Bücher der Reihe Global Issues in Water Policy

This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the most important water-related issues that centre on Italy, analysed from several disciplinary perspectives ¿ such as hydrology, economics, law, sociology, environmental sciences and policy studies ¿ in order to promote full understanding of the challenges the country is facing and the ways it could best tackle them.Despite the misconception that Italy is a water-scarce country, is in fact quite rich in water resources. Such resources, however, are unevenly distributed over the Italian territory. Italy¿s northern regions rely on quite an abundant quantity of freshwater, whereas in the southern area water endowment is limited. Moreover, climatic differences between North and South contribute to widen the divide. This disparity has notable consequences of socio-economic character, some of which, in turn, feed back into the environmental conditions of Italian regions: pollution, floods, landslides and droughts are among the problems affecting the country. There are numerous features of water use and consumption that distinguish Italy from other comparable countries, such as the significant role played by agriculture (a water-intensive activity), a lead position in the consumption of bottled water, lower-than-average prices of water and a far-from-optimal efficiency of waterworks. All such aspects, and many others, make Italy an essential case study.

This book describes and analyses the diversity of possible approaches and policy pathways to implement sustainable groundwater development, based on a comparative analysis of numerous quantitative management case studies from France and Australia.This unique book brings together water professionals and academics involved for several decades in groundwater policy making, planning or operational management to reflect on their experience with developing and implementing groundwater management policy. The data and analysis presented accordingly makes a significant contribution to the empirical water management literature by providing novel, real world insights unpublished elsewhere. The originality of the contributions also lies in the different disciplinary perspectives (hydrogeology, economics, planning and social sciences in particular) adopted in many chapters. The book offers a unique comparative analysis of France, Australia and experiences in countries such as Chile and the US to identify similarities, but also fundamental differences, which are analysed and presented as alternative policy options ¿ these differences being mainly related to the role of the state, the community and market mechanisms in groundwater management.

The book provides an overview on national policies and regulations related to water resource management in the Middle East and North African countries (MENA), where water scarcity problems are critical.

The first is the application of a sustainability framework to the management of water in Canterbury region. The second is the exposition of a sustainability framework that can be applied to the management of water in a region with the application to Canterbury as an illustrative case study.

The book explores topics such as:Why water should be more expensive near sensitive environmental locations,Ways to set initial allocations of water rights,The role of regulatory oversight,The prerequisites of a water market, andHow to counter objections to water markets.

As a result, water pollution has emerged as one of the nation's gravest environmental threats.This book draws a link between water pollution generated by different industries and the various economic activities of the Indian economy using the Input-output framework.

This book reviews and analyzes emerging challenges in water policy, governance and institutions in India. Recent times have seen the contours of water policy shaped by new discourses and narratives; there has been a pluralization of the state and a changing balance of power among the actors who influence the formulation of water policy. Discourses on gender mainstreaming and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) are influential, though they have often remained rhetorical and difficult to put into practice. Debate over property rights reform and inter-linking of rivers has been polarized. At the same time, there has been a rising disenchantment with policy initiatives in participatory irrigation management, cleaning up of water bodies and pollution control. Fast depletion of groundwater resources and the importance of adopting new irrigation methods are getting increased focus in the recent policy dialogue.The contributors review current debate on these and other subjects shaping the governance of water resources, and take stock of new policy developments. The book examines the experience of policy implementation, and shows where important weaknesses still lie. The authors present a roadmap for the future, and discuss the potential of alternative approaches for tackling emerging challenges. A case is made for greater emphasis on a discursive analysis of water policy, to examine underlying policy processes.The contributors observe that the ongoing democratization of water governance, coupled with the multiplication of stresses on water, will create a more visible demand for platforms for negotiation, conflict resolution and dialogue across different categories of users and uses. Finally, the authors propose that future research should challenge implicit biases in water resources planning and address imbalances in the allocation of water from the perspectives of both equity and sustainability.

This book offers a detailed examination of the main sources of Chile's water, its principle consumers, the gap between supply and demand, hydrological droughts, and future projected impacts of climate change.

