Recent studies in water management policy point to insufficient recognition of water as a scarce commodity and the failure of pricing policies to account for the full economic costs of its production and supply. These costs include opportunity costs related to alternative uses of water; user costs associated with managing a scarce resource; and costs of externalities such as ground water depletion, pollution of waterways, and greenhouse gas emissions. Existing cost recovery based pricing policies may lead to inefficiencies such as excess consumption, under-investment in water infrastructure, and unnecessary subsidisation. Water scarcity can be managed in several ways. We can increase supply by investment in additional harvesting capabilities or new technologies such as desalination; we can constrain consumption so that existing supplies last longer; or we can use water in more efficient ways. As a short term measure, most countries adopt water restrictions when supplies are at critical levels. In the future, as urban population growth continues, harvesting of storm water and reuse of grey water may become part of a sustainable water management strategy. Water trading can be used to move water to where the marginal benefits are highest. Considerable water savings are possible through the use of more efficient industrial and domestic appliances. There is evidence in some countries that higher water tariffs have reduced consumption and promoted awareness of conservation. If we accept that water is an economic good, then we need to understand the costs related to its production, the patterns of its use, and the benefits received by different users. This thesis is an examination of theoretical and applied aspects of urban water pricing based on analysis of cost, demand, and welfare. We present theoretical models of cost that include economies of scale as a parameter, and a model of water demand by households with heterogeneous preferences. We determine marginal cost at the efficient level of output based on a partial equilibrium of supply and demand. We also show that when water is produced with increasing returns to scale, the efficient price will be insufficient to recover all costs, and therefore a form of second best pricing is required. We contrast conventional notions about water suppliers being cost minimisers with an alternative frontier model of cost efficiency. Two case studies examine the provision of water services under different forms of ownership. The first case study examines the provision of water to domestic households in the state of Victoria, Australia. The second case study examines the supply of water to the residents of Manila, one of the world’s largest cities that privatised its water service in 1997 under a form of concession agreement. A third case study derives an efficient cost frontier for a sample of water utilities from Asia and Australia and proposes a form of best practice pricing. The thesis concludes with a summary of the main results and policy conclusions, and ideas for future research. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1289196 / Thesis (PhD) -- School of Economics, 2007

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

No description available.

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) is a holistic, inclusive mode of decision making that has developed in response to the increasing complexity, uncertainty and conflict that characterize one of British Columbia's primary and most valuable natural resources. It is a management tool that recognizes the interrelatedness of resource uses with each other and within the broader social and economic systems which influence the state and use of water resources. To date, success with IWRM in B.C. has been limited. Many of the opportunities to plan for IWRM in B.C are made available through a wide range of multi-stakeholder land use planning processes. This research evaluates planning for integrated water resources management in British Columbia's Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP) processes from a social learning perspective. Drawing from the principles of systems theory, it is argued that learning represents a fundamental form of feedback in sustainable water resource management. Through a series of six LRMP case studies, the evaluation addresses the acquisition of new knowledge relating to water resources gained by MELP's Water Management Program through their involvement LRMPs, and the dissemination and utilization of this new knowledge in subsequent planning efforts. The research results provide insight into the organizational learning culture within which integrated water resources management is developing and detail specific lessons gained through LRMP experiences. Drawing from the insights of those individuals who participated in this study, it is evident that learning within Water Management occurs through the incremental adjustments of decisions and actions. While the organization is adept at acquiring new knowledge, this study reveals that it is weak in disseminating that knowledge. This weakness limits its overall learning potential. Recommendations are directed towards expanding the learning potential and capacity of Water Management specifically in the areas of knowledge dissemination and utilization, thereby leading to greater future success with IWRM. Further recommendations are also directed towards the various agencies and organizations who collectively enable and are responsible for delivering effective IWRM in B.C.

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) is a holistic, inclusive mode of decision making that has developed in response to the increasing complexity, uncertainty and conflict that characterize one of British Columbia's primary and most valuable natural resources. It is a management tool that recognizes the interrelatedness of resource uses with each other and within the broader social and economic systems which influence the state and use of water resources. To date, success with IWRM in B.C. has been limited. Many of the opportunities to plan for IWRM in B.C are made available through a wide range of multi-stakeholder land use planning processes. This research evaluates planning for integrated water resources management in British Columbia's Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP) processes from a social learning perspective. Drawing from the principles of systems theory, it is argued that learning represents a fundamental form of feedback in sustainable water resource management. Through a series of six LRMP case studies, the evaluation addresses the acquisition of new knowledge relating to water resources gained by MELP's Water Management Program through their involvement LRMPs, and the dissemination and utilization of this new knowledge in subsequent planning efforts. The research results provide insight into the organizational learning culture within which integrated water resources management is developing and detail specific lessons gained through LRMP experiences. Drawing from the insights of those individuals who participated in this study, it is evident that learning within Water Management occurs through the incremental adjustments of decisions and actions. While the organization is adept at acquiring new knowledge, this study reveals that it is weak in disseminating that knowledge. This weakness limits its overall learning potential. Recommendations are directed towards expanding the learning potential and capacity of Water Management specifically in the areas of knowledge dissemination and utilization, thereby leading to greater future success with IWRM. Further recommendations are also directed towards the various agencies and organizations who collectively enable and are responsible for delivering effective IWRM in B.C. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Water is essential for life. Like the very air that surrounds us the omnipresent and indispensable qualities of water pervade throughout all of our lives. For reasons of health, community and trade the beginnings of all civilisations were proximate to the mighty rivers of the world. In a rapidly expanding global village, the priority for our future is to secure the management of increasing levels of water demand, given the finite natural cycle that all water is subject to and derived from; the hydrological cycle. The focus of this papers investigation is how best to allocate the value of water through the relatively nascent developments of water markets. The premise of utilising markets for allocative efficiency is suitably ingrained in the workings of many societies today, and the need to treat water with commensurate value and avoid waste is encapsulated in the Dublin Principles, where #4 states; 'Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognised as an economic good'. Which in isolation has merit, the legacy of state water management is usually associated with underperformance at best or incompetence and corruption at worst, and therefore the introduction of market mechanisms to provide water with allocative efficiency and true value, should be a positive undertaking for change. However the requisite conditions for proficient markets and perfect competition; which primarily include, that all agents are buyers and sellers, for a homogeneous product, with perfect information, without externalities, after the full and fair assignment of property rights, where all goods and services are private goods, and where transaction costs remain close to zero; would seldom be applicable to water. The many idiosyncrasies of water inhibit the application of competitive markets. Water could easily be defined as a public good with riparian rights, subject to a range of social and environmental externalities, whilst incurring high structural entry costs and remaining subject to the problematic vagaries of the natural supply cycle. Demand profiles also give water a heterogeneous definition, as domestic uses include both sanitation and drinking water, whilst various levels of quality are required for industry and agriculture, and even recreation. This paper seeks to define those factors that both warrant and limit the introduction of market functions to water management. The premise of this paper remains the search for better ways of valuing water, and how to incorporate fully the foundations of the environment and social criteria of health, and poverty reduction within these economic considerations. The conclusion defines a premium / discount solution to market traded water prices, which internalises these factors. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Water is noodsaaklik vir lewe. Net soos die lug wat ons omring het water ook alomteenwoordige eienskappe wat In onskeibare deel van ons lewens vorm. Die ontstaan van alle beskawings is te vinde in die nabyheid van groot en gevestigde riviere vir redes van gemeenskaplikheid, gesondheid en handel. Vandag se geintegreerde en snel-groeiende samelewing met sy toenemende vraag na water, noodsaak 'n toekomsgerigte benadering om waterbronne te bestuur gegewe die vaste water natuursiklus waar water vandaan kom en bewaar word in. Die fokus van hierdie studie is om die beste metodes te vind vir waterallokasie met verwysing na die ontwikkeling van water markte oor die eeue. Die gebruik van die markstelsel om water effektief te allokeer is die grondslag van baie samelewings vandag. So erken die Dublin beginsels die noosaaklikheid om 'n waarde te plaas op water beklemtoon dat dit nie vermors moet word nie. Beginsel #4 bepaal: "Water het 'n ekonomiese waarde in al sy vele gebruike en moet ooreenkomstig erken word as ekonomiese saak". Die bestuur van waterbronne deur 'n owerheid word gewoonlik vereenselwig met 'n nie-optimale of selfs korrupte onbevoegdheid. Hier behoort die bekendstelling van mark beginsels om 'n waarde en nut op water te plaas dus 'n positiewe ontwikkeling te wees. Tog is dit ook duidelik dat die vereistes vir 'n effektiewe mark; alle agente is kopers en verkopers, 'n eenvormige produk, deursigtigheid in informasie, geen eksternaliteite, erkenning van besitreg, alle goedere en dienste is privaat goedere, transaksie koste is naby aan nul; nie volkome toepasbaar is op water nie. Die eenvoudige asook komplekse aard van water verhoed dat standaard markstelsel en beginsels van kompetisie eenvormig toepasbaar is. Water kan ook maklik gekategoriseer word as publieke goedere met gemeenskapsregte, wat dit dan onderhewig sal maak aan verskeie maatskaplike en omgewingsmaatreëls, hoë toetrede kostes, en logistieke probleme van die verskaffingsiklus. Dit is egter die vraag na water wat defineer dit as heterogene produk met huishoudelike gebruike vir beide persoonlike verbruik asook sanitasie, terwyl doelgerigte gebruike in landbou, handel en nywerheid ook spesifieke kwaliteite kan vereis. Hierdie werkstuk beoog om die faktore te defineer wat die bekendstelling van 'n mark stelsel vir water bestuur daarstel en ook beperk. Die uitgangspunt van hierdie studie was om maniere te vind vir beter ekonomiese waardasie van water en dit dan te kombineer met die fondasies van die omgewing, maatskaplike & gesondheidsmaatreëls, asook die toeganklikheid van basiese dienste aan almal.

Irrigation is central to the functioning of the southern Alberta economy. Irrigation also uses a significant amount of what is expected to be an increasingly scarce resource: water. The Alberta government is embarking on a long-term water management strategy in which irrigation water management will be pivotal. The government is considering a range of economic instruments to assist in this management. One instrument already implemented is the ability of private irrigators and irrigators within irrigation districts to trade irrigation water rights on a temporary and permanent basis. This has established the foundation for water markets. The research presented in this thesis centers on establishing the characteristics of irrigation water markets in southern Alberta. The research also aims to determine whether the markets are behaving according to basic economic principles and whether they are supporting government's goals of increased water productivity, efficiency and conservation. The findings reveal that characteristics of irrigation water markets in southern Alberta. The research also aims to determine whether the markets are behaving according to basic economic principles and whether they are supporting government's goals of increased water productivity, efficiency and conservation. The findings reveal that characteristics of water markets in southern Alberta are very similar to markets elsewhere and the markets are behaving in a manner one would expect. However, markets are also creating activity that at one and the same time support and contradict government's water management goals. In addition, the small degree of market activity in general suggests that if government is relying on markets to contribute to these goals to any significant extent, it will need to create conditions that promote greater water market activity. / x, 184 leaves : ill., maps ; 29 cm.

The aims of the study were to find out whether or not outsourcing essential to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The second aim was to establish how can outsourcing improve the Department's cost structure. And the last one was to develop a viable business model for outsourcing services within the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The main problem was that the Government opted for outsourcing as a move to save expenditure within the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. This Department has outsourced car and truck financial services, insurance and management to imperial Group. This venture estimated that it would save the Department and the Government approximately R1 Billion on operational costs. This system is currently operational, but already management in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry have realized that such a venture with huge financial implications should have been based on carefully planned and executed research findings than mere hypothesis about saving. The study research method that will be used is a case study. All the data gathered in the study, is relevant on to the case being studied. Though conclusions allow for inferences to be made, the cases where such generalizations are made or applied to must be similar in all respect. The study's sample consists of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and the Imperial Group. The two organizations were chosen because the outsourcing strategy could