Water Policy and Implementation

By Janice Shiu

The Role of Government

As the development and growth of urban areas increase, governments must use public outreach, investment in infrastructure, and economic incentives to protect and use water resources wisely such that they are not depleted.

Global water demand is projected to increase over time (See Figure 1), with the greatest increase occurring in the currently developing countries, Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, and China (BRIICS) while a small decrease in water demand is projected for countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which consists of mostly developed countries. Note that this figure predicts water demand, not water consumption, which could be lower due to discharge back to natural waterways or recycling technology. This chart also contains uncertainties regarding the water demand for agriculture, as it assumes a fixed area for irrigation between the present and 2050 due to land unavailability, limited public budgets for the expansion of irrigation in available areas, and greater interest in domestic use — possibly due to urbanization — rather than irrigation. However, as time passes, greater populations and greater agricultural technology like drought resistant genetically modified organisms will change demands for food, introducing uncertainty to predicting water demand for both irrigation and livestock.¹

Figure 1. Projected water demand globally and within OECD and BRIICS countries.¹

The needs and resources of urban areas of developing countries can be vastly different from that of developed countries. Consequently, the goals and methods of governments using public outreach, investment in infrastructure, and economic incentives shall be considered separately between the urban areas of developed and developing nations.

In order to reduce water usage and provide accessible, affordable clean water to all urban residents, governments and non-governmental organizations must provide educational resources on the importance of sustainable water consumption where the rate of  water consumption is balanced by supply at which the supply is replenished. Education plays an important role in creating a more sustainable city. For example, Beijing, China has not made significant investments in environmental education despite its considerable air and water pollution issues. Consequently, there is a large gap in knowledge of sustainable consumption in Beijing, China (Figure 2). People on their own cannot change water usage and infrastructure in their cities.² However, large groups of individuals working toward having sustainable water consumption may have lasting effects over time. Consequently, for a city to become sustainable, a large portion of its population must understand and subscribe to its water consumption goals. Education is key to informing the public of its options for living sustainably and supporting government efforts to develop resilient infrastructure.

Figure 2. A survey in Beijing, China reports the gap in knowledge due to the lack of commitment towards public outreach and education regarding environmentalism.²

Urban Areas of Developing Nations

For many urban areas in developing nations, the greatest concern regarding water usage is water distribution and sanitation.³

Figure 3. The OECD projects that sanitation will steadily improve in urban areas between the present and 2050 in BRIICS and OECD countries.¹ However, more people will have inadequate access to sanition in urban areas of other countries, which mostly consist of developing nations that have far fewer resources and slower rates of economic growth than BRIICS countries.

The rapid growth of urban areas in developing nations coupled with the lack of governmental monetary resources leads to the development of informal settlements, which are defined by the United Nations as a neighborhood where inhabitants lack access to basic services and city infrastructure, secure housing, and housing compliant to building, planning, and safety regulations.⁴  Lack of proper water sanitation spreads disease, hinders economic development, and endangers existing clean water resources.⁵ Although Figure 3 demonstrates a projected decrease in people without access to sanitation facilities in urban areas, hundreds of millions of people will continue to face the problem of inadequate sanitation infrastructure in their cities.

Established methods such as Community-Led Total Sanitation have successfully and effectively improved sanitation in rural areas of developing nations by changing cultural norms that accept the lack of sanitary infrastructure and the lack of clean water. In Community-Led Total Sanitation, trained facilitating educators (From a variety of organizations and entities ranging from the local to international levels) gather communities and establish rapport with them so that both parties can have productive conversations regarding sanitation. Through this discussion, communities identify the dangers of the lack of clean water and basic sanitation facilities and develop negative emotional responses to their unsanitary and insufficient living conditions. Consequently, they become self-motivated to change their living conditions. Once communities become emotionally invested in having and maintaining communal or individual water sanitation facilities, a market demand for resources to build the proper infrastructure develops, and individuals or communities may invest in sanitation infrastructure they feel best suits their needs and is affordable. The entities to which educators belong may work with private suppliers to provide communities with the tools and infrastructure they need. In practice, communities are very willing to pay for such supplies, even if costs are higher than can be afforded. In such situations, communities have opted to pay for sanitation infrastructure in installments.⁶

