ABSTRACT In 2013 the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘Right2Water’ collected 1.9 million signatures across Europe against water privatization. It became the first ever successful ECI and has built a Europe-wide movement. Right2Water sought for Europe’s legal enforcement of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) as a strategic political tool to challenge European Union market policies. The

ABSTRACT This paper examines the inequity in irrigation distribution in India using a variant of Theil’s entropy measure for the period 1995–2010. The analysis reveals that the level of inequity in irrigation distribution has increased over time. Inequity has declined in canal, tank and well-irrigated systems and increased in the tube well-irrigated system. Decomposition analysis revealed that regional

ABSTRACT Limited water resources are among the main obstacles to development in Palestine. This research investigates farmers’ perceptions and willingness to use treated wastewater (TWW) for irrigation. Despite the availability of large quantities of TWW, just 11% of the interviewed farmers use it in irrigation. Just 24% of them confirmed that they had participated in awareness workshops related to

ABSTRACT This article examines why and how China’s environmental vertical management reform has been carried out and how well it helps to improve the implementation of local policies. By applying the theoretical framework of ‘dynamics, strategy, and capacities’ in Hebei province as a case, the changes in the policy process have been fully revealed. The article concludes that the reform shows the character

ABSTRACT This paper establishes a quantitative model based on the system dynamics (SD) theory to reflect the ‘socioeconomic–water–environment’ coupling system and proposes three future development scenarios. Hubei province, China, is selected to verify this model. The simulation results from 2020 to 2030 demonstrate that the pressures of water supply and demand and pollution under the sustainable development

ABSTRACT The detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during wastewater treatment leads to concerns about whether this process may represent a focal point for the transmission of COVID-19. An epidemiological analysis, based on a COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Cassette, performed on 134 wastewater workers from 59 wastewater treatment plants from the province of Granada

(2021). Dead in the water: a very angry book about our greatest environmental catastrophe … the death of the Murray–Darling Basin. International Journal of Water Resources Development. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT Groundwater governance tends to be concerned with problems of over-extraction and pollution. Groundwater excess, which is increasingly becoming a problem in many places around the world, has largely been ignored. This article discusses groundwater excess and particularly the governance approach for engaging with groundwater excess. By discussing a case study in the Netherlands, we argue that

ABSTRACT This research proposes a model for enhancing the pro-poor water supply and provision of sanitation services in informal urban settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The model was developed from semi-structured interviews, a rigorous literature content analysis of best-practice case studies and application of the Policy Transfer Framework. Development and adoption of a long-term strategy to

ABSTRACT This paper explores the extent to which Malawi’s national water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) sector programmes align with the lived realities of Malawian people through interviews, observations and a review of secondary documents. Significant progress is unquestionably being made, but there are dangers in momentary achievements being romanticized, and under-capacity in shaping cultural practices

ABSTRACT Using a socioenvironmental perspective, this paper analyses strategies of water demand management (WDM) in Arequipa, Peru, and their perception by residents through a survey of six city districts (three in the core and three on the periphery) complemented with interviews with key stakeholders. The results show significant differences in WDM. Strategies to reduce demand through pricing are

ABSTRACT Determining optimum flood protection levels is challenging in data-poor environments typical of developing countries. This study develops a risk-modelling approach to calculate current flood risks for a predominantly agricultural area in the Brahmani–Baitarani river basin in India. A combined hydrological–hydraulic model is developed together with a damage model to analyse the economic efficiency

ABSTRACT Market intermediaries play a crucial role in stitching together necessary actors for effective systems of exchange. However, there is limited understanding of how intermediaries emerge, and contribute to, water market development. This article explains how the China Water Exchange, the country’s first and only national-level water trading platform, was catalysed by a top-down imperative consistent

ABSTRACT The article argues that the recently introduced model for the direct delivery of an energy subsidy to well-irrigators in Indian Punjab aimed at incentivizing them to conserve electricity and groundwater is on a weak conceptual footing. Energy quota based on connected load will only lead to the resource-rich appropriating the subsidy benefits. Reduced use of well water to irrigate paddy will

ABSTRACT Income diversification is an essential livelihood strategy for farmers facing unsustainable groundwater withdrawals. This paper develops a general structural equation model that analyses socio-psychological factors that affect the intentions to adopt and the actual adoption of income diversification in response to groundwater scarcity. The developed model includes affective attitudes, instrumental

(2021). Water as an engine for regional development. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 37, Hydropower-based collaboration in South Asia: Socio-economic development and the electricity trade, pp. 359-361.

