Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Water Resourses - Urban Areas'

<p>Rapid global urbanization over the last few decades has intensified the challenge of providing adequate water and sanitation services to urban residents. Meeting this challenge has been the focus of domestic and international development efforts, including Millennium Development Goal 7.C. This research studies three institutional and governance attributes theorized to improve government service outcomes, testing hypotheses that the attributes are associated with greater country progress on providing urban water and sanitation access. The attributes are: a) decentralized services; b) sector-wide strategy and investment coordination; and c) civil society engagement. Country-level experience is analyzed using a series of ordered logistic regression models for a sample of 75 low- and middle-income countries. UN GLAAS survey data is used to derive country-specific variables for the three attributes. These, along with control variables representing country background conditions, are analyzed relative to four country progress outcome variables, two each for water and sanitation. The outcome variables, (covering the 2000 to 2012 time period), are derived from the UN JMP dataset that tracks urban access rates by country. Based on results from these models, four country case studies look in-depth at implementation of the attributes and highlight aspects that can help or impede country progress. Overall, findings show that decentralization is helpful to sanitation progress, but not water progress, likely due limitations of capacity and funding faced by sub-national levels of government. Three explanations are proposed for why decentralization may impact water and sanitation differently. Results for sector planning were mostly inconclusive, except that it was shown helpful to water progress over the 12-year period. Study of this attribute would benefit from additional wide-scale data collection. Civil society engagement was consistently shown to help country progress in both water and sanitation, and several examples of engagement are profiled to demonstrate how it can improve service outcomes. The last chapter relates findings to theories about government provision of public goods. The extent to which the three attributes help achieve efficiency, supply, equity, and social welfare goals is discussed. Finally, practical recommendations for strengthening sector institutions and governance are presented with application to governments and international aid donors.

<p>Zambia is a highly urbanized country with 60% of its urban population residing in low cost areas also called peri-urban, slum or informal settlements. The increase in urban population attributed to rapid migration and urbanization due to political and economic changes has taken a toll on service provision as the infrastructure development and service provision has failed to meet the demand. For the 33 peri-urban areas in Lusaka, the water supply and sanitation has been poor, inadequate and unreliable with the coverage being slightly above 50% for water while 90% of the urban population does not have access to the much needed sanitation. The low coverage is a result of lack the financial capacity on the part of the service providers to extend services to un served areas.</p><p>This research focuses on the strategies to provide sustainable water and sanitation services to peri-urban areas to ensure improved accessibility through the expansion of infrastructure and attainment of full cost recovery. In this era of increasing migration to unplanned settlements where the services are inadequate, alternatives to public provision of water and sanitation services need to be put in place. One of the alternatives is the public-private partnership which encompasses the society, private and the civil society. As has been found in the study the best alternative should not only be completely bottom up but should also be more demand driven and be able to provide for reater contributions from the affected communities.</p><p>The hypothesis of the study is to ascertain if provision of water supply to the Peri-Urban Areas (PUAs) can be achieved through the partnership between the water utility and the small scale water providers. Therefore, the objectives of the research are to: evaluate and compare the current service provision to the peri-urban areas by the utility and small scale providers in terms of technical, social and institutional arrangements and determine the best way of ensuring sustained service provision to peri urban areas and show how partnership can be the best solution to improving service delivery to these areas.</p><p>Service provision in PUAs can not be achieved without the involvement of all the stakeholders especially the community who are also the users and whose major role is paying for the service to enhance sustainability. In this study the Small Scale Water Providers (SSWP) users were found to be satisfied with the service provided than the utility users who felt that more needed to be done. The two providers are found to have different strengths which when combined would enhance service provision. The collaboration between utility with its competence in water supply, technical installations, water quality testing and SSWP with theirs in community involvement, cost recovery, effective operation and maintenance and demand driven water schemes have to be merged to achieve the intended goal and it is also an indication that the two can complement each other. Utility should therefore consider opening investment accounts for all the areas so as to detach PUAs needs from the general plan and eventually budget as they would be self sustaining and enhance  illingness to pay for the users. The SSWP should therefore be viewed as partners by all and licensing should be considered by the government for the benefit of the urban poor.</p>

<p>Zambia is a highly urbanized country with 60% of its urban population residing in low cost areas also called peri-urban, slum or informal settlements. The increase in urban population attributed to rapid migration and urbanization due to political and economic changes has taken a toll on service provision as the infrastructure development and service provision has failed to meet the demand. For the 33 peri-urban areas in Lusaka, the water supply and sanitation has been poor, inadequate and unreliable with the coverage being slightly above 50% for water while 90% of the urban population does not have access to the much needed sanitation. The low coverage is a result of lack the financial capacity on the part of the service providers to extend services to un served areas.</p><p>This research focuses on the strategies to provide sustainable water and sanitation services to peri-urban areas to ensure improved accessibility through the expansion of infrastructure and attainment of full cost recovery. In this era of increasing migration to unplanned settlements where the services are inadequate, alternatives to public provision of water and sanitation services need to be put in place. One of the alternatives is the public-private partnership which encompasses the society, private and the civil society. As has been found in the study the best alternative should not only be completely bottom up but should also be more demand driven and be able to provide for greater contributions from the affected communities.</p><p>The hypothesis of the study is to ascertain if provision of water supply to the Peri-Urban Areas (PUAs) can be achieved through the partnership between the water utility and the small scale water providers. Therefore, the objectives of the research are to: evaluate and compare the current service provision to the peri-urban areas by the utility and small scale providers in terms of technical, social and institutional arrangements and determine the best way of ensuring sustained service provision to peri urban areas and show how partnership can be the best solution to improving service delivery to these areas.</p><p>Service provision in PUAs can not be achieved without the involvement of all the stakeholders especially the community who are also the users and whose major role is paying for the service to enhance sustainability. In this study the Small Scale Water Providers (SSWP) users were found to be satisfied with the service provided than the utility users who felt that more needed to be done. The two providers are found to have different strengths which when combined would enhance service provision. The collaboration between utility with its competence in water supply, technical installations, water quality testing and SSWP with theirs in community involvement, cost recovery, effective operation and maintenance and demand driven water schemes have to be merged to achieve the intended goal and it is also an indication that the two can complement each other. Utility should therefore consider opening investment accounts for all the areas so as to detach PUAs needs from the general plan and eventually budget as they would be self sustaining and enhance willingness to pay for the users. The SSWP should therefore be viewed as partners by all and licensing should be considered by the government for the benefit of the urban poor.</p>

Climate change affects water resources suitable for human consumption, transforming water quality and quantity. These changes exacerbate vulnerabilities of human society, increasing the importance of adequately protecting and managing water resources and supplies. Growing urban populations provide an additional stress on existing water resources, particularly increasing the vulnerability of people living in poor neighbourhoods. In urban areas, official responses to climate change are currently dominated by Disaster Risk Management (DRM); however, more recently Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has emerged to support the integration of climate change adaptation in water resource planning. Based on a case study of the city of Douala, Cameroon, the thesis examines the operational implementation of both frameworks, combining observations, semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders and a survey carried out in three poor communities. The research highlights the challenges of improving the joining of both frameworks to adequately reach the urban poor, whilst being alert to, and responsive to, the autonomous adaptation strategies the poor autonomously implement and develop. At present, the IWRM and DRM frameworks are implemented separately and do not clearly reach the urban poor who face three major water-related issues (flooding, water-related diseases and water access). Other institutional water-related measures and projects are carried out by authorities in the low-income communities, but the institutions still struggle to manage the delivery of basic services and protect these communities against hazards. The lack of effective outcomes of the institutional water-related measures and projects has led to a strong process of autonomous adaptation by inhabitants of poor communities. Driven by their adaptive capacity supported by the abundance in groundwater resources, they use coping and adaptive strategies to reduce their vulnerability to water-related issues, such as alternative water suppliers. Similarly, the frequency of the flooding hazard has led the urban poor to develop practices to minimise disaster impacts. However, the autonomous strategies developed face limitations caused by the natural and build environment. In this context, the autonomous strategies of the urban poor and the strategies appear to have a strong influence on each other. While institutional projects have initiated spontaneous strategies, other strategies reduce the willingness of the low-income neighbourhoods to participate in the implementation of official, externally derived development projects.