Although some groups have made efforts to apply Community-Led Total Sanitation in urban areas, the practice has not yet been heavily explored. Challenges that pioneers of applying Community-Led Total Sanitation to urban areas have faced include the lack of strongly united communities and lack of political and legal influence by residents of informal settlements. Urban households also have a lower capacity to purchase and install sanitation infrastructure due to higher prices for technology and services. Additionally, informal settlements may have high levels of crime due to high levels of poverty, dense living situations, and lack of municipal services including policing, so vandalism and theft may undermine the maintenance of sanitation infrastructure.⁷ Additionally, even if communities are motivated to improve their sanitation, they may not have the funding to create the infrastructure needed. Government subsidies or even complete government ownership may be required to provide residents of informal settlements with the water and sanitation facilities needed.⁶ Nevertheless, sanitation infrastructure is a crucial investment with considerable returns. According to the United Nations, every US$1 spent on improving sanitation in developing nations results in a US$9 return from increased citizen productivity and reduced health costs. Improved sanitation also protects existing sources of clean water from contamination and increases tourism revenue.⁵ Unfortunately, the communities that require the most improvement in sanitation infrastructure are those that belong to informal settlements. These often-impoverished areas have little political influence, and governments of developing nations have little commitment or few resources for improving the living conditions of informal settlement residents when industrialization is a far more attractive investment.⁷ For governments that are committed to providing services to their citizens but do not have the resources to provide infrastructure, they may look for foreign sources of aid such as non-governmental organizations or foundations committed to water sanitation and infrastructure.

Although the costs for sanitation infrastructure is high and governments of developing countries may not feel that improving sanitation infrastructure is of high priority, education using Community-Led Sanitation is compatible with the limited funds and labor available. Materials for Community-Led Total Sanitation education is available publicly in multiple languages, and a decentralized effort with a small team of self-trained officials can conduct such educational efforts with few resources. In Costa Rica, a five-person team created the Office of Environmental Education under the Ministry of Education with the goal of expanding environmental literacy throughout the population. Between 2002 and 2003, the team was able to coordinate educational programs throughout the country to provide more environmental material in their lessons. The Ministry of Education and the Office of Environmental Education also published self-training manuals for teachers in rural areas that were more difficult to contact for direct training.⁸ In the same way, small, decentralized groups of people working for governments or non-governmental organizations can facilitate Community-Led Total Sanitation efforts with low resources.

The urban areas of developing countries must improve their sanitation infrastructure and access to clean water by 2050.  First, governments must educate urban communities, particularly those belonging to informal settlements, such that communities become heavily invested in improving their living conditions. Thus, a market for sanitation and water infrastructure is formed, and the government should provide affordable sanitation and water infrastructure options for residents to install in their homes or communities. Although developing countries also face issues similar to those of developed nations regarding water depletion, the United Nations considers the universal access to clean water sources and sanitation infrastructure the main priority for developing nations within our mission’s time frame.³

Urban Areas of Developed Nations

In countries where basic water infrastructure already exists, reducing water usage is key to preventing the depletion of water resources and ensuring water availability for the future.^4,9

Figure 4. Urban water use in California by sector.

In California’s urban areas (see Figure 4), the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors account for most water usage, constituting 64, 23, and 6 percent of water use while the remainder is split between loss during transport, energy production, and aquifer replenishment.¹⁰ Consequently, California’s urban governments needed to convince individual citizens and the private sector of the importance of the sustainable use of water resources. The state of California, a water-stressed state, was able to reduce water usage by 31% statewide between 2013-2015 due to the efforts of the state government. Districts and industries had their water use limits strictly enforced through warnings and fines. Fixing system leaks, public outreach, and limiting outdoor watering were among the ways local governments convinced residents to reduce their water usage. In San Francisco, where 55% of water use is residential and the greatest reductions were accomplished, the city was able to teach and change the behavior of residents to use less water through publicity, free conservation classes, and government subsidies for water-efficient devices and fixtures. Consequently, the City of San Francisco has seen a 18 percent decrease in residential water usage and 12 percent decrease throughout the city.¹¹ Although such efforts require significant funds for many entities to pay for ad space, educational resources, labor, and subsidies, reducing water use reduces costs to water users and stakeholders of all levels, from individuals to governments. It is a worthwhile investment to fix or replace  antiquated infrastructure that has leaks, uses more water than is needed for intended purposes, or does not anticipate the needs of cities in the future, in order to  to reduce water waste and prevent system overloads.  This will only increase as cities become more water-stressed and will have to become more resilient against environmental and population changes in the next decades. For example, “All the free fixtures and rebates handed out by the [San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to households and corporations] in 2013 alone will save 1.5 billion gallons of water over their lifetime – which is the equivalent to the water used annually by 20,000 single family homes.”¹¹  Industries, companies, and institutions motivated by tax incentives or savings on operational costs can also extract economic gain from reducing water waste and investing in water reuse systems. For instance, the YWCA, a non-profit dedicated to providing affordable housing to low-income elderly and disabled adults, saved $2,200 a month on water bills and saw a 30-35% reduction in water use by adopting low-flow shower heads, kitchen sink aerators, and toilets provided free-of-charge or subsidized by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in its apartments.¹¹ Similarly, families can save money on water bills for reducing their water use through installing low-flow fixtures, fixing leaks, and making small behavioral changes like doing full loads of laundry as opposed to half-loads or taking shorter showers.