(2021). Hydropower as a catalyst for regional cooperation in South Asia. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 37, Hydropower-based collaboration in South Asia: Socio-economic development and the electricity trade, pp. 362-366.

ABSTRACT With rising energy demand in Asia, the high potential for hydropower development and the need for low-carbon energy development, hydropower would seem to have a significant role in South Asia’s energy future. However, the extent of hydropower development will depend on several risk factors, including the cost of alternative energy sources, the environmental sustainability of hydropower and

ABSTRACT Using a policy tracing approach, we analyse the legislating of the Strategic Aboriginal Water Reserve (SAWR) in the Northern Territory, Australia. The SAWR is a share of the consumptive pool allocated to eligible Indigenous landowners in water plan areas, providing water resources for future economic development. Drawing on parliamentary and policy sources to reveal competing interests and

ABSTRACT Spanish authorities have proposed providing external resources to substitute for non-renewable groundwater withdrawals in the south-eastern Murcia Plateau, which would require building new water infrastructure. This article assesses the supply costs and the economic impact of two alternatives, one based on supplying desalinated seawater and the other based on supplying water from the Tagus–Segura

ABSTRACT Excessive groundwater extraction is exacerbated by worsening droughts under climate change. Among agricultural users, well-drilling activity is not evenly distributed. The number, diameter and depth of new agricultural wells were analysed in this study in relation to farm size and land cover class during California’s 2012–16 extreme drought. The results show smaller farms drilled at higher

ABSTRACT Irrigation is promoted as a critical strategy for rural welfare, yet fundamental questions prevail on the linkages between water, equity and inequality. Applying mixed-methods, this study investigates the impact pathways whereby water inequities are associated with socioeconomic inequalities within two Tanzanian smallholder irrigation schemes. According to irrigators’ perceptions, greater

ABSTRACT The South Asia region is one of the most unstable in the world, having experienced multiple wars. In recent years, water disputes have intensified between this region’s countries, including Pakistan and India, as water is intertwined with their security and has been securitized. Indeed, securitization is one of the strategies that has the power of representation of water as a security issue

ABSTRACT This article presents a model that simulates the dynamics of water demand, water supply and the instability of water allocation schemes at the national river basin scale during water scarcity. The Zhanghe River Basin in China is used as a case study to demonstrate the model. The optimum solution, minimizing water allocation instability, allocated most of the river’s water to the downstream

(2021). COVID-19 and clean water, sanitation and wastewater management. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 179-181.

(2021). Special issue on “Global water management under COVID-19 and beyond – Challenges and lessons learned”. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 357-357.

ABSTRACT Political theorists argue that justice for cultural groups must account for socioeconomic distribution, political representation and cultural recognition. Combining this tripartite justice framework with settler colonial theory, we analyse novel data sets relating to Aboriginal peoples’ water experiences in south-eastern Australia. We construe persistent injustices as ‘water colonialism’,

ABSTRACT In Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin, efforts to restore water justice for the environment have focused on environmental flows for natural values of wetlands and floodplains. But there has also been an emergence of collaborative partnerships between environmental water managers and First Nations community organizations to water ‘Country’. The A$180 million Gayini Nimmie-Caira water-saving project

ABSTRACT This article considers how the colonial British government’s appropriation of the Kariba Dam historically excluded the BaTonga people from accessing the dam’s resources. Dispossession and appropriation of the Kariba Dam resulted in the impoverishment of the BaTonga of north-western Zimbabwe. In this study, impoverishment of the BaTonga is understood in relation to their failure to adequately

ABSTRACT Political theorists argue that justice for cultural groups must account for socioeconomic distribution, political representation and cultural recognition. Combining this tripartite justice framework with settler colonial theory, we analyse novel data sets relating to Aboriginal peoples’ water experiences in south-eastern Australia. We construe persistent injustices as ‘water colonialism’,