This thesis explores the role of expert-led policy processes in addressing water quality. It does so by drawing on the ‘peri-urban' as a setting which exemplifies contemporary social and environmental challenges associated with river and groundwater pollution, as well as the health and livelihood implications for the poorest citizens in peri-urban areas. The peri-urban area of Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, provides a good reference point for understanding those challenges, while India's environmental regulatory agency (the Central Pollution Control Board) demonstrates how policy experts influence such a setting by enacting their institutional role and mandate. The thesis examines the ways in which problems associated with deteriorating water quality in peri-urban areas are often neglected in expert-led policy processes, and the consequent implications for peri-urban poor communities. It argues that expert-driven policy approaches to addressing water quality are formulated almost exclusively on scientific grounds, while underlying ‘non-scientific' decisions and choices, emerging from actors operating at levels from policy framing to policy implementation, are not awarded the same importance, thus ignoring issues that pertain to the social, environmental and political implications of the problems. By drawing on qualitative research, the thesis focuses on two case studies. One examines the Central Pollution Control Board's framing of policy initiatives while the other follows the implementation of such policies in peri-urban Ghaziabad. The thesis demonstrates how the scale of monitoring water quality is heavily biased towards national rather than local level priorities. This leads to an understatement of important water quality problems that affect peri-urban areas in favour of large-scale analyses of pollution in river basins. This has the effect of understating important water quality problems that affect peri-urban areas in poorer localities such as villages within the Ghaziabad district. The centrality of technical discourses in the articulation of and response to water quality problems makes it difficult for non-technical perspectives (derived directly from those people who are exposed to pollution) to feed into formal decision-making. This research also identified the key influence of a number of actors (municipal engineers, public health officials and district magistrates) in shaping and implementing policy outcomes on the ground in local contexts (i.e. peri-urban areas), even though their roles are often not recognised formally. The thesis is original in its attempt to merge insights from policy studies and science technology studies (STS) and apply them to the domain of water quality, a field that has not traditionally been subjected to critical social science inquiry. It also unpacks ethnographically the Board's dual role as both a policy advisor and regulator, and further illustrates how the enactment of these roles can lead to contradictory outcomes on the ground, particularly for the poorest periurban citizens.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:21:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gustavo Cosenza de Almeida Franco.pdf: 18932279 bytes, checksum: 4fefff2bba5f0f86bb6d112ccaaa7bf5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-16<br>This dissertation has as the main objective identify the people s perception and appropriation in relation with the urban rivers. The object of this study is the Jacar? brook, which is born and flows into the city named Itatiba (SP). With the help of a schedule and pre established standards, interviews were done with different segments of society organized civil society (ONG JAPPA), the municipal public power (mayor), regional water administration institutions (Committee and Consortium of basins), and common citizens which are familiar with the river. Our interviews interpretations allowed us identify the people s collective feelings about the Jacar? brook in the material area (landscape and environment) such as in the symbolic area (sentimental and affective). The definition of an urban river and its characteristic aspects also appear in this work. It aims to evince the relation between the river (water and river bank) and the population in front of the changes since the first quarter of the twenty century. The space that before was designated to leisure and social conviviality became a space hardly used and an urban level almost zero. What was possible to realize with the theorist base and with the interviews is that the complexities of the morphological dynamic of the cities environment reflect in the changes of the society values that used to be in these spaces. The clean river and the accesses to its bank propitiated activities that today are not possible, not only because of the conviviality space and social meeting, but also because the bad quality of these spaces (water and river banks). This study intended to understand the complexity of the relations in the water and urban environment areas, which embraces aspects of accesses, appropriation and a great faculty in the subjective area. Realize these relations, identify in people the feeling of belonging to a natural good and the values change that occurred contribute to a better understanding about the present scenery that embrace Jacar? brook and the futures perspectives of this relation.<br>Essa pesquisa teve como objetivo principal identificar a percep??o e a apropria??o das pessoas em rela??o aos rios urbanos. O objeto desse estudo foi o ribeir?o Jacar?, que nasce e des?gua na cidade de Itatiba (SP). Com o aux?lio de um roteiro e de crit?rios pr? estabelecidos, foram realizadas entrevistas com os diferentes segmentos da sociedade sociedade civil organizada (ONG JAPPA), poder p?blico municipal (prefeito), ?rg?os gestores da ?gua em ?mbito regional (Comit? e Cons?rcio de bacias), e, cidad?os comuns que se familiarizam com o rio. A nossa interpreta??o das entrevistas permitiu identificar os sentimentos coletivos das pessoas em rela??o ao ribeir?o Jacar?, tanto no campo f?sico (paisag?stico e ambiental) como no campo simb?lico (sentimental e afetivo). A defini??o de um rio urbano e seus aspectos caracter?sticos tamb?m aparece nesse trabalho. Procurou-se evidenciar a rela??o entre rio (?gua e margem) e a popula??o diante das mudan?as ocorridas a partir do primeiro quarto do s?culo XX. Observouse que um espa?o que antes se designava para o lazer e conv?vio social se transformou em um espa?o pouco utilizado e com um grau de urbanidade quase nulo. O que se p?de perceber com o embasamento te?rico e com as entrevistas ? que as complexidades da din?mica morfol?gica do ambiente das cidades refletem nas mudan?as de valores da sociedade que usufru?a e convivia nesses espa?os. O rio limpo e com disponibilidade de acesso ?s suas margens propiciava atividades que hoje se tornam invi?veis, n?o s? pelo pouco espa?o para o conv?vio e encontro social, mas tamb?m pela m? qualidade desses espa?os (tanto das ?guas quanto das margens). Esse estudo procurou compreender a complexidade das rela??es existentes no ?mbito da ?gua no meio urbano, o que envolve aspectos de acessibilidade, apropria??o e uma grande faculdade no campo subjetivo. Perceber essas rela??es, identificar nas pessoas o sentimento de pertencimento de um bem natural e a mudan?a de valores que ocorreram contribuem para uma melhor compreens?o sobre o cen?rio atual da intera??o do ribeir?o Jacar? na cidade e as perspectivas futuras dessa rela??o.

O mundo atual encontra-se diante de um preocupante processo de degradação ambiental, tornando o meio ambiente cada vez mais sensível e vulnerável aos impactos, especialmente no que se refere ao meio urbano. Considerando-se que a qualidade ambiental constitui-se num dos indicadores da qualidade de vida, tem-se observado um número cada dia mais crescente de ambientes naturais que vêm sendo substituídos pelo construído, o que vem transformando as cidades num ambiente cada vez mais hostil à vida do homem. Na cidade de Londrina, os problemas urbanos e ambientais são decorrentes principalmente do processo de urbanização, que desencadeou um rápido crescimento e uma expansão territorial desordenada. Este fato torna-se evidente não somente pela escassez de áreas verdes na cidade, mas também pela má distribuição dos espaços livres. Assim, atualmente, os maiores problemas da cidade residem nas áreas verdes, os recursos hídricos e o clima. Na área urbana da cidade, os elementos naturais que mais se destacam estão situados na microbacia do Ribeirão Cambé, representados pelo Parque Municipal Arthur Thomas e os Lagos Igapó; contudo, as ações antrópicas provocaram um grande desequilíbrio ambiental, evidenciado, principalmente, pela escassez de vegetação ripária e pela poluição da água. Portanto, este trabalho consiste no estudo do sistema de áreas verdes que compõe a microbacia do ribeirão Cambé, com o objetivo de criar um sistema de espaços livres de lazer e conservação ambiental, que possa contribuir para solucionar as questões urbanas e ambientais, a fim de prover melhores condições de aproveitamento da área e conseqüente melhoria da qualidade de vida da população. Quanto à metodologia, este estudo baseou-se, inicialmente, e fundamentalmente, na pesquisa bibliográfica, através de livros que versam sobre o tema; na pesquisa de caráter documental, uma vez que utilizou-se de documentos para fins de investigação histórica, além da análise espacial a partir de mapas, fotos e, finalmente, na pesquisa in loco das áreas envolvidas.<br>Nowadays, the whole world is going through a very worrying process of environmental degradation which is making the environment more and more vulnerable and sensitive to the impacts, especially concerning the urban environment. Considering the environmental quality as an indicative of life quality, it has been observed that an increasing number of natural environments have been substituted by the constructed ones, what have made the cities to provide the man an even more hostile environment. The urban and environmental problems in the city of Londrina, are the ones resulted mainly by the urban process, which caused a fast growth and a disarranged territorial expansion. This fact becomes evident not only by the scarcity of green areas in the city, but also by the misallocation of free spaces. Thus, currently, the most aggravating problems of the city are the ones related to green areas, water resources and climate. In the urban area, the most remarkable natural elements are by the Ribeirão Cambé micro basin, represented by the Arthur Thomas Park and Igapó Lakes; however, the human actions have provoked a big environmental unbalance, especially evidenced by the scarce riparian vegetation and water pollution. Therefore, this research consists of a study of the system of green areas which composes the Ribeirão Cambé micro basin with the objective of creating a system of free leisure spaces and environmental conservation that could contribute to give solutions to the urban and environmental issues, in order to provide better use condition of the area and consequent better life quality to the population. As for the methodology, it based initially on a bibliographical research through books related to the theme of this study; on a documental character research through the utilization of documents for history investigation, besides the space analyses from maps, photographs, and satellite images, and finally an in loco research.

The occurrence and fate data of pharmaceuticals in the environment were described in the article. The main list of pharmaceuticals groups identified in surface and sewage waters was shown according to studies of laboratories in the U.S. and Europe. The main approaches for reduction of pharmaceuticals releasing into environment and monitoring of surface water were considered.

This thesis investigates the effectiveness of Low Impact Development Infrastructure (LIDI) and Green Infrastructure (GI) in reducing flooding resulting from heavy rainfall events and sea-level rise, and in improving stormwater quality in the City of Miami Beach (CMB). InfoSWMM was used to simulate the 5, 10, and 100-year, 24-hour storm events, total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) loadings, and in evaluating the potential of selected LIDI and GI solutions in North Shore neighborhood. Post-development results revealed a decrease of 48%, 46%, and 39% in runoff, a decrease of 57%, 60%, and 62% in TSS, a decrease of 82%, 82%, and 84% in BOD, and a decrease of 69%, 69%, and 70% in COD loadings. SWMM 5.1 was also used to simulate the king tide effect in a cross section in Indian Creek Drive. The proposed design simulations successfully demonstrated the potential to control flooding, showing that innovative technologies offer the city opportunities to cope with climate impacts. This study should be most helpful to the CMB to support its management of flooding under any adaptation scenarios that may possibly result from climate changes. Flooding could be again caused as a result of changes in inland flooding from precipitation patterns or from sea-level rise or both.

The role of urban and regional planning in the process of government has expanded considerably in recent years. The last two decades have seen unparalleled growth in the breadth and sophistication of planning schemes throughout Australia yet during this period attempts to relate land use planning to the other activities of government have met with limited success resulting in a complex mix of land use controls for various purposes. This study examines, in the context of the management of water storage catchments, the relationships between those agencies interested in the control of land uses for water quality purposes and the traditional land use planning authorities, with particular reference to the way in which the institutional framework of government provides for co-ordination between them.

Bibliography: leaves 61-62.<br>This study discusses urban water use and affordability by different consumers in Botswana. It outlines the potential urban water requirements that are expected to accompany the continuing economic developments in the country.

By the dawn of the twenty-first century the City of Atlanta was facing a crisis of water quantity and water quality. It was involved in two-decades worth of litigation with the states of Alabama and Florida over access to surface waters that originate within Georgia, a legal dispute that threatened to severely reduce the city’ ability to provide water to its growing metropolitan population. In addition, city officials were in the beginning stages of a four-billion dollar, court-ordered program of improvements to its wastewater infrastructure that was intended to reduce the amount of pollution that spewed into its local rivers and streams. This dissertation examines the origins of these water-related problems by exploring the challenges that Atlanta’s public officials, engineers, and activists faced in planning and implementing an effective environmental policy, with particular emphasis placed on the era of post-World War II metropolitan development. Specifically, it focuses on the city’s historical efforts to achieve the comprehensive management of the area’s water resources, the technological systems adopted and solutions proposed, and the political and social milieu that facilitated or hampered these endeavors. Comprehensive water resources management was a neglected and delayed policy approach that was undertaken in the City of Atlanta only after overt threats of federal intervention. This study argues that although the area’s mid-century regional planners advocated for intergovernmental cooperation in order to manage Atlanta’s limited water supplies, their recommendations were undermined by fragmented local governance, timid political leadership, and public indifference. It further suggests that Atlanta’s water supply managers, through increases in the scale and scope of their operations and a reluctance to increase customer rates, facilitated and encouraged greater water consumption, which, in turn, placed intense burdens on both the natural hydraulic cycle and the city’s wastewater facilities. Lastly, it argues the citizen activists as well as state and federal regulators have utilized the federal court system as a blunt planning instrument when Atlanta’s leaders displayed their seeming incapacity to handle the environmental strains of uncoordinated metropolitan development.

Muchas de las ciudades costeras del mundo se están volviendo cada vez más urbana y muchas de ellas están cambiando hacia el turismo, uno de los sectores de mayor crecimiento de la economía mundial. El agua es un elemento clave para el desarrollo y las funciones urbanas y de sostenimiento para las nuevas instalaciones turísticas. Sin embargo, los cambios y las rápidas transformaciones urbanas están estimulando una creciente preocupación con respecto a los recursos hídricos. En particular, los nuevos desarrollos urbanos crecen en complejidad, mientras que las densas redes de flujos de agua se intensifican dentro del tejido urbano y plantea un gran desafío para la gobernabilidad de este recurso. Considerando que el siglo pasado ha definido y representado el fenómeno del agua como una sustancia material (H2O), la investigación del siglo 21 ha puesto en duda esa perspectiva. De hecho, estudiosos sociales han demostrado recientemente que el enfoque físico ya no es suficiente para hacer frente a los desafíos presentes y futuros del agua urbana, la incertidumbre y la gobernabilidad. Por lo tanto, los geógrafos y ecologistas políticos, en particular, han desarrollado el concepto de "ciclo hidro-social" que integra tanto la natura física como sociopolítica del agua. Mediante el empleo de este concepto, y a través de la lente de Ecología Política Urbana, han mostrado cómo los sistemas sociales, políticos, culturales y económicos gobiernan los flujos de agua a través de las sociedades, dando forma a la formación de los entornos urbanos. La gestión del agua urbana y la gobernanza han sido investigados sobre todo desde una perspectiva funcional y física, y más recientemente, desde una perspectiva social y crítica con respecto a quién en la sociedad se beneficia de los recursos hídricos, la controla y la gobierna. Por otra parte, como el agua fluye, circula y interactúa con los sistemas urbanos dominados por nuevos modelos de turismo (por ejemplo, el turismo de masas), ha sido poco investigado en términos conceptuales y metodológicos, desde la disciplina de la Ecología Política Urbana y través del concepto de ciclo hidro-social. Ambas perspectivas se ha sido analizada en esta Tesis Doctoral y sobretodo en zonas urbanas costeras mediterráneas donde el agua es un recurso fundamental para sostener el turismo que ya es el primer sector económico de estos países. Después de una introducción general al tema de investigación, en el capítulo 3 se presenta el marco teórico y metodológico utilizado para elaborar este estudio y un marco para analizar la gobernabilidad del ciclo hidro-social en entornos urbanos turísticos. En el capítulo 4 se analizan los procesos de transformación de las ciudades turísticas costeras del Mediterráneo, y su complejidad urbana, a través de la perspectiva de la Ecología Política Urbana. El capítulo también selecciona Venecia, Benidorm y Mykonos como casos de ciudades turísticas y como sistemas de análisis donde los ciclos hidro-social y su gobierno pueden asumir y revelar configuraciones particulares. En el capítulo 5 se aplica el análisis de la gobernanza del ciclo hidro-social al caso de Venecia revelando su configuración pasada y presente del ciclo hidro-social y de su gobernanza. Los resultados de este estudio indican cómo el análisis del ciclo de hidro-social es útil para pensar y mejorar las políticas de agua relacionadas con el sector del turismo y los problemas de gobernabilidad. La tesis sostiene que nuevos discursos dialécticos y las representaciones de este ciclo pueda abrir nuevas ventanas para escrutar la política de agua y la gobernabilidad. La tesis apunta a la noción de "ciclo hidro-social" para fomentar mas investigación de estas cuestiones a través de la ecología política urbana y la geografía, analizar y evaluar los flujos físicos y sociales del agua y su gestión en las ciudades costeras turísticas.<br>Many of the world's coastal cities are becoming increasingly urban and many of them are shifting towards tourism, one of the fastest growing global economic sectors. Water is a key element for development and sustaining urban functions and new tourism facilities. However, rapid urban changes and transformations are stimulating a growing concern with regard to water resources. In particular, as new urban developments grow in complexity, dense networks of water flows intensify within the urban tissue and pose a major challenge for urban water governance. Whereas the last century defined and represented the phenomenon of water as a material substance (H2O), 21st century research has thrown into doubt such a perspective. Social scholars have recently demonstrated the physical approach is no longer sufficient to deal with present and future urban water challenges, uncertainty and governance. New evidence has called for new discourses and representations of water cycle in urban environments and its governance model. Geographers and political ecologists, in particular, have put forward the concept of the "hydro-social cycle" which integrates both the physical and socio-political nature of water. By employing this concept, through the lens of Urban Political Ecology, they have showed how social, political, cultural, and economic systems govern the flows of water through societies, shaping the formation of urban environments. Research in urban water management and governance has mostly been from a functional and physical perspective, and more recently from a social and critical perspective concerning who in society benefits from water resources and who controls and governs it. Moreover, the way by which water flows, circulates, interacts and interweaves in urban systems dominated by tourism models (for example, mass tourism), has been little investigated in conceptual and methodological terms from Urban Political Ecology discipline and through the hydrosocial cycle concept. Both perspectives are analyzed, integrated and pursued here and investigated in Mediterranean urban coastal areas where water is a critical resource to sustain the tourism leading economic sector. After a general introduction to the research topic, chapter 3 presents the theoretical and methodological background used to develop this study and a framework to analyze the hydrosocial cycle governance in urban tourist environments. Chapter 4 analyses the processes of transformation of tourist coastal cities in the Mediterranean, and their urban complexity, through Urban Political Ecology perspective. The chapter also selects Venice, Benidorm and Mykonos as tourist city-cases and systems of analysis where hydrosocial cycles and their governance might assume and reveal particular configurations. In Chapter 5 the hydrosocial cycle governance analysis is applied to the Venice case revealing past and present complex hydrosocial cycle governance configuration. Results from this study indicate how the hydrosocial cycle analysis is useful to think about and improve better water policies linked to the tourism sector and the water governance issues. The thesis argues that new dialectical discourses and representations of the hydrosocial cycle open new windows to scrutinize water politics and governance. The thesis points towards the notion of “hydrosocial cycle” and argues for deeper engagement with the fields of urban political ecology and critical geography, to analyze, trace and assess physical and social water flows and their governance in tourist coastal cities.

The urban/peri-urban phenomenon is frequently studied as a territorial landscape for urban expansion, and a good deal of scholarship chronicles aspects of land annexation, housing construction, and infrastructure. But the question of how peri-urban water resources have been reallocated to serve urban needs has not received sufficient scholarly attention. Peri-urban water reallocation demands examination in arid regions where water is a critical resource. Mexico's northwest region represents one of the most critical examples; the most-drought prone region in Mexico, it is characterized by over-drafted groundwater sources and rapid urban growth. In this research, based on the case of Hermosillo, Sonora, I develop three distinct, yet related themes to examine the peri-urban phenomenon.First, this work draws on the notion of the "hydrosocial cycle" (Swyngedouw, 2004) to examine geographies of power at the urban-rural interface. Following Swyngedouw, we argue that urban water augmentation strategies reveal a distinct set of urban-rural relations of uneven social power where peri-urban water resources are "metabolized" in urban areas, reflecting the demands of powerful, politically connected urban individuals and populations over more disparate and marginalized rural producers. The Hermosillo case indicates that small-scale farming communities or ejidos are the most vulnerable water users because of their lack of political power in the governmental decision making process.Second, in this work, I examine how peri-urban rural livelihoods have been reshaped by cities' water reallocation causing ejidatarios in many cases to lose their livelihoods, but without creating new urban jobs as an alternative means of subsistence, resulting in a net negative outcome for ejido members.Finally, this research evaluates the land use/cover change dynamics and their effects in the peri-urban area of the city of Hermosillo. This study demonstrates that urban expansion causes at least two other types of land use/cover changes (LUCC) beyond the urban fringe that are not usually considered in LUCC studies. The research demonstrates that urban expansion in the peri-urban land is a broader and more complex phenomenon than previously understood and examines how water transfers act as a driver of land use/cover change.

Urban water supply, normally managed by the utilities, is conventionally facilitated through underground piped system. In most of the developing countries, the piped water supply is not sufficient to fulfil the need of communities. Communities in such localities resort to the usage of alternative modes of supply. These modes include boreholes, water tankers, vending through donkey carts, suction pumps or informal drawing from water mains. These alternative modes are used in different arrangements which extend service to consumers through ways and means not formally integrated in the conventional procedures. Studies on urban water supply have cover the supply modes, procedures, projects and programmes undertaken by the utilities. Literature is available on water vending in urban and peri urban areas. However there appears a knowledge gap in literature related to the alternative arrangements of water supply. This dissertation explores the research question as to why and how consumers in urban areas resort to the usage of alternative arrangements in water supply.

5 pp.<br>Urban run-off is created by rain, snowmelt, or irrigation water flowing across sidewalks, drive ways, roadways, and other surfaces into storm drains. All storm drains empty into rivers or river beds, lakes, streams, washes, and other storage areas often without treatment. The Urban Run-off (Non-point Source Pollution) Tip Sheet will educate the reader on urban run-off and associated water pollution. The tip sheet explains the causes, effects, and sources of non-point source pollution. It also provides information on what can be done to prevent urban run-off and water pollution. It includes both general information as well as information specific to Maricopa County.

This thesis is the first empirical study of an emerging concept, vector-agriwater. Vector-agriwater is common pool water resources that are allocated to urban centres, instead of irrigation, in order to increase the overall agricultural output of a system. In semi-arid areas of sub-Saharan Africa, urban centres are connected to a large hinterland of rainfed farming communities and farmers depend on urban services for their agricultural production. Vector-agriwater enables urban services to flourish with a safe, reliable water supply and supports a diverse urban economy, potentially facilitating farmers’ access to services and urban markets. This study reports findings from comparative case study research in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is experiencing rapid urban growth and irrigation expansion resulting in fierce competition for common pool water resources. There is a favourable policy environment for increasing irrigation for food security and poverty alleviation since Ethiopia’s macroeconomic policies are based on agricultural development-led industrialisation. This thesis challenges a dominant focus on irrigation by revealing that, under certain conditions, meeting urban water demands may support small increases in the productivity of rainfed agriculture which can produce more agricultural output overall than if those water resources are allocated to irrigation. It draws on evidence collected during a period of fieldwork from 2014-15 with mixed methods: surveys, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. Conceptually, this thesis bridges existing theories of rural development and water resources management to make an original contribution to improve our understanding of the most prudent use of water resources in semi-arid environments for increasing agricultural output. Empirically, it finds that: 1) rainfed farming households are highly underutilising urban services for different reasons, 2) an urban water supply is a limiting factor for the urban economy, 3) urban water supplies play a role in sustaining rural-urban linkages and 4) allocating water resources to urban centres instead of irrigation is politically viable but requires strong, enforceable institutions and integration of water governance actors.

