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Efficient water management of the urban water cycle is one of the current concerns with the increase of (peri) urban areas due to the population growth, economic development, and possibility of water scarcity due to climate change. To face the increase of the water demand it is imperative the creation of digital water solutions to provide a real-time monitoring, decision support system, to manage the water supply network efficiently and optimize the water-energy nexus. This paper presents a Water Wise System – W2S, results from a R&D project supported by an EU and Portuguese Government Grant. The paper provides a preliminary study of an architecture solution to Water Wise System software, focuses on the water challenges, present technology, digital water, IoT and the future of smart cities. The solution aims to support a paradigm shift in the management of water distribution networks, with predictive and analytical convergence supported in Machine Learning, Deep Learning and an integration with SCADA, GIS and EPANET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the cost inefficiencies in the Tunisian water industry by controlling the heterogeneity bias. Two different cost-stochastic frontier models are tested to determine how observed and unobserved heterogeneity affect water utility districts' performance rankings and efficiency scores. The correction for heterogeneity significantly affected rankings by efficiency measures, and the two models yielded different results. The true fixed-effects model is more reliable than the pooled stochastic model. Then district's utility set still exhibits latent heterogeneity and significant cost inefficiencies are observed. The model estimates demonstrate the existence of economies of scale and density with respect to the size of the operation. Small district utilities exhibit economies of scale, while large district utilities exhibit diseconomies of scale. • Latent heterogeneity affects Tunisian water utilities' cost efficiency and ranking. • True fixed effects model incorporating exogenous factors produces accurate results. • The Tunisian water industry should be restructured to reduce costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian water sector has changed substantially over the past ten years. This study assesses the impact of the latest water sector regulatory reform, which follows a performance-based approach, using utility financial data. To understand the effects of reform on the sector, we analyze the performance of 136 Italian water utilities during 2009–2014. To this end, this study employs the non-parametric Luenberger productivity indicator, which shows improvement only between 2012 and 2013. The findings indicate the need for incentives for cost saving and productivity improvement, as well as the need for more investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought in the Western U.S. has elevated the need for innovative water pricing. We describe two utilities whose novel pricing structures reflect water availability and reasonable use expectations. One has a physical basis of water rights, landscape water needs, and irrigated area; the other has a hydrologic basis of an annual water supply forecast. Both utilities charge users tiered (increasing block) rates for an adjustable water allotment. The rates have proved hydrologically beneficial, socially equitable, and financially sustainable during the drought, suggesting that water pricing can be an effective policy tool for responsive water management. • Two water utilities charge users according to water allotments and tiered rates. • Allotments are based on irrigated area or water supply forecast and may be adjusted. • Rates have saved water, met basic needs, and maintained revenue during a drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boundary work, defined as effort to mediate between knowledge and action, is a promising approach for facilitating knowledge co-production for sustainable development. Here, we investigate a case study of knowledge co-production, to assess the applicability of boundary work as a conceptual framework to support implementing adaptive management in the water sector. We refer to a boundary work classification recently proposed by Clark et al., (2016), based on three types of knowledge uses, i.e. enlightenment, decision-, and negotiation-support, and three types of sources, i.e. personal expertise, single, and multiple communities of expertise. Our empirical results confirm boundary work has been crucial for the three types of knowledge use. For enlightenment and decision-support, effective interaction among knowledge producers and users was achieved through diverse boundary work practices, including joint agenda setting, and sharing of data and expertise. This initial boundary work eased subsequent knowledge co-production for decision-support and negotiations, in combination with stepping up of cooperation between relevant actors, suitable legislation and pressure for problem solving. Our analysis highlighted the temporal dimension matters - building trust around enlightenment first, and then using this as a basis for managing knowledge co-production for decision-, and negotiation support. We reconfirmed that boundary work is not a single time achievement, rather is a dynamic process, and we emphasized the importance of key actors driving the process, such as water utilities. Our results provide a rich case study of how strategic boundary work can facilitate knowledge co-production for adaptive management in the water sector. The