ABSTRACT In Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin, efforts to restore water justice for the environment have focused on environmental flows for natural values of wetlands and floodplains. But there has also been an emergence of collaborative partnerships between environmental water managers and First Nations community organizations to water ‘Country’. The A$180 million Gayini Nimmie-Caira water-saving project

ABSTRACT This article considers how the colonial British government’s appropriation of the Kariba Dam historically excluded the BaTonga people from accessing the dam’s resources. Dispossession and appropriation of the Kariba Dam resulted in the impoverishment of the BaTonga of north-western Zimbabwe. In this study, impoverishment of the BaTonga is understood in relation to their failure to adequately

(2021). COVID-19 and clean water, sanitation and wastewater management. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 179-181.

(2021). Special issue on “Global water management under COVID-19 and beyond – Challenges and lessons learned”. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 357-357.

ABSTRACT This research uses a multi-criteria analysis tool and field site observation to critically analyse a network of dams across a single watershed in the US Pacific Northwest. The analysis offers a template to better understand some nuances and complexities involved in decision-making leading to relicensing, retrofitting or decommissioning of both powered and non-powered structures. The study

ABSTRACT China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is anticipated to have wide-ranging impacts on the countries of Central Asia. This includes a significant impact to a complex and fragile water resources landscape, and the closely entwined economic, social, environmental and political context. Water resources considerations are currently not explicit in BRI policies or proposals, despite the vast variety

ABSTRACT The Intermunicipal Water Company of Veurne-Ambacht (IWVA) started reusing wastewater effluent for infiltration in its dune water catchment, St-André, in 2002. The treatment train at the Water Production Centre Torreele is based on a multiple-barrier approach with submerged ultrafiltration prior to reverse osmosis. The project improved the ecological values of the dunes. Recently, during longer

ABSTRACT Jordan is extremely water scarce, making careful water resources planning and management essential. This study considers the water-supply-enhancing effects of a significant urban investment, the Jordan Compact, that supports Jordan’s national objective of enhanced water reuse and efficiency. Analysis using a Water Evaluation and Planning model suggests that the Compact generated substantial

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the socio-territorial conflict prompted by Los Merinos: a residential–tourism project constructed in an ecological reserve that is vital to Andalusian livelihoods. It examines disputes concerning discourses, authorities and rules in order to understand the struggle over land and water. Using the echelons of rights analysis (ERA) framework, the paper scrutinizes the multiscale

ABSTRACT Water-use efficiency (WUE) enables the comparison of the value generated from water between countries, industries and companies, and over time. Such comparisons can overlook crucial underlying differences. How can WUE be best used as a comparator? Increases in WUE assumed that water consumption has become decoupled from economic growth. This overlooks structural changes and globalization resulting

ABSTRACT Cape Town’s water injustices are entrenched by the mismatch between government interventions and the lived realities in many informal settlements and other low-income areas. This transdisciplinary study draws on over 300 stories from such communities, showing overwhelming frustration with the municipality’s inability to address leaking pipes, faulty bills and poor sanitation. Cape Town’s interventions

ABSTRACT This study assesses climate change impacts on the hydrological regime of a river basin and its implications for future irrigation water availability in the Koshi River basin using RCPs 4.5 and 8.5 over short-term (2016-2045), mid-century (2036-2065) and end-of-century (2071-2100) periods. Average flow in the Koshi River is projected to increase. Projections of average minimum monthly river

(2020). Foreword. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 36, Managing urban water demand: Global approaches, pp. 871-873.

(2020). Water management in post-2020 world. International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol. 36, Managing urban water demand: Global approaches, pp. 874-878.

ABSTRACT Many river systems in Europe have altered morphology and deteriorated ecosystems due to human interference. We demonstrate how conflicting interests of nature, society and economics in the Dutch–German Ems-Dollard system complicate achieving the nature restoration targeted by the EU Water Framework Directive. This article provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the natural characteristics

ABSTRACT Drawing on the results of the Transforming Irrigation in Southern Africa project, we assess positive transitions in smallholder irrigation schemes. The project’s theory of change is evaluated. Soil monitoring tools and agricultural innovation platforms were introduced in five irrigation schemes in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The synergies between these interventions increased both crop

ABSTRACT This article explores the factors causing the current poor performance of most government irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa. The literature review finds that the poor performance is not primarily caused by socioeconomic and biophysical conditions inherent to sub-Saharan Africa. African farmers have adapted to diverse biophysical conditions and expanded or contracted their area under

ABSTRACT The mechanisms linking growth and inequality are critical for poverty reduction, yet they remain poorly understood at the micro level, as current knowledge is dominated by country-wide studies. This article evaluates farm income growth and changes in inequality among five smallholder irrigation communities in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Over the period of study, the poorest sections

ABSTRACT Removal of power subsidies in the agriculture sector has been a very contentious issue in India for decades. Free power and tariffs based on the connected load create incentives for farmers to use groundwater excessively and inefficiently. We argue that a pro rata tariff for electricity in the farm sector that reduces the demand for electricity and irrigation water will not only be socio-economically

Australia experiences a wide range and increasing incidence of extreme hydrological events, including step changes in stream flows, extreme drought, bushfires followed by heavy rain, and storm events, which impact water availability and water quality. This article discusses the management of these events in the provision of water services in urban Australia. These events are being actively and effectively

Based on extensive field information, farmer-led small-scale irrigation systems along the dam-regulated Tekeze River is investigated and the likelihood of future irrigation expansion within the area with modelled potential is discussed, considering facilitating and hampering factors. Due to dam-induced hydrologic alterations, downstream socio-ecological systems have strongly transformed as the irrigated

Sustainable water resources management requires long time series of streamflow data. In this study, a Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy rule-based (FRB) model is developed to reconstruct long periods of missing daily streamflow data which is a common problem in developing countries. The FRB model uses observations of neighbouring stream gauges, and thus is advantageous regarding data and time requirement compared

ABSTRACT This paper reviews principles from decision psychology relevant to understanding and increasing acceptance of urban recycled water, and supplements existing literature by suggesting an additional factor: adaptation insensitivity. We integrate into our discussion previously unpublished results from a study conducted in 2007, which surveyed 2680 respondents in five American cities, identifying

To explore the livelihood problems following development-induced displacement and resettlement, this article selects 234 affected families of the Qianping Reservoir in China and builds a livelihood resilience inferred measurement model to assess and verify their livelihood resilience. The research shows that households that have a reasonable income structure or that resettled near their original residence

Under current Spanish law, domestic use of recycled water is only permitted during an officially declared disaster; however, it could be an option from a regulatory perspective. However, would Spaniards be willing to use recycled water in the home if necessary? This study investigates the public acceptance of recycled water use in Spanish households and identifies the determinants of acceptance. In

ABSTRACT Bhutan benefits from surplus power generation and associated export revenues, whereas Nepal suffers from power shortages and import deficits. They have contrasting hydropower development, taking different approaches and relying on different sources of development finance in hydropower projects. This study analyzed effective financing approaches for feasible hydropower projects under geopolitical

ABSTRACT The paper provides a description of the efforts taken by the Orange County Water District (the District; OCWD) to insulate itself from public opposition to its potable reuse project, the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS). We emphasize how important it is to first understand the challenges faced by concurrent projects in Southern California, and the development and execution of OCWD’s

In this article we investigate the relationship between productivity and profitability, and their drivers: changes in outputs, output and input prices, technical change, technical efficiency change, and scale and mark-up effects. We apply profit decomposition to the water and sewerage companies in England and Wales in 1991–2016. We find that over this period their profit and productivity increased

To foster poverty reduction in drought-prone Araucanía, the Chilean Irrigation Commission is planning an important expansion of irrigated areas. Scenarios incorporating climate change (2030–2059) were simulated for a pilot basin using the WEAP water allocation model, showing that larger irrigated areas, coupled with higher temperatures and less precipitation, are likely to cause severe seasonal water

Differences about fresh water rarely if ever lead to war between neighbouring nations. However, lack of agreement about equitable water use will sooner or later disrupt water management systems. Similarly, unless fresh water is managed sustainably by both nations, their social and economic development will lag, with ultimate effects on any peace agreement. This Viewpoint describes an existing proposal