models developed to simulate the drying curve of mushroom have been evaluated and compared.     

DEVOLUTION OF BUREAU OF RECLAMATION CONSTRUCTED WATER FACILITIES1

ABSTRACT: Recent years have seen an accelerating trend toward devolution and privatization of water supply and distribution infrastructure. This paper discusses and analyzes the experience to date of the federal Bureau of Reclamation's efforts to title transfer to non federal entities. The paper also discusses the concepts of federalism and devolution in the context of Reclamation's title transfer activities.     

A Conflict-Resolution Model for the Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater Resources that Considers Water-Quality Issues: A Case Study

The conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources is one alternative for optimal use of available water resources in arid and semiarid regions. The optimization models proposed for conjunctive water allocation are often complicated, nonlinear, and computationally intensive, especially when different stakeholders are involved that have conflicting interests. In this article, a new conflict-resolution methodology developed for the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources using Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and Young Conflict-Resolution Theory (YCRT) is presented. The proposed model is applied to the Tehran aquifer in the Tehran metropolitan area of Iran. Stakeholders in the study area have conflicting interests related to water supply with acceptable quality, pumping costs, groundwater quality, and groundwater table fluctuations. In the proposed methodology, MODFLOW and MT3D groundwater quantity and quality simulation models are linked with the NSGA-II optimization model to develop Pareto fronts among the objectives. The best solutions on the Pareto fronts are then selected using YCRT. The results of the proposed model show the significance of applying an integrated conflict-resolution approach to conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources in the study area.     

The evolving structure of the European mining industry

A major restructuring of the mining industry has been going on since the early 1980s. Using 11 important minerals this paper analyses the changing pattern of control in the mining industry for European based mining companies. In general, European mining companies have increased their control over mineral production worldwide while North American based companies have shown a decline in control of production. Production of European state-owned mining companies has declined as a result of privatization.     

Private Sector Participation in Urban Water and Sanitation Provision in Ghana: Experiences from the Tamale Metropolitan Area (TMA)

African governments, like most countries in the developing world, face daunting tasks in their attempts to provide effective and equitable water and sanitation services for their ever increasing urban populations. Consequently, the past few years have witnessed increased private sector participation in urban water and sanitation provision, as many African governments strive to improve access to water and sanitation services for their citizens in line with Millennium Development Goal 7 (MDG7). Since the early 1990s, the government of Ghana and many local authorities have entered into various forms of public-private partnerships in urban water and sanitation provision. This article examines the outcome of such partnerships using the Tamale Metropolitan Area (TMA) as a case study with the aim of providing policy guidelines for the way forward. The article argues that the public-private arrangement for water supply and sanitation infrastructure management in the Tamale Metropolis has done nothing that an invigorated public sector could not have possibly achieved. It concludes that there can be no sustainable improvement in water and sanitation provision without political commitment, stakeholder ownership, and strong support for community driven initiatives.     

WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF TUBEWELL IRRIGATION IN BANGLADESH1

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates and estimates the welfare loss due to monopoly in tubewell irrigation water market in Bangladesh. In this context, an attempt has been made to evaluate the efficacy of the landless irrigation groups. Using cross-sectional data and regression analysis, cost and demand functions for irrigation water are estimated. The study demonstrates the relatively superior performance of the landless groups in terms of economic efficiency in shallow tubewell irrigation operation, in comparison to irrigation operation by the landowners.     

MEASURING INTANGIBLE BENEFITS -SOME NEEDED RESEARCH1

ABSTRACT. Society has long sought to maximize the welfare of its members by allocating its limited resources so as to provide maximum satisfaction. As long as all of the values that society gains or loses are measured in the market place in terms of price, the process of maximizing through economic models is relatively straightforward. In fact, however, the total value that society receives from the use of its resources is not completely measured through the private market transactions. There are some values created which are external to the market system. The resulting underinvestment in natural resources by the private sector necessitates the entry of the public sector. The presence of intangible benefits and intangible costs has long been recognized, but completely satisfactory methods for including these in the quantitative analysis of benefit-cost have not been developed. Some progress has been made in including recreational values in project analysis via the expenditures method, the Gross National Product method, consumer surplus method, cost method, market value method, and monopoly and discriminating monopoly methods, but little has been done in the area of aesthetic values. Techniques for including such values in project evaluation need to be further researched. Tradeoff models developed by market researchers, the advertising industry, social psychologists and sociologists may have some applicability. Methodology for including proposed multiple objective functions in project analysis is also a critical need.     

EMERGING STATE ROLES IN URBAN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: The technology of urban stormwater management has far outpaced its actual application in new urban development. This article documents that implementation gap, but shows that state and local governmental measures, particularly storm drainage regulations, can lead to improved performance in the private sector. Although state stormwater management programs are in their infancy, they are already having a measurable effect in stimulating the adoption of local governmental programs to manage urban storm water. Pioneering state programs in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, described in this article, provide models for states contemplating the formulation of stormwater management programs.     

Public-Private Partnerships in China’s Urban Water Sector

During the past decades, the traditional state monopoly in urban water management has been debated heavily, resulting in different forms and degrees of private sector involvement across the globe. Since the 1990s, China has also started experiments with new modes of urban water service management and governance in which the private sector is involved. It is premature to conclude whether the various forms of private sector involvement will successfully overcome the major problems (capital shortage, inefficient operation, and service quality) in China’s water sector. But at the same time, private sector involvement in water provisioning and waste water treatments seems to have become mainstream in transitional China.     

RECYCLING INPUT DATA DURING ANALYTIC ELEMENT MODELING NEAR INDIANAPOLIS,INDIANA1

ABSTRACT: Overlapping and adjacent ground water investigations are common in areas where aquifers are threatened by industrial development. In the Indianapolis area in Marion County, Indiana, a patchwork of ground water flow models have been used during the past 20 years to evaluate ground water resources and to determine the effects of local contamination. In every case these ground water models were constructed from scratch. Site specific finite difference grids or finite element meshes inhibit the direct reuse of input data when the area of interest shifts. Because the aquifer is not discretized into a grid or mesh with analytic element models, there are unique opportunities for direct reuse of model input data. In two applications of this principle we illustrate how the newly emerging analytic element method allows a fairly straightforward reuse of model input data from previous models in the same general area. In analytic element models of Central Indiana, streams and their tributaries are represented in different resolutions. Input data items of several modeling studies are stored and cataloged on disk in such a manner that they can be selectively retrieved by a data management program PREPRO. In this manner, a new ground water model can be set up quickly with input data which have been previously defined and tested during model calibration.     

The Delphi approach to the mediation of environmental disputes

Environmental disputes, in many countries, have taken on a ritualistic character. Their persistence, even after prolonged analysis and debate, suggests that they result from ideological rather than factual differences. Since no single ideological position holds a monopoly on the truth, effective environmental management would seem to require an integration of views, the problem being how to achieve this. One approach to this problem is illustrated in this article. Two factions in the spruce budworm dispute in New Brunswick, Canada, were engaged in a mediation exercise using the Delphi method. Details of the design and execution of this form of mediation are provided, together with an evaluation of the Delphi's effectiveness in this context.