boundary work practices employed here could also be transferred to other cases. Water utilities, as intermediaries between providers and beneficiaries of the important water-related ecosystem service of clean water provision, can indeed serve as key actors for initiating such boundary work practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy and greenhouse gas management in urban water systems typically focus on optimising within the direct system boundary of water utilities that covers the centralised water supply and wastewater treatment systems, despite a greater energy influence by the water end use. This work develops a cost curve of water-related energy management options from a city perspective for a hypothetical Australian city. It is compared with that from the water utility perspective. The curves are based on 18 water-related energy management options that have been implemented or evaluated in Australia. In the studied scenario, the cost-effective energy saving potential from a city perspective (292 GWh/year) is far more significant than that from a utility perspective (65 GWh/year). In some cases, for similar capital cost, if regional water planners invested in end use options instead of utility options, a greater energy saving potential at a greater cost-effectiveness could be achieved in urban water systems. For example, upgrading a wastewater treatment plant for biogas recovery at a capital cost of $27.2 million would save 31 GWh/year with a marginal cost saving of $63/MWh, while solar hot water system rebates at a cost of $28.6 million would save 67 GWh/year with a marginal cost saving of $111/MWh. Options related to hot water use such as water-efficient shower heads, water-efficient clothes washers and solar hot water system rebates are among the most cost-effective city-scale opportunities. This study demonstrates the use of cost curves to compare both utility and end use options in a consistent framework. It also illustrates that focusing solely on managing the energy use within the utility would miss substantial non-utility water-related energy saving opportunities. There is a need to broaden the conventional scope of cost curve analysis to include water-related energy and greenhouse gas at the water end use, and to value their management from a city perspective. This would create opportunities where the same capital investment could achieve far greater energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions abatement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Water and wastewater utilities must adapt to a future built on clean energy. • The transition requires energy management techniques not yet widely practiced. • Research can support new design and operation of water utilities with clean energy. Drinking water and wastewater utilities are in the business of making clean water, not using clean energy, and the ongoing energy transition is swiftly creating new challenges for which they are unprepared. At this critical juncture in the water–energy nexus, this Making Waves article explores how the research community can support water utilities during the transition as features like renewables, flexible loads, and dynamic markets become standard. Researchers can help water utilities implement existing energy management techniques not yet widely practiced, including establishing energy policies, managing energy data, using low-energy-intensity water sources, and participating in demand response programs. New research priorities are dynamic energy pricing, on-site renewable-energy micro-grids, and integrated water and energy demand forecasting. Water utilities have adapted to many technological and regulatory changes over the years, and with research support for new designs and operations, they will thrive in a clean-energy future. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of ‘smart metering’ in demand management, customer service, labor optimization, and operational efficiency is becoming increasingly recognized by Australasian water utilities. The objectives of this paper are to provide a summary of the 2013 and 2014 surveys and in-depth interviews that were aimed at gauging the penetration of smart metering (SM) and intelligent water network (IWN) projects in Australian and New Zealand water utilities and to identify outputs and challenges faced subsequent to their implementation. The key insights are summarized as follows: • Smart meters and intelligent water networks are gaining momentum in Australasia, with at least 250,000 smart meters currently installed or planned for installation and 66% of the surveyed water businesses reporting projects underway or starting in the next 12 months. • Key business drivers were easier to quantify and justify on water system economics rather than customer engagement and satisfaction. There appears to be a business case for deployment of smart metering technology, particularly for utilities seeking to avoid costs by lowering operating costs, reducing wholesale bulk water purchases, and/or deferring augmentation of infrastructure. • Some utilities had well-advanced trials or operational rollouts, together with a similarly advanced understanding of the wider benefits of SM and IWN, while others were constrained by a lack of overall understanding and awareness of developing a business case, technology options, applications of data and the wider benefits of smart metering. • Each water utility should know and understand its business drivers and goals. The value of smart metering and the specific business case drivers are highly contextual to location (e.g., opportunities