serve as a yardstick to measure similar agreements in the future. The specific area of focus is the agreement on car rental between the two organizations. The documents analyzed include the: • Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Outsourcing Strategy and Outsourcing the Billing Process (January, 2001). • Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Outsourcing Strategy and Outsourcing the Billing Process (February, 2001). • Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Procedural Manual for Official Transport with Imperial Vehicles Outsourcing services for the public agencies is a tool that is being used to offload those non-core functions, such as transport for a period of time. According to theory it is more cost effective to outsource peripheral tasks because the alternative, this is, maintain the same service within the organization is expensive. The findings of this study show that service should be outsourced but it is expensive, the individual factors that lead to this conclusion are far beyond this scope of the study and therefore will not be discussed in great detail. [Refer to the abstract within the thesis for the outsourcing model] The outsourcing model above, developed in this study shows that the profile of task or process aligned with the first (left most) column will call for the outsourcing of the task to a supplier. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This is an in-depth case study of urban water services to poor households and their interactions with local state power in the community of Eastwood, Pietermaritzburg, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, for the period 2005-2007. It draws especially on the experiences of poor women, exploring the conceptions and implications of the movement of municipal services into the realm of welfare-based urban service concessions. It interrogates what value municipal services, framed in the language and form of welfare but within a commodification milieu and in the context of shifting citizen-state relations offer the state apparatus and how such free basic service offerings are experienced by poor households at the level of domestic, social and economic functioning. The study adopts a fluid mixed-methodological approach to optimise exploration and interpretation. It argues that the interface of state service delivery and citizens is fraught with contradictions: core to this is the nature of state ' help.' Free basic water encompassed in the social wage did not improve the lives of poor households; instead it eroded original water access. Free basic water stole women's time spent on domestic activities; compromised appropriate water requirements, exacerbated service affordability problems and negatively affected household functioning. Poor households experienced the government's policy of free basic services as containment and punishment for being poor. The Indigent Policy activated the state's surveillance, disciplinary and control apparatus. In the absence of effective national regulation over municipalities and with financial shortfalls, street-level bureaucrats manipulated social policies to further municipal cost recovery goals and subjugate poor households. Social control and cheap governance were in symmetry. Citizens, desperate for relief, approached the state. Poor households were pushed into downgraded service packages or mercilessly pursued by municipally outsourced private debt collectors and disconnection companies. Municipalities competing for investments brought about by favourable credit ratings abandoned the humanity of their citizens. Such re-prioritisation of values had profound implications for governance and public trust. Citizens were jettisoned to the outskirts of municipal governance, resulting in a distinct confusion and anger towards the local state - and with it, major uncertainties regarding future stability, redistribution and equity.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Concerns about the sufficiency of freshwater supplies and the impact of water shortages have placed sustainable water management on the global agenda. This is particularly relevant in South Africa, a country with precipitation rates well below the global average and water resources that have become highly polluted. The scarcity of water for consumption use and of unpolluted water bodies as recreational and environmental good highlights the need for an economic analysis of these issues. This dissertation investigates some economic aspects of water management in the South African context in two distinctive parts. Part One (Chapters 2 to 5) aims to provide an understanding of urban water demand and analyses water pricing as demand management tool. Part Two (Chapters 6 and 7) analyses the values people attach to water resources for recreational and environmental purposes. Quantitative methodological approaches are predominantly used to inform an economic perspective on water demand management. The extent of water scarcity is discussed in Chapter Two. South Africa is approaching physical water scarcity, but many poor households do not yet have access to water and basic sanitation facilities, i.e. there is also economic water scarcity. Given this background, Chapter Three focuses on water demand management as part of an integrated water management approach. The role of water prices is discussed, in particular the Increasing Block Tariff (IBT) structure which is predominantly used in South Africa. Chapter Four estimates the price elasticity of demand for water using