This paper summarizes the key findings and conclusions of a literature review of small-scale private service providers (SPSPs) of water supply and electricity conducted over a six-month period in 2003. It draws on more than 400 documents-including journals, articles, reports, case studies and...

Water is increasingly becoming a limiting factor for sustainable economic growth and development in many countries. Its allocation has significant impacts on overall economic efficiency, particularly with growing physical scarcity in certain regions. Greater water supply variability further...

The purpose of this report is to review a set of Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) initiatives and pilot studies funded by the World Bank’s Water Partnership Program (WPP) in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The structure of this report...

Given population and income growth, it is widely expected that the agricultural sector will have to expand the use of water for irrigation to meet rising food demand; at the same time, the competition for water resources is growing in many regions. As a response, it is increasingly recommended...

What economic and political factors have made cost recovery for rural water systems so difficult in the Nsuuka district of Anambra State? This paper found that households in the region do not want to pay for water in advance or commit themselves to a fixed monthly payment for water. They want...

Private sector involvement and user participation in water resource management are not new, say the authors. They give examples that demonstrate how willing users and the private sector are able to improve water use and play a larger role in water resources management. User participation and...

To foster economic efficiency, says the author, rights to water resources must be both secure and flexible. Designing institutions to deal with the physical peculiarities of water in a way that establishes sensible incentives and efficient resource use is complicated. Basically, establishing...

This paper describes and analyzes the effort to institute river basin management in the Tárcoles basin of Costa Rica. Located in west-central Costa Rica, the Tárcoles basin represents 4.2 percent of the nation's total land area, but is home to half the nation's population and the metropolitan...

The authors describe and analyze river basin management in the Guadalquivir River Basin in Spain. The Guadalquivir river flows westerly across southern Spain, with nearly all of its 57,017 km2 drainage area within the region of Andalusia. Water management issues in this semi-arid, heavily...

One of the principal concerns today for the deteriorating quality of water supply and sanitation services in India is the high levels of non revenue water (NRW)-the difference between the amount of water put into the distribution system and the amount of water billed to consumers. High levels of...