Large increases in water demand with very little recharge have strained Libya’s groundwater resources, resulting in serious declines in water levels and quality, especially along the Mediterranean coast where most of the agricultural, domestic and industrial activities are concentrated. To meet these increases, Libya turned to desalination as a supplementary water resource as early as 1964. Both thermal and membrane desalination technologies have been used. This study shows that the problem of water scarcity is likely to increase further in the future. This study has three aims: first, to estimate the historical relationship between population growth and the various uses of water; second, to forecast water consumption according to the various uses; third, to estimate the elasticities of water demand and examine the effect of price, income, population and temperature on water demand in Libya in the short and long-run. To achieve these aims, an econometric model of Libyan water demand is constructed and estimated for the period 1975-2005, using the Box-Jenkins approach to forecast water demand and the Engle-Granger two-step approach to estimate the short and long-run elasticities of water demand. As a result this study provides considerable information for policy makers concerning current and future Libyan water demand. By examining the relationships between population growth and the future consumption of water in Libya, it is possible to reach the following conclusions. • Population growth in Libya will be very high. • Population elasticities for water demand are elastic for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes. Water demand for all purposes is extremely elastic. • Most of the population and agricultural lands are concentrated in the northern part of the country. • The Libyan economy depends heavily on underground water. • In Libya, as a whole, water demand will increase. Available water in 2020 will be less than half of water demands, implying an increase in the water scarcity problem over time. • The short and long-run price elasticties are negative, suggesting that there is an inverse relationship between water demands and price. Also, these elasticities indicate that water use is generally inelastic with respect to price. • The income elasticities are all positive in the short and long-run. This result accords with demand theory, implying that water is a normal good. • The estimation results suggest that, in the long-run, water demand for agricultural, domestic and industrial use is highly elastic for population and inelastic for price and income. • The short-run elasticities are less than the long-run elasticities, as economic theory suggests. Also, all elasticities in the short-run are less than one. This implies that water demand is inelastic in the short-run.

Over a decade ago the 'Dublin Principles' shifted global thinking towards treating water as an economic good. Accompanying this conceptual shift has been a wider move towards focusing on water consumer's needs and preferences and their willingness to pay (WTP). WTP studies are now widely considered as forming part of an improved planning methodology for water supply, because they provide a basis for distinguishing financially viable water supply projects from those that are destined for failure. However, experience in several low-income countries suggests that cost recovery is still a major problem even for those projects with seemingly good initial financial models. For water utilities, one of the key determinants of overall cost recovery efficiency is the ability to recover payment, within a reasonable timeframe, for all the water bills sent to customers. This study used empirical data, obtained through a cross-sectional survey in eight small urban centres in Uganda, to establish the determinants of customer decisions to pay utility water bills promptly.

Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa in drinking water distribution systems readily colonize the pipe surfaces and form biofilms. The bacteria in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) affect water quality and hydrodynamic parameters and can pose various public health risks. Previous studies showed that the resistance of bacteria to disinfection residual and other processes and interactions occurring within in the distribution system is due to multispecies interaction and biofilm formation. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms involved in biofilm formation, interactions and aggregation by bacteria. The aim of this research was to understand the biological and biophysical interactions involved in multispecies biofilm formation and aggregation by drinking water bacterial isolates. As a first step in achieving this aim, nineteen bacteria were isolated from drinking water collected from a domestic water tap in Sheffield and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Four of the 19 isolates namely Shingobium sp., Xenophilus sp., Methylobacterium sp. and Rhodococcus sp., were used for further studies. The results of biological interactions such as intergeneric growth, aggregation and production of extracellular polymeric substances and quorum sensing (QS) molecules suggests that biofilm formation is governed by production of QS molecules by Methylobacterium and this may act as a synergistic bacterium in forming a multispecies biofilm. The results of biophysical interactions such as analysis of the cell surface composition, cell surface charge and hydrophobicity show that the surface charge of Methylobacterium was less negative charge and produced more biofilms. XDLVO modelling for Methylobacterium predicts adhesion at secondary minimum suggesting reversible adhesion but they may strongly influence secondary colonization by synergistic interaction. The overall results indicate that controlling the target bacterium such as Methylobacterium by interrupting the QS mechanism is perhaps an effective strategy to control multispecies biofilm formation in DWDS.