household water consumption records obtained from the City of Cape Town (CCT). A distinctive feature of this case study is a survey undertaken to collect household information on demographic and water-use characteristics, as water databases are severely lacking in South Africa. The results show water demand to be mostly price inelastic, which concurs with findings from international empirical literature. Furthermore, higher-income households are found to be more sensitive to price changes, thus some reduction in water consumption can be achieved by increasing marginal prices at the upper end of the IBT structure. Chapter Five analyses the IBT structure as a redistributive tool. Particular attention is given to the Free Basic Water policy of South Africa, which allows each household to receive six kilolitres of water free per month. Empirical modelling indicates that the IBT structure in its current form holds limited benefits for the poor, given the state of service delivery in South Africa: the lack of access to the water network prevents the poorest households from being the recipients of the cross-subsidisation occurring in an IBT structure. Part Two studies urban water resources as recreational and environmental goods. The literature review of environmental valuation techniques in Chapter Six places particular emphasis on the Contingent Valuation Method. This method is applied in Chapter Seven, where the value of improving the environmental quality of a freshwater urban lake is analysed in a middle- to low-income urban area. Another survey was undertaken specifically for this purpose of gauging the willingness to pay for improved recreational facilities and water quality of Zeekoevlei. The results show that low-income households do attach value to urban environmental goods, a result which adds to our knowledge of willingness to pay for environmental goods in developing countries. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Besorgdheid oor die toereikenheid van varswaterbronne en die impak van watertekorte het volhoubare waterbestuur op die wêreldagenda geplaas. Dit is veral relevant vir Suid- Afrika, 'n land met neerslagkoerse ver onder die wêreld gemiddelde en waterbronne wat hoogs besoedeld geword het. Die skaarsheid van water vir verbruik en van onbesoedelde waterbronne as ontspannings- en omgewingsproduk, beklemtoon die noodsaaklikheid vir 'n ekonomiese analise van hierdie kwessies. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek sekere ekonomiese aspekte van waterbestuur in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks, in twee dele. Deel Een (Hoofstukke Twee tot Vyf) beoog om insig te verskaf oor die stedelike vraag na water en analiseer die prys van water as 'n vraagbestuursmaatstaf. Deel Twee (Hoofstukke Ses en Sewe) ontleed die waarde wat mense heg aan waterbronne vir ontspannings- en omgewingsdoeleindes. Kwantitatiewe metodologiese benaderinge word hoofsaaklik gebruik om 'n ekonomiese perspektief op watervraag bestuur toe te lig. Die omvang van waterskaarsheid in Suid-Afrika word in Hoofstuk Twee bespreek. Hierdie hoofstuk dui aan dat Suid-Afrika besig is om fisiese waterskaarste te bereik, maar die land het ook baie arm huishoudings wat nog nie toegang tot water en basiese sanitasiefasiliteite het nie, dw.s. wat daar is ook ekonomiese waterskaarsheid. Gegewe hierdie agtergrond, fokus Hoofstuk Drie op watervraagbestuur, as deel van 'n geïntegreerde waterbestuursbenadering. Die rol van waterpryse word bespreek, veral die Stygende-Blok-Tarief (SBT) struktuur wat grotendeels in Suid-Afrika gebruik word. Hoofstuk Vier bepaal die pryselastisiteit van vraag vir water met behulp van huishoudelike waterverbruiksdata, verkry vanaf die Stad Kaapstad. 'n Kenmerkende eienskap van hierdie gevallestudie is die ingesamelde huishoudelike inligting oor demografiese en waterverbruik-eienskappe, aangesien daar ‘n groot tekort aan water-databasisse in Suid- Afrika is. Die uitslae toon dat watervraag meestal prysonelasties is, wat ooreenstem met bevindinge van ander empiriese literatuur. Verder word gevind dat hoё-inkomste huishoudings meer sensitief is vir prysveranderinge. Dus sal 'n afname in waterverbruik bewerkstellig kan word deur marginale pryse aan die hoёr kant van die SBT struktuur te verhoog. Hoofstuk Vyf ondersoek die SBT struktuur as 'n effektiewe herverdelingsmaatstaf. Spesifieke aandag word aan die Gratis Basiese Water-beleid van Suid-Afrika geskenk, wat voorsiening maak dat elke huishouding ses kiloliter water per maand verniet ontvang. Die bevindinge van empiriese modellering is dat die SBT struktuur, soos dit tans in Suid-Afrika toegepas word, beperkte voordele vir die armes inhou, gegewe die huidige stand van watervoorsiening in Suid-Afrika. As gevolg van die agterstand met betrekking tot toegang tot water, ontvang die heel armes nie die voordele van kruissubsidiёring wat plaasvind onder 'n SBT struktuur nie. Deel Twee bestudeer stedelike waterbronne as ontspannings- en omgewingsprodukte. Hoofstuk Ses verskaf 'n literatuur oorsig oor omgewingswaardasie tegnieke, met 'n spesieke fokus op die Kontingente Waardasie-metode. Hierdie metode word in Hoofstuk Sewe toegepas, waar die waarde van verbeteringe in die omgewingskwaliteit van 'n varswatermeer in 'n middel- tot lae-komste stedelike gebied ondersoek word. Nog 'n opname is gedoen met die doel om die bereidwilligheid om te betaal vir verbeterde ontspanningsfasiliteite en die waterkwaliteit van Zeekoevlei te meet. Die bevindinge toon dat lae-inkomste huishoudings wel waarde heg aan stedelike omgewingsprodukte.