Governments must be cautious in promoting water use reduction, however, because lower water use can negatively affect the larger economy. With lower water usage, less revenue will be received by water distributors that require at least enough revenue to cover operational costs and maintenance. In California, water distribution agencies are expected to lose $1 billion in revenue due to cuts in water use.¹² To adjust to these changes, water agencies may raise their prices, negating any cost benefits residents and other entities may have for reducing their use. Additionally, water agencies may delay upgrading or performing non-essential maintenance, which may reduce the quality of service they provide to their customers. This is because, even though there has been a reduction in water demand, some water agencies needed to purchase and transport water from reserves other than their own. The combination of reduced water reserves and reduced demand leaves water agencies with not enough revenue to maintain their infrastructure. Consequently, agencies needed to raise prices to at least meet their operational costs.¹²Unfortunately, for a drought-stricken area like California, a rise in cost of water is inevitable as water resources become increasingly limited. As a preventative measure, governments may invest in new technologies like water desalination and water reuse systems. This will reduce the stress placed on traditional water sources and may provide water distributors new sources of water to meet the demands of their customers.

As countries around the world become increasingly water stressed from industrialization, overpopulation, and climate change, governments must work to reduce water use in their urban areas. This may be accomplished through dedication to educating public and private entities of the need for sustainable water consumption and of methods to reduce usage. Additionally, governments must provide the means and incentives to reduce water usage, such as subsidizing or providing free water fixtures and strictly enforcing reduction goals through warnings and fines. To reduce the reliance on stressed, traditional water sources, governments should invest in new technologies that utilize untapped water resources.

Water as a Public Resource

Last but not least, governments must determine whether water resources should be publicly or privately owned. Although private ownership of water resources eases the cost and responsibility of creating water infrastructure on governments, public ownership of water resources may provide better services to growing cities. A report by the Transnational Institute (TNI), Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) and the Multinational Observatory suggested that 180 cities and communities in 35 countries that had privatized or created hybridized public-private water resources ended their partnerships in the last 15 years, despite 3 decades of persistent backing, due to dissatisfactory service.¹³ Lack of proper investment in infrastructure, high consumer prices, and lack of environmental control are cited as reasons for the re-municipalization of water resources.¹⁴ Although private water distributors have the capital to invest in water infrastructure, they may not always do so in a way that benefits citizens equitably or is best for the sustainable growth of a city. The private sector is motivated by profit, which is a conflict of interest that may leave the informal settlements of a city with fewer essential services than economically advantaged areas. The government is also motivated by profit, but accesses economic benefits that the privatized water-sector cannot such as lowered health-care costs, greater citizen productivity, increased tourism, and the conservation of limited water resources.⁵ Profit-motivated development may also fail to consider the future needs of a city, as it is much cheaper to invest in infrastructure needed for the moment than to plan for future needs, greater sustainability, and environmental responsibility.¹⁵ On the other hand, governments operate on longer time frames that benefit from accounting for population growth, future development projects, stresses on resources, and stresses related to climate change. Public rather than private ownership also allows for government transparency regarding water use on multiple levels, from allowing individual households to see their water use to companies and industries receiving reports and requests to reduce use as needed. Additionally, the sustainable use of water is highly dependent on public involvement. Studies in California have shown that water as a public commodity motivates users to be more conscious of their water usage. When water is a public resource, the public feels greater responsibility for its conservation and sustainable use.¹⁶

Governments should treat water as a public, rather than private, resource due to its variety of benefits for water consumers and the development of sustainable water use. Governments have a greater incentive to invest in efficient and resilient infrastructure for consumers than private entities. Additionally, public ownership of water resources may encourage collective responsibility for using water wisely.