Contamination of surface waters with faeces may lead to increased public risk of human exposure to pathogens through drinking water supply, aquaculture, and recreational activities. Determining the source(s) of contamination is important for assessing the degree of risk to public health, and for selecting appropriate mitigation measures. Phage-based microbial source tracking (MST) techniques have been promoted as effective, simple and low-cost. The intestinal enterococci are a faecal "indicator of choice" in many parts of the world for determining water quality, and recently, phages capable of infecting Enterococcus faecalis have been proposed as a potential alternative indicator of human faecal contamination. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate critically the suitability and efficacy of phages infecting host strains of Enterococcus species as a low-cost tool for MST. In total, 390 potential Enterococcus hosts were screened for their ability to detect phage in reference faecal samples. Development and implementation of a tiered screening approach allowed the initial large number of enterococcal hosts to be reduced rapidly to a smaller subgroup suitable for phage enumeration and MST. Twenty-nine hosts were further tested using additional faecal samples of human and non-human origin. Their specificity and sensitivity were found to vary, ranging from 44 to 100% and from 17 to 83%, respectively. Most notably, seven strains exhibited 100% specificity to cattle, human, or pig samples. Twenty phages infecting a human-specific host strain (MW47) were viewed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to determine their morphological diversity. The TEM examination revealed that all phages were members of the Siphoviridae and Myoviridae families. Pilot inactivation experiments using three phages (two members of the Siphoviridae family with differing capsid structures, and one myovirus), indicated that their survival did not vary significantly (P > 0.05). The findings of this study offer an insight into host-phage interactions, specificity, sensitivity, and the suitability for MST application of phages infecting different Enterococcus strains. The high host specificity demonstrated by strains in this study suggests that they have a potential future role in MST. Although TEM revealed a range of phage morphologies capable of infecting MW47, the pilot inactivation study suggests that the phages have similar survival characteristics. These findings offer other scientists the opportunity to isolate effective enterococcal hosts for source tracking for a variety of scenarios in other parts of the world, and as such, this work supports the application of MST as a global tool for human health protection.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / This qualitative study investigated the impact of water problems on the development of Mhangweni community in Limpopo Province. The study also assessed the Greater Tzaneen Municipality strategies for addressing water problems in the community. Mhangweni village is within the Greater Tzaneen Municipality’s area of jurisdiction and is about 34 km east of Tzaneen. Questionnaires, observation and informal discussions from the sample were used to collect data. Eighty households from Mhangweni residents, the municipality officials and the community ward councilor were sampled. Water shortage is a serious challenge facing the households from this area. It is heart breaking as the results showed that the households of Mhangweni do not receive regular municipal water services. Households suffer economically in order to have access to water; as a result they are financially affected due to buying of water. The Greater Tzaneen Municipality must find a common ground and strategy to serve the long term interest of the Mhangweni households, that is, to provide them with regular water services. Development of a shared vision among all stakeholders has been seen as a prerequisite for the improvement in provision of services in the community. In conclusion the study suggests and recommends that the community households and the municipality must work together in order to satisfy needs of the community.

This thesis analyses how and why the recurrent costs of water services are shared between different actors in the rural local government areas in Mali which are supported by the international NGO WaterAid. This analysis of the financing arrangements for rural water services is used to critically assess theory, policy and practice in three areas: the community-based management approach to service delivery, the role of decentralised local governments in supporting community management, and the ability of external organisations to influence institutional change. Empirical evidence is presented for the period 2008-2011, drawing on research fieldwork undertaken in collaboration with WaterAid and its partners in 2010 and 2011, as the organisation introduced its own Sustainability Framework to help understand and address the challenges to delivering sustainable rural water services. The thesis argues that approaches to understanding local institutions for natural resource management based on ‘critical institutionalism' (Cleaver 2012), which emphasises the importance of improvisation and adaptation across different scales, should be placed within broader political economy analysis frameworks for assessing challenges in public services delivery from national to local levels. The use of such a framework shows how WaterAid and its partners adopt a ‘critical institutionalist' perspective at community levels to support users in developing ways of raising funds for water services which draw on both traditional practices and NGO influences. However at local government and national levels their approach is based on ideas of ‘best practice' rather than ‘best fit' (Booth 2012): although the costs of local government support to communities under the model promoted by WaterAid lie within international benchmarks, it is unclear over what timescale this approach could be scaled up in Mali without donor support. This demonstrates the limited ability of local governments to ensure the delivery of decentralised public services without additional external resources and support themselves.

The approach to water management worldwide is currently in transition, with a shift from centralised infrastructures to greater consideration of decentralised technologies, such as rainwater harvesting (RWH). Initiated by recognition of drivers, including water demand, increasing risk of ground-water pollution and flooding, the value of RWH is filtering across the academic-policy boundary. However, in Nigeria, implementation of sustainable water management (SWM), such as RWH systems, is inefficient social, environmental and technical barriers, concerns and knowledge gaps exist, which currently restrict its widespread utilisation. This inefficiency contributes to water scarcity, water-borne diseases, and loss of lives and property due to flooding. Meanwhile, several RWH technologies have been developed to improve SWM through both demand and storm-water management. Such technologies involve the use of storage tanks, surface water reservoirs and ground-water recharge pits as storage systems. A framework was developed to assess the significance and extent of water management problems, match the problems with existing RWH-based solutions and develop a robust ready-to-use multi-criteria analysis tool that can quantify the costs and benefits of implementing several RWH-based storage systems. The methodology adopted was the mixed method approach, involving a detailed literature review, followed by a questionnaire survey of 1067 household respondents, 135 Nigerian Architects and Civil Engineers and focus group discussion with Stakeholders. A total of 1042 sets of data were collected through a questionnaire survey and analysed using SPSS, Excel and selected statistical methods to derive weightings of the attributes for the tool. Following this, three case studies were selected to collect data for hydrological modelling using the RainCycle model. From the results it is found that the most important barrier constraining sustainable RWH regime in Ibadan was obsolete and insufficient operational equipment, followed by poor renumeration of water corporation staff and misuse of available funds. In addition, the measure of importance of storage capacity was established, with the highest score of 4.5 which reflects the general inadequacy of storage as a major barrier to the adoption of RWH as a sustainable water management method. Further, respondents’ major health hazards associated with drinking contaminated water was established. A larger proportion (61.2%) of respondents chose prevalence of typhoid fever; some have a prevalence of diarrhea (19.4%), while few of respondents’ water sources is free from water-borne diseases (2.3%). The tool developed is an integrated platform of related evaluation techniques, including Whole Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Multi-Attribute Utility Theory. The tool uses data including cost and quantities of materials for building a RWH storage system and quantifies the cost and benefits of alternative RWH-based systems that can improve project management. This tool is novel, given its integration of the analytical techniques mentioned above and application for selecting the most appropriate RWH-based SWM systems. The implementation of the tool is envisaged to provide an objective platform for the quantification of the costs and benefits of RWH-based systems prior to implementation.

This thesis investigates the politics of privatization and contentious collective action in the water sector in the Philippines. It examines the complex interplay of diverse forces in the everyday politics of water in Metropolitan Manila with a particular emphasis on organized urban poor communities and non-governmental organizations. The thesis illustrates how these groups engage with regulatory agencies, multilateral institutions, transnational corporations, informal water venders, and local machine politicians to play key roles in shaping the regulation of water provision in the developing world. Thus, to understand the material realities and lived experiences of the urban poor in cities like Metro Manila, close attention must be paid to patterns of contestation, competition, and collaboration among a diverse array of actors, across local, national, and international levels of analysis. Using Karl Polanyi’s insights on the socio-political consequences of market extension as a point of departure, I show that although water privatization and social resistance can be understood in terms of a ‘double movement’, Polanyi’s framework is insufficient for more detailed analysis. Hence, I develop new analytical tools to examine the nature of water privatization-related mobilization in the Philippines. Examining the micro-politics of the urban poor in their collective action for water at the local level, I argue that privatization has engendered countervailing power in the water sector that is neither fully transgressive nor completely contained, and steeped in local and historical legacies of radical resistance in the Philippines. At the policy level, I show how NGOs and local community groups undertake what I term “regulatory mobilization” to influence the new rules of the service delivery game, as well as to deliver much- needed basic services to urban poor communities. Depending on how local and sectoral politics are conflated, such regulatory mobilization may sometimes not only result in obtaining subsistence goods, but may also occasionally project countervailing power in the policy sector, and influence formal regulatory frameworks in surprising ways.