for cost avoidance). The social benefits of customer satisfaction, community acceptance, and improved customer engagement and trust were major ‘social’ drivers. • There is evidence that utilities are gaining an increased awareness of how digital metering and applying analytics of various data sets in near real-time, can benefit utility efficiency and customer service excellence. Aligned with data analytics was a clear focus towards the customer satisfaction (e.g. introducing web portals, leak alerts, two-way communications and customer consultation). • In the last 12 months there has been a doubling in the number of utilities that are pursuing intelligent water networks – the integration of intelligent devices including water meters, pressure sensors, meter data, into all relevant business processes and systems and using this information to guide strategy and investment. • As many respondents commented, there is an important need for an agreed upon and standardized set of definitions relating to smart-metering technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How and when to upscale and finance nature-based solutions in watersheds in order to improve downstream urban water security is a global concern. In this paper we address such challenge by providing a novel method for planning the expansion of a chosen set of nature-based solutions that couples optimization of sequential decision-making, hydrology modelling and hydroeconomics in a single modeling framework. The benefits were considered the avoided costs of water scarcity and water treatment perceived downstream. The optimal expansion schedule of decisions was then defined under the objective function of minimizing total cost. We demonstrated the framework by applying it to a set of benchmark alternative scenarios for the Sinos River watershed (Brazil). We found that the optimal schedule of nature-based solutions expansion is sensitive to the initial land use and future drivers. Treatment cost reduction was the greatest feature in some scenarios, confirming it as a strategy for addressing water quality issues of degraded watersheds. But the accounting of water scarcity cost introduced a tradeoff: expansion of nature-based solutions in well-preserved watersheds may not worth the investment. Future research may improve current limitations in scope and models without structural changes in the framework. Practical implications of this work arise from the funding of watershed payments for environmental services projects by institutions and governments, which demand evidence-based policies to support investment of public resources. [Display omitted] • A modelling framework for nature-based solutions expansion planning is provided considering benefits to downstream cities. • The framework integrates hydrology modelling, sequential decision-making optimization and water resource economics. • Given future projections, the tool help water managers understand how land use can be dynamically and optimally changed. • The framework is both conceptually and procedurally flexible to allow continuous improvement from future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Italian water sector has undergone profound change since 2006, when a revised governance framework and new tariff models became law; further innovations were introduced after a national referendum in June 2011. This paper discusses the process of tariff setting in Italy in the light of reforms since 2006; a qualitative case study approach is used to investigate the tariff-setting process and the impact of the new regulatory framework on water utilities and local regulatory authorities. Results show that both utilities and authorities altered their investment policies to reduce financial risk in view of the uncertainty surrounding the new regulatory framework. Moreover, several water utilities have not yet fully implemented the new tariff model introduced by the June 2011 referendum, for the reason that it prohibits the inclusion in water tariffs of a fixed return on investment component; when applied, the new model is expected to determine a significant decrease in both the annual income and cash flow of water utilities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this study was finding an appropriate way to minimize water utility in the petroleum refineries due to high rate of water consumption. For this purpose, Tehran oil refinery was well studied. In this research, three contaminants including suspended solid, hardness and COD were considered to analyze feasibilities of regeneration reuse and recycling for water and wastewater minimization in the water network. These contaminants once were analyzed two by two based on their mass transfer. As a result, in the targeting based on suspended solid and hardness, the amount of freshwater was reduced about 40%. This amount for suspended solid and COD was equal to 37% and for COD and hardness was 39%. In the next stage, three contaminants were analyzed simultaneously and the amount of freshwater was reduced to about 17.35%. Clearly, compared to triple contaminans consideration, water minimization through double contaminants was more considerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present a model for benchmarking risk analysis and risk based decision making practice within organisations. It draws on behavioural and normative risk research, the principles of capability maturity modelling and our empirical observations. It codifies the processes of risk analysis and risk based decision making within a framework that distinguishes between different levels of maturity. