Towards water-wise cities: Global assessment of water management and governance capacities

Abstract

The magnitude of challenges related to water, waste and climate change is intensifying and calls for improved water management and water governance in cities. The pressure exerted on cities is projected to increase in the 21st century, thus emphasizing the intensifying urban challenges of water, waste and climate change, which in turn make strategic efforts towards sustainability ever more important. This message is emphasized by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Despite these challenges, there is still little empirically-based understanding of how well cities perform with respect to integrated water management, which concrete steps can be observed on the path towards water-wise management, and which governance capacities account for water management improvements. In order to obtain such an empirical understanding, it is necessary to overcome a lack of coherence in the theoretical definitions and their operationalization by developing a unifying, comprehensive frameworks. Accordingly, the objective of this dissertation is: Increasing our understanding of what water-wisdom is and which governance conditions cities require to achieve it, by consistently analysing the water management performance and governance capacity of cities across the globe. Three integrated assessment frameworks are developed; one to measure the main social, environmental and financial challenges that a city may have, that impact their ability to address water-related challenges (i.e., the Trends and Pressures Framework). Based on 12 descriptive indicators, these key challenges are quantified and expressed as a score of concern in 45 municipalities and regions across the world. The second framework – the improved City Blueprint performance Framework - measures the performance of urban water management practice. As such, a cohesive set of 25 indicators has been developed that covers key aspects of the urban water cycle such as drinking water, infrastructure, wastewater treatment and climate adaptation. The framework has been applied in 45 municipalities and regions in 27 countries. The third framework analyses the governance conditions that account for increased water management performance. Based on the improved City Blueprint indicator assessment, the integrated water management performance of 45 municipalities and regions across 27 countries is analysed and used as a basis to identify tangible steps towards water-wise management. Next, a governance capacity analysis is developed, comprising nine conditions and 27 indicators that together are considered as a precondition for improvements in water management performances. The analysis has been applied in 15 cities with respect to the five most prevailing water-related challenges experienced in cities worldwide: flood risk, water scarcity, wastewater treatment, solid waste treatment and urban heat islands. The information for each city assessment has been gathered through 1) the study of literature, policies, reports and grey literature, 2) interviews with representatives of all relevant stakeholders, and 3) including constructive feedback from the interviewees. In total, 220 interviews have been conducted in 15 cities. An overall correlation between water management performance and governance capacity is found. More specifically, the capacity to implement policy and continuously monitor, evaluate and learn may be the key determinants for water-wise management due to their high observed correlations with water-wise management.