This research examines the application of a Classic Glaserian Grounded Theory methodology to the phenomenon of drought when viewed from the perspective of household water users in southern England. The resulting conceptual work calls into question the effectiveness of water-wise messaging and current Government policies on water management, by highlighting the double assurances afforded to the public through their own observations of the natural cycling of water resources between atmosphere and land, and the continuous operation of the regulated water industry, that together sustain blind belief in the ongoing availability of potable water resources. To establish a clear separation between the development of substantive theory and mixed method studies that claim to take a grounded theory approach that are generally more popular within the discipline of Human Geography, the theory is presented alongside two pieces of work; a collection of modern drought histories and a questionnaire. Developed as part of the necessary process of cycling alternate projects to enable a theory to emerge from the data whilst the researcher is distracted from forcing her own ideas onto it, both these pieces can be viewed separately or as supportive companions to the theory. Additionally, in acknowledging the difficulty in presenting a Classic Grounded Theory in the traditional discussional form, for the benefit of the reader the theory is preceded by an autoethnography, which incorporates descriptive elements taken from field notes and the author’s personal water diary. These works draw data from subjects in three counties in England (Norfolk, Kent, and Devon), following the northwest – southeast rainfall gradient. Supplementary material for the drought histories is drawn from local and national archives and recorded oral histories. The primary emphasis of this work is placed on assessing the merits of each of the methods deployed in addressing environmental social science issues in the context of climate change, which hitherto have been focused on perception questionnaires and the development of popular cultural typologies.

Η όλο και εντονότερη ανάπτυξη των συστημάτων υδατικών πόρων σε παγκόσμια κλίμακα, ταυτόχρονα με τα συνεχώς αυξανόμενα ελλείμματα λόγω της μεγάλης αύξησης της κατανάλωσης σε συνδυασμό με την υποβάθμιση της ποιότητας, έχει κάνει επιτακτική την ανάγκη για την εφαρμογή ολοκληρωμένων μεθόδων σχεδιασμού και διαχείρισης των υδατικών πόρων. Για το λόγο αυτό η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση με διαδοχικές Κοινοτικές αποφάσεις, κατέληξε στην έκδοση και ψήφιση της Οδηγίας Πλαίσιο για τα νερά 2000/60, που αποτελεί το πλαίσιο εφαρμογής μέτρων, για την προστασία όλων των υδατικών συστημάτων της Κοινότητας. Απώτερος στόχος και σκοπός της Οδηγίας είναι να διασφαλιστεί η αειφόρος χρήση του νερού, για την καλή οικολογική κατάσταση στη Κοινότητα. Πρόκειται για μια οδηγία σταθμό καθώς εισάγει μια νέα πολιτική πρακτική και νομοθεσία και καθιερώνει την ολοκληρωμένη διαχείριση των υδατικών πόρων. Το 2015, αποτελεί το χρονικό ορόσημο επίτευξης των στόχων της οδηγίας. Η Πολιτεία με το Νόμο 3199/2003 και το Π.Δ. 51/2007, προσάρμοσε την Ελληνική νομοθεσία στην Οδηγία πλαίσιο. Η ισχύουσα πλέον νομοθεσία στη χώρα μας, επιβάλει τη διασφάλιση της αειφορίας των νερών μέσω της ολοκληρωμένης διαχείρισης και προστασίας τους. Η κοινοτική οδηγία ορίζει πως η διαχείριση πρέπει να γίνεται στο επίπεδο της λεκάνης απορροής ποταμού, ενώ η ελληνική νομοθεσία, λόγω της γεωμορφολογίας της χώρας και των ιδιαίτερων συνθηκών ορίζει την διαχείριση στο επίπεδο των 14 υδατικών διαμερισμάτων της χώρας. Τα διαχειριστικά σχέδια των υδατικών διαμερισμάτων είναι στην διαδικασία της ολοκλήρωσής τους, γι΄ αυτό και η Τοπική Αυτοδιοίκηση και συγκεκριμένα οι Δήμοι, που έχουν την ευθύνη της διαχείρισης των υδατικών πόρων της περιοχής τους, οφείλουν να προσανατολίσουν τις ενέργειές τους στις βασικές αρχές της κοινοτικής οδηγίας και να διευκολύνουν την εφαρμογή των Σχεδίων Διαχείρισης. Έτσι και στην περίπτωση της περιοχής του πρώην Δήμου Μεσσάτιδος, ενός Καποδιστριακού Δήμου της Αχαΐας (που μετά την εφαρμογή του νόμου «Καλλικράτη» αποτελεί Δημοτική Ενότητα του διευρυμένου Δήμου Πατρέων), μέσης έκτασης και πληθυσμού, όπου χρησιμοποιούνται αποκλειστικά υπόγειοι υδατικοί πόροι για την ύδρευση και τις άλλες χρήσεις που εξυπηρετούνται από το δίκτυο του Δήμου, ενώ τα επιφανειακά νερά χρησιμοποιούνται για την άρδευση όταν είναι διαθέσιμα, πρέπει να αλλάξει η φιλοσοφία της διαχείρισης του νερού και να προσανατολιστεί στις παρακάτω βασικές αρχές της κοινοτικής οδηγίας: • Ολοκληρωμένη διαχείριση των υδατικών πόρων λαμβάνοντας υπ΄ όψη όλες τις υδρογεωλογικές, περιβαλλοντικές, οικονομικές και κοινωνικές παραμέτρους. • Εφαρμογή σωστής πολιτικής τιμολόγησης του νερού με τελικό σκοπό «την ανάκτηση του κόστους ύδατος» • Αλλαγή της φιλοσοφίας της διαχείρισης από διαχείριση της προσφοράς να περάσουμε σε διαχείριση της ζήτησης. • Ενημέρωση και συμμετοχή του κοινού στην διαχείριση των υδατικών πόρων Με τον τρόπο αυτό θα περάσουμε σε μια μορφή ολοκληρωμένης διαχείρισης με στόχο την αειφορία του υδάτινου συστήματος όπως ορίζει η κοινοτική οδηγία. / The more and more intense growth of systems of water resources in world scale, simultaneously with continuously increasing deficits because of the big increase of consumption in combination with devalorisation of quality, has made imperative the need for the application of completed methods of planning and management of water resources. For that reason the European Union with successive community decisions, led to the publication and the voting of Directive Frame on the Water 2000/60 that constitute the frame of application of measures to protect all the water systems of the community. Final objective and aim of Directive are to ensure the viable use of water, for the good ecological situation of the community. It’s an essential directive since it imports a new political practice and legislation and establishes the completed management of water resources. In 2015, it constitutes a milestone of achievement of objectives of the Directive. The state with the law 3199/2003 and the presidential decree 51/2007, adapted the Greek legislation in the Framework Directive. The current legislation in our country, imposes the guarantee of viability of waters via the completed management and their protection. The community directive defines that the management should become in the level of the river basin while the Greek legislation, because of the geomorphology of the country and the particular conditions defines the management in the level of 14 water districts of the country. The administrative plans of water districts are in the integration process that’s why the local government and specifically the municipalities, that have the responsibility of management of water resources of their region, owe to orient their actions in the basic principles of the community directive and to facilitate the application plans of management. So, in the case of the region of the former municipality Messatida, a “Kapodistrias law” municipality of Achaia, (that after the application of the law “Kallikratis” constitutes municipal units of the extended Municipality of Patras) average area and population, where exclusively underground water resources for the water supply are used and the other uses that are served by the network of the Municipality, while the surface waters are used for the irrigation when they are available, the philosophy of management of water should be charged and should be directed in the following basic principles of the Community Directive: • Completed management of water resources taking into consideration all the hydrogeological, environmental, financial and social parameters. • Application of right pricing policy of water, with final aim the recuperation of the cost of water. • Change the philosophy of management by management of offer to pass in management of demand. • Information and public participation in the management water resources. In this way we will pass in a form of completed management with target the viability of water system as indicated by the Community Directive.