Mexico is currently facing severe problems with water availability, wastage and contamination. The most contaminated and over-exploited water resources are concentrated in the most populated areas of the country, where water is scarcer and its quality makes it unsuitable for a variety of uses, including human consumption.

This book describes challenges in the policy and practices of the various water sectors in the Philippines that have led to water conflicts.

Mediterranean irrigation is diverse due to, among other factors, the relative importance of water in the economy of each country, varied levels of aridity, heterogeneous levels economic, social and technological levels of development, and differences in political and social organization.

The objective of this book is to broadly illustrate the key aspects of water governance, mapping the spectrum of decision-making from techno-centric and eco-centric approaches, to hybrid concepts and people-centric approaches.

Water demand and water economics are addressed in the second section of the book, with chapters on long-term water demand forecasting, the social determinants of water consumption in Australian cities, a study of water quality and consumption in France, governance and regulation of the urban water sector and more.

This book offers a detailed examination of the main sources of Chile's water, its principle consumers, the gap between supply and demand, hydrological droughts, and future projected impacts of climate change.

Mexico is currently facing severe problems with water availability, wastage and contamination. The most contaminated and over-exploited water resources are concentrated in the most populated areas of the country, where water is scarcer and its quality makes it unsuitable for a variety of uses, including human consumption.

This book deals with water policy in Israel. It offers a detailed examination of the main sources of Israel's water, its principle consumers, the gap between supply and demand, and the complex, contentious work of analyzing and devising the nation's water management and use policies.

This book describes challenges in the policy and practices of the various water sectors in the Philippines that have led to water conflicts.

This book documents the history of irrigated agriculture and drainage in the San Joaquin Valley, and describes the hydrology and biogeochemical processes of salts and selenium, remediation technologies for salts and trace elements and policy and management options.

The book includes also several chapters that review innovations in water pricing in various countries, such as new reform mechanisms, achieving social objectives via water pricing, achieving revenue recovery, water use efficiency and customer equity, and charging the poor.

Here is an implementable river-basin management plan that is consistent with the European Union Water Framework Directive. Includes technical and investment solutions, socioeconomic and legal instruments and suggestions for institutional restructuring.

This book assesses both the effectiveness and efficiency of implemented Economic Policy Instruments (EPIs) in order to achieve water policy goals and identifies the preconditions under which they outperform alternative (e.g.

This book reviews and analyzes emerging challenges in water policy, governance and institutions in India. Recent times have seen the contours of water policy shaped by new discourses and narratives; there has been a pluralization of the state and a changing balance of power among the actors who influence the formulation of water policy. Discourses on gender mainstreaming and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) are influential, though they have often remained rhetorical and difficult to put into practice. Debate over property rights reform and inter-linking of rivers has been polarized. At the same time, there has been a rising disenchantment with policy initiatives in participatory irrigation management, cleaning up of water bodies and pollution control. Fast depletion of groundwater resources and the importance of adopting new irrigation methods are getting increased focus in the recent policy dialogue.The contributors review current debate on these and other subjects shaping the governance of water resources, and take stock of new policy developments. The book examines the experience of policy implementation, and shows where important weaknesses still lie. The authors present a roadmap for the future, and discuss the potential of alternative approaches for tackling emerging challenges. A case is made for greater emphasis on a discursive analysis of water policy, to examine underlying policy processes.The contributors observe that the ongoing democratization of water governance, coupled with the multiplication of stresses on water, will create a more visible demand for platforms for negotiation, conflict resolution and dialogue across different categories of users and uses. Finally, the authors propose that future research should challenge implicit biases in water resources planning and address imbalances in the allocation of water from the perspectives of both equity and sustainability.

The objective of this book is to broadly illustrate the key aspects of water governance, mapping the spectrum of decision-making from techno-centric and eco-centric approaches, to hybrid concepts and people-centric approaches.

The book includes also several chapters that review innovations in water pricing in various countries, such as new reform mechanisms, achieving social objectives via water pricing, achieving revenue recovery, water use efficiency and customer equity, and charging the poor.