Many of the recent armed conflicts have taken place in cities of the Developing World. In the resulting emergency situations, water supply and sanitation are among the most essential services to restore. They form part of the urban services available to the city dwellers that are commonly managed by local water sector institutions. This is, in principle, acknowledged by aid agencies but partnerships between them and water sector institutions do not always happen because of concerns such as: independence vis-a-vis the local government; possible corruption arid inefficiency problems; and political obstacles. Moreover, agencies prefer short-term structural rehabilitation to long-term institutional development, for which they do not always feel sufficiently qualified and experienced. This study tackles the problem by determining how these partnerships influence the performance of aid operations, in particular in terms of efficiency I effectiveness in the case of emergency response and of sustainability and coverage in the case of rehabilitation. It is based on a number of case studies selected in: Kabul (Afghanistan); Jaffna (Sri Lanka); Monrovia (Liberia); Beni (Democratic Republic of Congo); Port-au Prince and Port-de-Paix (Haiti), and Grozny (Chechnya in the Russian Federation). For emergency operations, findings show that partnerships tend to take place when the type or level of technology involved and/or security conditions do not allow the aid agency to work independently from water utilities. Partnerships do not necessarily influence efficiency I effectiveness in the short term but are beneficial because they prepare for rehabilitation. In terms of rehabilitation, findings suggest that current practice maintains a separation between large-scale rehabilitation projects and community-based projects focusing on specific neighbourhoods. This has a detrimental effect on sustainability and fails to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations. The study recommends a more coordinated approach that involves a reform of funding patterns, in order to reconcile sustainability and universal service.

An increasing number of countries worldwide is becoming water-stressed, sub-Saharan Africa being one of the most recurrent regions within this discourse. Tanzania, one of the countries in the region, is no exception: large population growth has increased pressure on its precious water resources. The largest city, Dar es Salaam, has a poorly maintained and dimensioned water supply and wastewater system. However, as this system expands and more people are given access to the water network, the water consumption of the city is expected to increase. This is problematic for the whole city; however, peri-urban areas suffer the most from its consequences, e.g. periodical water shortages. This report seeks to investigate the potential for saving water in one of these peri-urban areas, Kibondemaji, by looking at fields of application and techniques for reuse of wastewater from showers. This is done via a literature review and interviews in the field in order to analyse and compare the different systems – reuse for tap water, irrigation and toilet flushing. The interviews showed that there is wide acceptance within the community for water reuse for toilet flushing but not for tap water or irrigation. Reuse for toilet flushing also requires less treatment than other fields of application, thus being the most promising technique for implementation in Kibondemaji.

Snow deposited in urban areas is exposed to pollutants originating from traffic, wet and dry atmospheric deposition, de-icing chemicals and traction materials. The conventional pollutants found in urban snow include solids (TSS), metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, etc.), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), and chlorides. Microplastics (MPs) are emerging pollutants of interest and their presence in urban snow was reported only recently. The pollutants accumulate in snow deposits over time and may be released when snow melts, and the resulting snowmelt may carry pollutants to the receiving waters. Understanding the concentrations and mass loads of pollutants in snow and pollutant behaviour during snowmelt is helpful for planning and developing site-specific snow management practices. The overall aim of this thesis was to evaluate the quality of snow in urban areas, with respect to: (i) quantity of metals, PAHs and MPs in urban snow storage piles and roadside snowbanks, (ii) compare the quality of snow collected in the same catchment during repeated sampling campaigns and evaluate the effect of the sampling design on estimation of pollutant loads in snow piles, and (iii) investigate the pollutant release patterns and temporal variations in their concentrations in water leaving the melting snow piles (in laboratory). For such studies, snow samples were collected from snow storage piles in Frihamnen (a port facility in Stockholm, Sweden) and roadside snowbanks in Luleå and Umeå cities in Northern Sweden. The quality of snow collected in the three study areas varied considerably, because of differences in such area characteristics as the annual precipitation and snowfall, the population, average daily traffic, land use activities, and snow management activities. The average values of major parameters in analysed snow samples were as follows: TSS - 1500 mg/L, conductivity- 2.1 mS/cm, Zn – 870 µg/L, Cu – 240 µg/L, Cd – 0.48 µg/L, Cr – 120 µg/L, Pb – 50 µg/L and the sum of 16 PAHs – 3.5 µg/L. Microplastics were abundant in urban snow samples, with the following descending order of concentrations: black road wear particles, consisting of bitumen and tire wear particles,  mean = 19300 ± 47400 particles/L; road marking paints with the mean of 430 ± 998 particles /L; and, plastics particles, mean 33 ± 34 particles /L. No correlations were found between the numbers of MP particles and the site-specific parameters. Comparison of snow pile sampling designs revealed that systematic 1-m square grid sampling yielded the best estimates of mass loads (BEML) of pollutants, compared to single snow cores, or horizontally composed core samples. The mass loads estimated from composite or single snow column sampling deviated up to 50 and 400%, respectively, from BEML. Results of the laboratory snow melting indicated that PAHs in the snow samples were mostly attached to the particles; only 10% of the total PAHs burden was contributed by the meltwater and the rest stayed on the ground with the sediment residue. The dissolved concentrations of PAHs were below the detection limit (0.010 µg/L) in all the analysed samples except for Fluoranthene and Pyrene with concentrations ranging between 0.01 and 0.02 µg/L. PAHs displayed a delayed release from snow piles, which was similar to that of TSS. Truly dissolved fractions (&lt;3000 MWCO, Molecular Weight Cutoff) of Zn, Cu and Cd represented 71-90% of dissolved fractions in the snow samples collected in Luleå (snow without road salt) and 74-98% in those from Umeå (snow with added road salt). Both dissolved and truly dissolved metals showed advanced releases from all the snow piles. The influence of road salt on releases of metals and PAHs from laboratory snow piles was hard to discern, because of great differences in snow quality characteristics at both locations.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to understand and analyse the issues of grey water generation and disposal in peri-urban areas of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and to propose a suitable solution to which includes designing a treatment system for grey water (water from shower, washing and kitchen). The purification will eliminate the sanitation issues that are brought by exposing untreated grey water to the environment as well save freshwater. This will be implemented with regard to local conditions in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.</p><p>Water-borne and vector-borne diseases are mainly brought by untreated grey water, which sadly enough causes thousands of death cases every year in Tanzania. The year between 2004- 2005, 154551 cases of dysentery were reported with 170 deaths. It was also reported, 863488 cases of typhoid with 1167 deaths and last but not least 12923 cases of cholera from with 350 deaths. Deaths that were caused by diarrhoea were also reported, whereby, 90 % of them are children.</p><p>According to the interviews that were conducted, people would not want to recycle the grey water for example for washing due to socio-cultural context where water is considered dirty even after treatment. They had difficulties in believing that the same dirty grey water can be purified and reused again for various domestic activities.</p><p>The conducted characterisation of grey water showed the tested grey water has relatively high levels of BOD, basic pH, higher than average values of TSS, relatively low levels of DO, increased salinity and average level of FC. The analyses were performed on the most polluted grey water from every source. The volume of household produced grey water varies strongly, depending on socio-economic situation of the household and type of access to water supply. From estimation, the volume varies approximately between 60 -160 l/day and household for a low income household.</p><p>Living wall was proposed as grey water treatment system, because of its suitability to the peri-urban settlement and tropical climate. The system consists of concrete boxes placed over each other, filled with inner porous material and planted with plants. The system purifies grey water as it percolates through it and at the same time provides a vertical space for growing plants.</p><p>The plants for the treatment system were chosen to Typha latifolia and Scirpus species. The plants are growing in Tanzania and are being used for wastewater treatment purposes. The plants are tolerant to increased salinity and can grow in alkaline soil.</p><p>The cleaning effectiveness of the system was not tested, but only roughly estimated with help of values from a similar treatment system build in Gotland, Sweden.</p><p>Hence, the reuse of grey water in this geographical location suits best for irrigation in rural and peri-urban areas with potential for agriculture as well as groundwater recharge in the peri-urban and urban areas. Recharging groundwater with treated grey water has a potential to be observed as an indirect and long term reuse of the water as it reconnects in the hydrological cycle.</p>

Master of Science<br>Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science<br>Fred L. Hasler<br>This paper discusses the advantages of applying a utility centralized chilled water system as the district cooling choice for facilities in the high-density urban areas of China and how it will influence China’s development in the next decades. Presently, the Chinese government is trying to contribute to the world’s energy-saving goals as well as determine its sustainable development framework. As air pollution has become one of the main problems in China, indoor air quality (IAQ) is likely to gain priority as a building design consideration in the future. Consistent with this fact, this paper proposes an optimum HVAC system for cooling purposes to the Chinese government. Compared to unitary HVAC systems, the centralized HVAC system has significant advantages in system efficiency, energy reduction and cost savings and can, therefore, be a better choice. Furthermore, the paper will focus on the centralized chilled water system and demonstrate why they better match the development model in China. The application of the system in high-density urban areas will also be discussed. Due to a lack of understanding that the energy consumption of unitary systems, the first comparison presented is between unitary HVAC systems and centralized HVAC systems in individual buildings. The comparison presented will focus on the energy-saving benefits of the centralized HVAC system in individual buildings and its contribution to sustainable development. Consequently, prescribing a centralized chilled water system as a utility district cooling system and applying a centralized chilled water system to each individual building in the highdensity urban areas will be compared. Cost savings, including initial cost and life cycle cost, are the metrics used in this comparison. Additionally, energy consumption and system reliability will be explored in determining which model will be more appropriate for China's development. The paper concludes that the centralized chilled water system should become the mainstream in the high-density urban area in China. Several recommendations are also made to the Chinese government on setting up utility centralized chilled water systems.

Diffuse water pollution in urban areas is growing due to polluted runoffs. Therefore, there is a need to treat this kind of pollution. Different structural treatment practices can be used for these purposes. However, little is known about their environmental, economic and social impacts. Therefore, the aim of this study has been to develop an integrated methodology for sustainability evaluation of structural treatment practices, considering environmental, economic and social aspects. Both environmental and economic evaluations have been carried out on a life cycle basis, using life cycle assessment and life cycle costing, respectively. For social evaluation, a number of social indicators, identified and developed in this research, have been used. The methodology has been applied to the case of the Magdalena river catchment in Mexico City. Three structural treatment practices have been analysed: bio-retention unit, infiltration trench and porous pavement. Based on the assumptions and the results from this work, the bio-retention unit appears to be environmentally the most sustainable option for treatment of diffuse water pollution. It is also the second-best option for social sustainability, slightly behind the porous pavement. However, if the costs of treatment are the priority, then the porous pavement would be the cheapest option. If all the sustainability aspects evaluated here are considered of equal importance, then the bio-retention unit is the most sustainable option. Therefore, trade-offs between the different sustainability aspects are important and should be considered carefully before any decisions are made on diffuse water pollution treatment. This also includes the trade-offs with the additional life cycle impacts generated by the treatment options compared to the impacts from the untreated runoff. The decisions can only be made by the appropriate stakeholders; however, some recommendations are given, based on the outcomes of this research.

A two-dimensional numerical model (RiverFLO-2D) has been enhanced to simulate flooding of urban areas by developing an innovative wet and dry surface algorithm, accounting for variable rainfall, and recoding the model computer program for parallel computing. The model formulation is based on the shallow water equations solved with an explicit time-stepping element-by-element finite element method. The dry-wet surface algorithm is based on a local approximation of the continuity and momentum equations for elements that are completely dry. This algorithm achieves global volume conservation in the finite element, even for flows over complex topographic surfaces. A new module was implemented to account for variable rainfall in space and time using NEXRAD precipitation estimates. The resulting computer code was parallelized using OpenMP Application Program Interface, which allows the model to run up to 5 times faster on multiple core computers. The model was verified with analytical solutions and validated with laboratory and field data. Model application to the Malpasset dam break and Sumacarcel flooding event show that the model accurately predicts flood wave travel times and water depths for these numerically demanding real cases. To illustrate the predictive capability of the enhanced model, an application was made of the city of Sweetwater flooding in Miami-Dade County, FL caused by the Hurricane Irene. The simulation starts with dry bed and rainfall is provided by NEXRAD estimates. Integrating NEXRAD rainfall estimates, developing a novel dry-wet area algorithm and parallelizing RiverFLO-2D code, this dissertation presents a proof of concept to accurately and efficiently predict floods in urban areas, identifying future improvements along this line of research.

The purpose of this paper is to assess prevailed water and sanitation issues in peri-urban areas of Punjab, Pakistan. The suitable ways to develop sustainable sanitation system in relation with governance support need to be found for such zones. The analysis of empirical research suggested few important results as follow: global water and sanitation issues in peri-urban zones correlated with area specific issues; public awareness and guidelines for operation of technical systems suggested as solution in designed model was a major challenge. Inhabitants were aware of re-use of human wastes in agriculture because of old tradition in Pakistan. The usage and handling of dry toilet system was also another challenge. Corruption in society at each level from local area to government found to be the major hurdle for successful implementation of any project.

En el context de la transició cap a la sostenibilitat urbana un dels majors reptes que encaren les societats modernes és l’aprovisionament d'aigua, un recurs que és reconegut cada vegada més com a valuós mentre la quantitat i qualitat disponibles en disminueixen. La creixent evidència d'escassetat d'aigua a nivell mundial promou la necessitat de treballar en possibles sinèrgies entre les diferents fonts d’aigua existents i a diferents escales per tal de desenvolupar una xarxa més integrada, eficient i equitativa. Aquesta tesi es centra en l’aprofitament de l’aigua de pluja com a recurs endogen local amb el potencial per aconseguir un metabolisme més circular capaç de tancar els fluxos d'aigua i de complir amb els objectius d’autosuficiència hídrica en entorns urbans. Aquesta estratègia pot ajudar a reduir les infraestructures de captació i tractament necessàries per l'aigua potable, així com les de gestió i tractament d'aigües residuals, a la vegada que permet un major control del d’avingudes i inundacions en entorns urbans. No obstant actualment hi ha una manca de coneixement al voltant de quina és l’estratègia més adequada per a recollir aigües pluvials aplicable a cada escala urbana per una banda, i per l’altra la quantitat i qualitat del l’aigua d’escolament tampoc ha estat abordada en detall sota les condicions climàtiques i ambientals pròpies de les zones Mediterrànies (més concretament a Espanya). L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és donar resposta a aquestes preguntes mitjançant el plantejament, l’avaluació i la validació del potencial i les avantatges de l’aprofitament d’aigües pluvials amb el menor impacte possible per tal d’assolir una millora en el cicle urbà de l’aigua en regions Mediterrànies. Per tal d'avaluar l'ecoeficiència de diverses estratègies de captació d'aigües pluvials en barris de nova construcció i determinar així l'estratègia òptima ambientalment, la infraestructures necessàries per la recollida, emmagatzematge i subministrament han estat dissenyades i avaluades des de la perspectiva de l’Anàlisi de Cicle de Vida (ACV). A més, diverses variables que afecten directament aquests sistemes han estat seleccionades i avaluades convenientment; entre elles s’inclou el model de densitat urbana, l'escala d’estudi , la ubicació del tanc dins de l'edifici, l'alçada d’aquest i per últim l’estratègia de subministrament d'aigua. Els resultats determinen l’impacte ambiental de cada escenari al llarg del cicle de vida de les infraestructures i indiquen l'opció ambientalment òptima per la recollida d'aigües pluvials a diferents escales. L'avaluació de la quantitat i qualitat potencial de d’aquest recurs en un entorn urbà s'ha desenvolupat per mitjà d'un estudi de cas experimental. Per a dur-lo a terme, set superfícies de captació diferents van ser seleccionats dins del campus de la UAB per cadascuna de les quals va ser adaptada una instal·lació de recollida i emmagatzematge de pluvials al llarg d’un període de 22 mesos de campanya experimental . La selecció de les diferents superfícies de captació es va realitzar d'acord amb dos criteris : el material de la superfície i el seu tipus d'ús . L'avaluació de la quantitat consistir en el càlcul dels models de regressió d'escolament - precipitació , l'estimació de la coeficient d’escolament (RC) global i l'abstracció inicial, mentre que les avaluacions de qualitat comprenen una varietat significativa dels paràmetres fisicoquímics i microbiològics. Els resultats van ser analitzats des d'un enfocament estadístic per validar la seva significança i correlació. Els criteris ambientals resultants d’aquesta tesi estan pensats per ajudar a definir les estratègies òptimes i determinar els usos de l'aigua de pluja amb els que millor s’aconsegueix la transició cap a la sostenibilitat de les zones urbanes, així com el redisseny més ecoeficient de les xarxes d'aigua urbana en el context del canvi climàtic. Aquests resultats poden servir d'orientació en la planificació i disseny urbà mitjançant la integració de criteris ambientals en els processos de presa de decisions.<br>In the context of transition towards urban sustainability one of the major challenges facing modern societies is the provision of water, a resource that is increasingly recognized as a valuable resource while the quantity and quality available is decreasing. The growing evidence of water scarcity worldwide enhance the need to work on synergies among the different existing water sources and urban scales in order to develop more integrated, efficient and equitable water networks. In this sense, this dissertation focuses on the use of rainwater as a local endogenous resources to achieve a more circular metabolism able to close water flows and capable of accomplish urban water self-sufficiency. This can help to reduce the collection and treatment infrastructure needs for drinking water as well as the management and treatment of wastewater while having a greater control of floods in urban environments. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on which is the most adequate rainwater harvesting (RWH) strategy for each urban scale on one hand, while on the other the quantity and quality of runoff has yet not been addressed under the local climatic and environmental conditions of Mediterranean areas (more specifically in Spain). The aim of this research was to answer this question by investigating, evaluating and validating the potential and advantages of using rainwater to achieve, with the lower impact possible, the improvement of the water cycle in urban areas located within the Mediterranean climate. In order to evaluate the eco-efficiency of several RWH strategies for newly built neighbourhoods and to determine the environmentally optimum strategy, the necessary rainwater collection, storage and distribution infrastructures were designed and then environmentally assessed through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. In addition, several variables that directly affect RWH infrastructures were selected and conveniently assessed; these include the urban density model, the building scale, the tank location within the building, the building height and at last the water supplying strategy. The results evaluate the environmental performance of each scenario and indicate the most environmentally friendly option for rainwater harvesting at different scales. The assessment of the potential RWH quantity and quality in an urban environment was developed by means of an experimental case study. To develop it, seven different catchment surfaces were selected within the UAB campus for which an experimental RWH installation was adapted and run over a period of 22 months of experimental campaign. The selection of catchment areas was done according to two criteria: surface material and type of use of the surface. The quantity assessment consisted of the calculation of the runoff –rainfall regression models, the estimation of the global RC and of the initial abstraction, while quality assessments comprised a significant variety of physicochemical and microbiological parameters. From a statistical approach all results were tested for significance and correlated. The resulting environmental criteria are thought so to define the optimal strategies and uses of rainwater that best leads towards the sustainability of urban areas as well as the most eco-efficient redesign of urban water grids in the context of climate change. These results may provide useful guidance in urban planning and design by integrating environmental criteria into the decision-making processes.

The statistical evaluation of flood records requires long data series to extrapolate reliable peak discharges and related recurrence intervals. Often the records are extended with historical information concerning the water level. As the distribution functions are usually fitted to the discharge values historic stage-discharge-relations must be found to convert these values. Regarding the Elbe river at the Dresden gauge the history of a water course and its morphology is investigated. Using the former flow cross sections water profile calculations are carried out yielding different stage-discharge-curves for each historic period. Checking the flood stages since 1501 A.D. and the related peak discharges, resulted in reduced discharge values. The new peak discharge values allow an update of the flood records as well as recurrence periods and lead to the result that e.g. the 2002 flood seems to have a recurrence period three times longer than it was assumed up to now.

The statistical evaluation of flood records requires long data series to extrapolate reliable peak discharges and related recurrence intervals. Often the records are extended with historical information concerning the water level. As the distribution functions are usually fitted to the discharge values historic stage-discharge-relations must be found to convert these values. Regarding the Elbe river at the Dresden gauge the history of a water course and its morphology is investigated. Using the former flow cross sections water profile calculations are carried out yielding different stage-discharge-curves for each historic period. Checking the flood stages since 1501 A.D. and the related peak discharges, resulted in reduced discharge values. The new peak discharge values allow an update of the flood records as well as recurrence periods and lead to the result that e.g. the 2002 flood seems to have a recurrence period three times longer than it was assumed up to now.

La tesi analitza el Nexe Aigua-Energia (WEN) a través d'una metodologia mixta centrant-se en el metabolisme urbà de l'aigua a Benidorm i Barcelona. El cas de Benidorm examina el subministrament d'aigua a escala municipal i en els sectors hoteler i recreatiu, mentre que el cas de Barcelona el WEN s'explora a nivell de llar. La tesi quantifica l'energia per a l'aigua (intensitat energètica de l’energia de l'aigua, energy for water) per avaluar les diferents proporcions d'energia en el del subministrament i 'ús final de l’aigua. Per la seva part, l’'anàlisi qualitativa justifica el WEN com un concepte dinàmic i en evolució, que interactua dins i entre les escales. Seguint l'enfocament d'ecologia política urbana, les troballes empíriques dels estudis de cas manifesten la complexitat i les desigualtats en les relacions socio-naturals al voltant del WEN urbà, que estan influenciades per les condicions socio-tècniques i els processos ecològics, socials i polítics que ocorren entre diversos actors i institucions. A Benidorm, un epítom del turisme de masses, l'energia per a l'aigua varia considerablement depenent dels escenaris climàtics. Complexos acords socials i relacions de poder es donen a conèixer en el cicle urbà de l'aigua, considerat com l'eix del desenvolupament del turisme. L'aigua dessalada de la planta de Mutxamel augmenta significativament l'energia per a l'aigua del cicle d'aigua. En canvi, les aigües residuals tractades i els transvasaments interconques d'emergència semblen ser una solució més convenient des del punt de vista energètic. La forta pressió governamental en favor de la dessalinització a Espanya està obligant a l'autoritat local d'aigua de la Marina Baixa a utilitzar un recurs molt més intensiu en energia. Així, Benidorm ens un exemple d'interessos polítics a nivell nacional que interfereixen amb solucions en principi més òptimes a nivell local. A la llum dels recents desenvolupaments tecnològics i de gestió, el cas de Benidorm demostra els desafiaments en el nexe aigua-energia, especialment quan l'escassetat es transfereix de l'aigua a l'energia. A escala micro, els hotels i activitats recreatives destaquen com l'ús d'energia i aigua és essencial per a activitats clau com l'escalfament d'aigua, les piscines i la bugaderia. La combinació de diferents fonts energètiques dels hotels enquestats es va basar en diversos vectors energètics que causen les variacions de l'energia per a l'aigua. L'ús d'energia renovable i.e. panells solars tèrmics, biomassa i sistemes de bomba de calor d'origen terrestre, i l'aigua regenerada s'observen com una nova tendència. Tot i destacar una baixa conscienciació sobre WEN, suggereixo que l'ús de l'energia per a l'aigua, juntament amb la intensitat de l'ús d'aigua i energia, podria ser un indicador valuós per identificar pèrdues i guanys associades a guanys i pèrdues associades al WEN. L'estudi de cas de Barcelona enfoca el WEN a nivell de llar, agregant una perspectiva social. Examina les llars que pateixen pobresa energètica i hídrica, o la vulnerabilitat, traduïda en les eficiències experimentades en el flux d'aigua i energia en el metabolisme domèstic per a les funcions de suport, cura i reproducció. A escala metropolitana, un nombre considerable de llars està pagant factures d'aigua i energia desproporcionades en comparació als seus ingressos. La perspectiva de WEN crida l'atenció sobre per comprendre els augments del preu de l'aigua en relació amb l'energia, ja que l'escassetat afecta els requeriments d'energia per al tractament i la producció d'aigua. A més, les existències d'habitatges antics i la baixa presència de la calefacció central proporcionen condicions socio-tècniques poc adequades per a les llars vulnerables. Finalment, la tesi destaca el paper del moviment social, Aliança Contra la Pobresa Energètica (APE) que, a Barcelona, ha canviat el discurs sobre la vulnerabilitat aigua-energia. Utilitzo el concepte de coproducció de la natura i el coneixement per explicar com APE va transformar el discurs al voltant de la fallides de les polítiques institucionals i de governança de les empreses. Sostinc que el tractament conjunt de l'energia i l'aigua demostra amb major efectivitat la realitat que amb les s'enfronten les llars vulnerables. Empíricament, també proporciona lliçons comparatives per a millorar la comprensió de les diferents normes institucionals que són pròpies de l'anomenat ambientalisme de mercat.<br>La tesis analiza el Nexo Agua-Energía (WEN) a través de una metodología mixta y centrándose en el metabolismo urbano del agua en Benidorm y Barcelona. El caso de Benidorm examina el suministro de agua a escala municipal y en los sectores hotelero y recreativo, mientras que el caso de Barcelona el WEN se explora a nivel de hogar. La tesis cuantifica la energía para el agua (intensidad energética del agua, energy for water) para evaluar las diferentes proporciones de energía en el suministro de agua y el uso final. Además, el análisis cualitativo justifica el WEN como un concepto dinámico y en evolución, que interactúa dentro y entre las escalas. Siguiendo el enfoque de ecología política urbana, los hallazgos empíricos de los estudios de caso manifiestan la complejidad y las desigualdades en las relaciones socio-naturales alrededor del WEN, que están influenciadas por las condiciones socio-técnicas y los procesos ecológicos, sociales y políticos que ocurren entre varios actores e instituciones. En Benidorm, un epítome del turismo de masas, la energía para el agua varía considerablemente según los escenarios climáticos. Complejos acuerdos sociales y relaciones de poder se manifiestan en el ciclo urbano del agua, considerado como el eje del desarrollo del turismo. El agua desalada de la planta de Muchamiel aumenta significativamente la energía para el agua del ciclo de agua. En cambio, las aguas residuales tratadas y los trasvases intercuencas de emergencia parecen ser una solución más conveniente desde el punto de vista energético. La fuerte presión gubernamental en favor de la desalinización en España está obligando a la autoridad local de agua a utilizar un recurso mucho más intensivo en energía. Benidorm proporciona un ejemplo de intereses políticos a nivel nacional que interfieren con soluciones en principio más óptimas a nivel local. A la luz de los recientes desarrollos tecnológicos y de gestión, el caso de Benidorm demuestra los desafíos en el nexo agua-energía, especialmente cuando la escasez se transfiere del agua a la energía. A escala micro, los hoteles y actividades recreativas destacan como el uso de energía y agua es esencial para actividades clave como el calentamiento de agua y el vapor, las piscinas y la lavandería. La combinación de distintas fuentes energéticas en los hoteles encuestados se basó en diversos vectores que causan las variaciones de la energía para el agua. El uso de energía renovable i.e. paneles solares térmicos, biomasa y sistemas de bomba de calor de origen terrestre, y el agua regenerada se observan como una nueva tendencia. A pesar de destacar una baja concienciación sobre WEN, sugiero que el uso de la energía para el agua, junto con la intensidad del uso de agua y energía, podría ser un indicador valioso para identificar pérdidas y ganancias asociadas al WEN. El estudio de Barcelona aproxima el WEN a nivel de hogar, agregando una perspectiva social. Examina los hogares que sufren la pobreza energética e hídrica, o la vulnerabilidad, traducida en deficiencias en el flujo de agua y energía en el metabolismo doméstico para las funciones de sustento, cuidado y reproducción. A escala metropolitana, un número considerable de hogares está pagando facturas de agua y energía desproporcionadas en comparación con sus ingresos. La perspectiva de WEN llama la atención sobre aumentos del precio del agua en relación con la energía, ya que la escasez afecta a los requerimientos de energía para el tratamiento y la producción de agua. Además, las existencias de viviendas antiguas y la baja presencia de calefacción central proporcionan condiciones socio-técnicas poco adecuadas para los hogares vulnerables. Por último, la tesis destaca el papel del movimiento social Alianza Contra la Pobreza Energética (APE) que, en Barcelona, cambió el discurso sobre la vulnerabilidad agua-energía. Utilizo el concepto de coproducción de la naturaleza y el conocimiento para explicar cómo APE transformó el discurso en torno a los fallos políticos, institucionales y de gobernanza de las empresas comercializadoras. Sostengo que el tratamiento conjunto de la energía y el agua demuestra con mayor efectividad la realidad que con la que se encuentran los hogares vulnerables. Empíricamente, también proporciona lecciones comparativas para mejorar la comprensión de las diferentes normas institucionales que son propias del denominado ambientalismo de mercado.<br>The thesis analyzes the Water-Energy Nexus (WEN) by applying mixed methodology and focusing on the urban water metabolism in Benidorm and Barcelona. The case of Benidorm examines water supply at the municipal scale and the hotel and recreational sector, while the case of Barcelona explores the WEN at the household-level. The thesis quantifies energy for water (energy intensity for water) to evaluate different energy requirements for water supply and end-use. In addition, qualitative analyses are needed to apprehend the WEN as being dynamic and relying on evolving relationships; it interacts within and across scales. Following the urban political ecology approach, the empirical findings from the case studies manifest the complex and inequitable socio-natural relations involving the WEN in the urban area, which are influenced by socio-technical conditions as well as ecological, social and political processes manifested through various actors and institutions. In Benidorm, an epitome of mass tourism, energy for water varies considerably according to different precipitation scenarios. Complex social arrangements and power relationships are unveiled in the urban water cycle, which is considered the backbone of tourism development. Desalinated water from the Muchamiel desalination plant increases energy for water significantly. While treated wastewater and emergency interbasin water transfer appear to be a more convenient solution energy-wise and in social terms, the strong governmental push for desalination in Spain forces the local water authority towards the use of a much more energy-intensive resource. It provides an example of political interests at the national level that interferes with probably more optimal solutions at the local level. In light of recent technological and managerial developments, the Benidorm case demonstrates the challenges in the water-energy nexus, whereby scarcity is transferred from water to energy. At the microscale, Benidorm’s hotels and recreational facilities highlight that the use of both energy and water are essential for key activities, such as water heating and steam generation, swimming pool and laundry. The energy-mix of hotels that was surveyed relied on varied energy-carriers, which cause the diversification of energy for water. The use of reclaimed water and renewable energy, i.e. solar thermal panels, biomass and ground source heat pump systems, is observed as a new trend. Despite acknowledging low awareness on the WEN, I suggest that the use of energy for water, along with water- and energy-use intensity, could be a valuable indicator to identify the WEN trade-offs. The Barcelona case study focuses on the WEN at the household-level by adding the social perspective. It examines households suffering from water and energy poverty – or vulnerability, namely those who experience insufficient water and energy flows required in their respective domestic metabolisms for sustenance, care and reproductive functions. At the metropolitan scale, a substantial number of households are paying disproportionately larger water and energy bills compared to their income. The WEN perspective calls attention to understanding water price increases in relation to energy as scarcity affects the energy requirement for water treatment and production. In addition, old housing stocks and the low infiltration rate of central heating provides hostile socio-technical conditions for vulnerable households. Lastly, the thesis highlights the role of a social movement ‘Aliança contra pobresa energètica’ (English: ‘Alliance against Energy Poverty’, APE) in Barcelona in changing the discourse on water-energy vulnerability. I borrow the concept of the co-production of nature and knowledge to explain how APE transformed the discourse on politics, institutional and governance failure concerning commodified utilities. I argue that addressing energy and water issues together more effectively demonstrates the reality faced by vulnerable households. Empirically, it also provides comparative lessons for enhancing the understanding of different institutional norms under market environmentalism.<br>Vegeu resum-corea-hyyo1de1.pdf

Eighty percent of the 780 million people worldwide that access water from an unimproved source live in rural areas. In rural areas, water systems are often managed by community based organizations and many of these systems do not provide service at the designed levels. The Sustainability Analysis Tool developed in Chapter 2 can inform decision making, characterize specific needs of rural communities in the management of their water systems, and identify weaknesses in training regimes or support mechanisms. The framework was tested on 61 statistically representative geographically stratified sample communities with rural water systems in the Dominican Republic. The results demonstrated the impact that long term support by outside groups to support community management activities can improve sustainability indicators, including financial sustainability which is a significant issue throughout the world. When analyzing the financial sustainability of water systems, it is important to consider all life-cycle costs including the expenditures made by households. Chapter 3 analyzes financial and economic expenditures on water services in 9 rural and peri-urban communities in Burkina Faso. Data from household and water point surveys were used to determine: socio-economic status, financial and economic expenditures, and service levels received by each household. In Burkina Faso recurrent financial and economic expenditures on water service ranged between US$5 and US$9.5 per person per year, with cumulative costs approximately US$19.5 per person per year. The average expenditures on water in Burkina Faso were well above the affordability threshold used by World Bank demonstrating the need to improve subsidies in the water sector. The sustainability of water supply systems and the ability to ensure the health benefits of these systems is also influenced by the deficiencies in sanitation infrastructure. Unimproved sanitation can be a source of water contamination and a risk factor in water related disease. Furthermore, the effective management of community water supply infrastructure is not a sufficient condition for ensuring water quality and eliminating health risks to consumers. As a result water treatment technologies, such as ceramic water filters (CWFs), implemented and managed at the household level and combined with safe storage practices are proposed as a means of reducing these risks. The performance of CWFs in laboratory settings has differed significantly from field studies with regard to microbial treatment efficacy and also hydraulic efficiency. Chapter 4 presents a 14 month field study of two locally manufactured CWFs conducted in a rural community in the Dominican Republic. Each of the 59 households in the community received one filter. The CWFs in this study performed poorly with regard to water quality and hydraulic performance. Focus group meetings and household survey suggests that flow rate is a major issue for user acceptability. To address the user concerns Chapter 5 presents two mathematical models for improving the hydraulic performance for the frustum and paraboloid designs. The models can be used to predict how changes in user behavior or filter geometry affects the volume of water produced and therefore can be used as tools to help optimize filter performance.

Studies carried out in a number of countries have revealed statistically significant negative correlations between death rates from cardiovascular disease (CVD) or ischaemic heart disease (IHD), and the hardness of local water supplies, a phenomenon which is known as the "water story". These findings have not, however, been universal and it was decided that a study carried out in South Africa with its high CVD and IHD death rates, might yield meaningful results to contradict or support existing findings. In 1983 a pilot study was thus initiated using a spatial model and a more detailed study began in 1984. This study ultimately involved the correlation of standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for CVD and IHD with total water hardness and with a number of contributory and associated water quality factors. The study supported the hypothesised "water story", showing the existence of negative correlations between standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for both CVD and IHD, and the hardness of potable water, whether measured as total hardness or as its two major contributory cations, calcium and magnesium. The level of statistical significance at which this correlation occurred, however, varied with differences in methodological approach. A "population-unweighted" methodology, which was applied to enable comparison with a number of previously published studies, pointed to potassium (a known hypertension normalisor) in permanently hard water as being an important factor. Problems inherent to each methodological approach have been discussed as has the need for improved data. In this regard, the need for a National water quality data bank has been emphasised.

This study identifies the prevailing scarcity of urban public services and the conceptual relations among service delivery, patronage, bureaucratic activities and structural factors in the Lagos Metropolitan region. It examines the extent to which clientelism, bureaucratic decision rules and structural theoretical models explain water service delivery patterns in Festival Town (Festac), a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria. The unprecedented pace of growth of the Lagos Metropolis since the mid-twentieth century gave rise to the spectacular spatial expansion of the continuous built up region. Urban industrial and governmental institutions have not kept pace with the population growth rate of Lagos. This demographic trend also continues to tax the urban service delivery system. The federal government policy proscription entailed the planning and creation of a new town, Festival Town (Festac), as a response to addressing the urban public service problem in the Greater Lagos. Festac is well serviced with modern urban infrastructural facilities for the delivery of water supply and water related services. In recent years, however, the local residents of Festac have been faced with a similar problem in water supply which is not different from that experienced by urban residents in other parts of Lagos. The painstaking efforts that detailed a pre-planned, designed and carefully considered development of a new urban community have not succeeded in creating a regularly functioning delivery of water supply and water related services. Various analytical tools were utilyzed in conducting the study. The study concludes that the central factors in the prevailing scarcity of water supply in Festac are technology and infrastructural dependence and dwindling federal state revenues, all of which exacerbate the internal production of essential urban public services and thereby making delivery problematic. The findings presented in this study demonstrate the significance of the specific articulation expressed in the link between the Nigerian export sector, the fiscal capacity of the federal state and public service financing. This study recommends that if the Nigerian public service delivery system is to overcome its contemporary problems, policies should be adopted which largely depend on existing internal resources.

Presently, at least 70% of the total urban population in Zambia resides in peri-urban areas. Peri-urban settlements are characterized by high population growth, high poverty levels and inadequate access to water and sanitation which often result in increased prevalence of diseases. The situation is even made worse because of the position that many local authorities have taken regarding the implementation of infrastructure and service development in these settlements. Local authorities in developing countries have continuously focused on implementation of traditional and unsustainable technologies for service provision to meet the demand despite the technologies’ inability to serve the rapidly growing peri-urban areas. These technologies have high costs, lack proper operation and maintenance, and are not affordable to majority of peri-urban residents. Therefore, this study was set out to identify and evaluate the existing and possible low-cost technology options for sustainable water supply and sanitation in two selected peri-urban areas of Lusaka, Zambia, namely Kanyama and Chazanga. This was achieved through a household survey conducted in the selected communities. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were held in the respective areas to obtain baseline data on the current water supply and sanitation situation, the type of technologies used, challenges faced regarding water and sanitation technologies, and to get the communities perceptions and preferences of different technology options. Thereafter, a Multi-Criterion Analysis methodological approach was used to assess the selected technologies by the communities, taking into consideration of the economic, socio-cultural, technical, institutional and environmental aspects. Results from the study revealed that a few low-cost water supply and sanitation technologies are feasible for peri-urban areas. For Chazanga, communal taps, boreholes, protected wells, and rain water harvesting were found to be feasible for water supply. For sanitation, on-site sanitation services such as compost toilets, dry toilets, as well as Ventilated Improved Pits (VIP) and Pour-flush, Fossa Alterna and the Urine Diversion Dry Toilet (UDDT) are some of the low-cost technologies that can be implemented in the area. The VIP is suitable for households that rely on water from communal taps for their use. As majority of households in the area have taps on their plots, the Pour-flush can be an alternative. The Fossa Alterna and the Urine Diversion Dry Toilet (UDDT) have low initial cost and can accommodate different households. Additionally, the area has a lower household size and majority of the residents in the area landlords, which makes it easy to teach users how the toilet operates as well as its maintenance. For Kanyama, feasible and sustainable low-cost water supply facilities include boreholes and communal taps. Kanyama has limited plot sizes thereby causing the challenge of implementing infrastructure such as rainwater harvesting. Additionally, continuous increase in urban population in the area, coupled with the construction of unregulated households and sanitation facilities, renders protected wells not feasible to implement in Kanyama. In terms of sanitation, wet on-site sanitation facilities such as Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines are accepted by the community. The VIP does not require water for use and if properly constructed can be used as a bathroom. The Pour-flush toilet is also another alternative for provision of sanitation in the area. However, the latrine can be expensive to construct for majority of the residents. Dry sanitation such as the Urine Diversion Dry Toilet (UDDT) is not feasible for Kanyama. The UDDT requires continuous awareness on its use especially in rented households where tenants are constantly changing. The method of evaluating appropriate technology options for peri-urban areas and thereafter letting the users from the communities choose from the proposed technologies ensures a participatory approach. Results from Multi-Criterion Analysis (MCA) showed that stakeholders’ influence is essential for the selection of sustainable technology options. However, it is important that the implementation process of any technology in peri-urban areas consider different aspects including the local environmental, socio-cultural, economic, technical, and institutional conditions. Finally, the outcome of this study will not only provide baseline data for successful implementation of appropriate low-cost water supply and sanitation technology options in Chazanga and Kanyama, but also other peri-urban communities in Zambia.

Rapid Bioassessment Protocols integrate a suite of community, population, and functional metrics, determined from the collection of benthic macroinvertebrates or fish, into a single assessment. This study was conducted in Dallas County Texas, an area located in the blackland prairie eco-region that is semi-arid and densely populated. The objectives of this research were to identify reference streams and propose a set of metrics that are best able to discriminate between differences in community structure due to natural variability from those caused by changes in water quality due to watershed impacts. Using geographic information systems, a total of nine watersheds, each representing a different mix of land uses, were chosen for evaluation. A total of 30 metrics commonly used in RBP protocols were calculated. Efficacy of these metrics to distinguish change was determined using several statistical techniques. Ten metrics were used to classify study area watersheds according to stream quality. Many trends, such as taxa presence along habitat quality gradients, were observed. These gradients coincided with expected responses of stream communities to landscape and habitat variables.

This dissertation will focus on the analysis of water and sanitation service delivery solutions in the context of peri-urban and rural areas. In particular, it will investigate if public-public partnerships (PuPs) can represent a valid and effective alternative to private sector participation. As highlighted by PSIRU (in Hall et al, 2005: 4), there are different types of PuPs, including a large variety of actors: national public authorities, communities, NGOs, Trade Unions, international public authorities and international associations. This dissertation will focus on a specific kind of PuPs, the partnerships between public authorities and communities, where the responsibility for service provision is progressively transferred from national governments to local people. This choice is motivated by the growing importance given to the participation of local people in the development of initiatives directly or indirectly affecting their condition of life. As argued by IRC (IRC, 2007), in the last years community management has become one of the most important concept, a `guiding principle¿ in most rural water supply and sanitation schemes. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine if community-based management could possibly represent a better option than public-private partnerships (PPPs) for the delivery of rural water and sanitation services and capable to be successfully adopted in various national contexts, playing a role of growing importance. The dissertation will first outline the general situation of water resources at world scale and in particular in developing countries. The relationship between water / poverty reduction and water / sustainability will be examined. The dissertation will realize an overview of the water management systems. Then, this study will analyze the water services in rural and peri-urban areas of developing countries, where, according to the IFAD (2001: 2), more than half of the world¿s poor, over 70%, live and depend on farming activities for their survival. The characteristics of rural areas, including the presence of isolated settlements and the lack of infrastructure facilities, and the inefficiency of central and local governments have, in many cases, produced critical situations in terms of inadequate rural water supplies and sanitation infrastructure. This dissertation will, then, define the concepts of PPPs, PuPs and government-communities partnerships, delineating their historical evolution and the increasing attention and support they have received. In particular, it will explore the main literature and critics concerning PPPs, highlighting strengths and weaknesses that have been attributed to this kind of partnership. This study will examine two case studies where PPPs systems have been implemented. Moreover, this dissertation will analyze the link between community management, on one side, and efficiency and sustainability, on the other, by presenting two case studies - Salvegu, Ghana and Karnataka, India - where local communities are responsible of the operation and maintenance of rural water and sanitation services. Through the analysis of the case studies, in fact, it will identify some of the characteristics of Government-communities partnership that could contribute to improve water and sanitation service delivery even in remote and disadvantaged rural areas and, on the other side, the weaknesses and limits of this kind of partnership. Finally, the dissertation will propose a new concept of water partnership, the Local Water Partnership, based on the cooperation among 3 local water partners: local government, local community and local private sector.<br>Esta tesis se centrará en el análisis de las soluciones de distribución de agua y servicios de saneamiento en el contexto de las áreas peri-urbanas y rurales. Se investigará si las asociaciones público-públicas (PuP) pueden representar una alternativa válida y eficaz a la participación del sector privado. Como destacado por la PSIRU (en Hall et al, 2005: 4), hay diferentes tipos de PuPs, incluyendo una gran variedad de actores: autoridades públicas nacionales, comunidades, ONG, sindicatos, autoridades públicas internacionales y asociaciones internacionales. Esta tesis se centrará en un tipo específico de las PuPs, las asociaciones entre las autoridades públicas y las comunidades, donde la responsabilidad de la prestación de servicios se transfiere progresivamente a partir de los gobiernos nacionales hacia la población local. Esta elección está motivada por la creciente importancia dada a la participación de la población local en el desarrollo de iniciativas que afectan directa o indirectamente a su condición de vida. Como argumentado por el IRC (IRC, 2007), en los últimos años la gestión comunitaria se ha convertido en uno de los concepto más importante, un "principio rector" en la mayoría de los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua-saneamiento rural. El propósito de este estudio es examinar si la gestión basada en la comunidad local podría representar una opción mejor que las asociaciones público-privadas (PPPs) para el suministro de agua y servicios de saneamiento en zonas rurales y capaz de ser adoptado con éxito en diversos contextos nacionales. La tesis describirá en primer lugar la situación general de los recursos hídricos a escala mundial y en los países en desarrollo. La relación entre agua/reducción de la pobreza y agua/sostenibilidad será examinada. La tesis doctoral realizará una análisis general de los sistemas de gestión del agua. Entonces, este estudio analizará los servicios de agua en zonas rurales y peri-urbanas de los países en desarrollo, donde, de acuerdo con el FIDA (2001: 2), más de la mitad de los pobres del mundo, más del 70%, viven y dependen de las actividades agrícolas para su supervivencia. Las características de las zonas rurales, incluyendo la presencia de asentamientos aislados y la falta de instalaciones de infraestructura, y la ineficiencia de los gobiernos centrales y locales, en muchos casos, han producido situaciones críticas en cuanto a la insuficiencia de los suministros de agua en zonas rurales y la infraestructura de saneamiento. Esta disertación definirá los conceptos de PPP, PuPs, y de asociaciones entre administraciones públicas y comunidades, delineando su evolución histórica y la creciente atención y el apoyo que han recibido. Se estudiará la principal literatura y la crítica relativa a las PPPs, analizando los puntos fuertes y débiles que se han atribuido a este tipo de asociación. Este estudio examinará dos estudios de casos donde se han implementado sistemas de PPPs. Por otra parte, esta tesis doctoral analizará la relación entre la gestión por parte de la comunidad, por un lado, y la eficiencia y la sostenibilidad, por el otro, mediante la presentación de dos estudios de caso - Salvegu, Ghana y Karnataka, India - donde las comunidades locales son responsables de la operación y el mantenimiento de servicios de agua y saneamiento rural. A través del análisis de los estudios de casos, la tesis va a identificar algunas de las características de las asociaciones entre autoridades gubernamentales y las comunidades locales que podrían contribuir a mejorar la prestación de servicios de agua y saneamiento, incluso en las zonas rurales remotas y desfavorecidas y, por otro lado, las debilidades y límites de este tipo de asociación. Por último, la tesis propondrá un nuevo concepto de asociación hidrica, la Partnership Hidrica Local, basado en la cooperación entre los 3 socios locales de agua: el gobierno local, la comunidad local y el sector privado local.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:33:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0<br>Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0<br>Tese (Doutoramento)<br>IPEN/T<br>Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Essa Tese apresenta um framework para implementação de redesenho urbanístico de assentamentos informais no contexto da corrente atual do planejamento urbano integrado aos dos recursos hídricos, focado na conservação da água e na sustentabilidade ambiental. Entre outros, sugere-se a implantação do desenho urbanístico de forma participativa e colaborativa. Apresenta-se, de forma ilustrativa proposta de redesenho para a comunidade da Vila Cascatinha localizada na Baixada de Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, região de expansão da cidade, que serviu como objeto de estudo. A área do assentamento é de indefinição fundiária e atualmente é ocupada por aproximadamente 900 famílias. O framework baseia-se na corrente do urbanismo de baixo impacto, sobretudo do Low Impact Urban Design and Devolopment (LIUDD). Os dispositivos são implantados na escala local, de forma descentralizada para a conservação e manejo das águas pluviais no meio urbano. A pesquisa está inserida no Projeto HIDROCIDADES, desenvolvido dentro dos princícpios da metodologia de pesquisa-ação proposta por Thiollent. Foi realizado trabalho de campo e entrevistas guiadas, tendo sido identificado um percentual expressivo de moradores descendentes de antigos pequenos produtores agrícolas. Na pesquisa, moradores elencaram os principais problemas do assentamento. Além disso, foram diagnosticadas potencialidades dos moradores, dentro do conceito de Tecnologia Social. A prospecção entre os moradores também procurou verificar, em um contexto de colaboração, o conhecimento e a aderência dos moradores às estruturas urbanísticas praticadas no contexto da corrente Desenho Urbano de Baixo Impacto. Ao final deste processo foi gerada proposta de reurbanização sustentável do assentamento estudado, bem como proposta de moradias coletivas sustentáveis. Guardando as devidas especificidades, espera-se que a proposta apresentada possa ser aplicada a outros assentamentos de paisagem similar.<br>This thesis, associated to HIDROCIDADES Project, is also part of the FINEP Maplu-2 network research. It presents a framework for the implementation of the urban redesign of informal settlements, in accordance with present day urban planning tendency that integrates water resources into urban planning, focusing on water conservation, environmental sustainability and environmental education. This framework is based on the principles of Low Impact Urban Design and Devolopment (LIUDD New Zealand), Low Impact Design (LID EUA), Water Sustainable Urban Design (WSUD- Australia) and Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS UK). The LIUDD puts forward the application of local and decentralized devices for urban drainage and superficial outflow, such as harvesting and profiting from rainwater, green roofs, park implantations and rainwater beds infiltration, adoption of permeable areas in the public sidewalks and roads, among others. The Community of Vila Cascatinha, situated in the lowland grounds of Jacarepaguá, in Rio de Janeiro, was adopted as a case study. In 2006 the Community had 900 inhabitants, who through field work and guided interviews were identified as descendants of small agricultural producers. Nowadays, the area, which is part of the expansion of the city, will be developed to locate important sports infrastructure for the 2016 Olympic Games, (therefore the relevance of this urban redesign proposal). During the interviews several problems were mentioned by the locals and among the most serious ones were the presence of rats and the occurrence of recurring floods. It was also possible to identify how familiar and sensitive the dwellers were to the some of the practices presented in the LIUDD context. The ultimate aim of the interviews was to elaborate an action plan, as described by Thiollent, for the sustainable urban redesign of the settlement under study, as well as a proposal for sustainable community dwellings, so as to minimize the effects of floods derived from the excessive waterproofed soil. Despite the specificities of the proposal, it is believed that it can be applied to other settlements in similar conditions.

<p>Zambia is a highly urbanized country with 60% of its urban population residing in low cost areas also called peri-urban, slum or informal settlements. The increase in urban population attributed to rapid migration and urbanization due to political and economic changes has taken a toll on service provision as the infrastructure development and service provision has failed to meet the demand. For the 33 peri-urban areas in Lusaka, the water supply and sanitation has been poor, inadequate and unreliable with the coverage being slightly above 50% for water while 90% of the urban population does not have access to the much needed sanitation. The low coverage is a result of lack the financial capacity on the part of the service providers to extend services to un served areas.</p><p>This research focuses on the strategies to provide sustainable water and sanitation services to peri-urban areas to ensure improved accessibility through the expansion of infrastructure and attainment of full cost recovery. In this era of increasing migration to unplanned settlements where the services are inadequate, alternatives to public provision of water and sanitation services need to be put in place. One of the alternatives is the public-private partnership which encompasses the society, private and the civil society. As has been found in the study the best alternative should not only be completely bottom up but should also be more demand driven and be able to provide for greater contributions from the affected communities.</p><p>The hypothesis of the study is to ascertain if provision of water supply to the Peri-Urban Areas (PUAs) can be achieved through the partnership between the water utility and the small scale water providers. Therefore, the objectives of the research are to: evaluate and compare the current service provision to the peri-urban areas by the utility and small scale providers in terms of technical, social and institutional arrangements and determine the best way of ensuring sustained service provision to peri urban areas and show how partnership can be the best solution to improving service delivery to these areas.</p><p>Service provision in PUAs can not be achieved without the involvement of all the stakeholders especially the community who are also the users and whose major role is paying for the service to enhance sustainability. In this study the Small Scale Water Providers (SSWP) users were found to be satisfied with the service provided than the utility users who felt that more needed to be done. The two providers are found to have different strengths which when combined would enhance service provision. The collaboration between utility with its competence in water supply, technical installations, water quality testing and SSWP with theirs in community involvement, cost recovery, effective operation and maintenance and demand driven water schemes have to be merged to achieve the intended goal and it is also an indication that the two can complement each other. Utility should therefore consider opening investment accounts for all the areas so as to detach PUAs needs from the general plan and eventually budget as they would be self sustaining and enhance willingness to pay for the users. The SSWP should therefore be viewed as partners by all and licensing should be considered by the government for the benefit of the urban poor.</p>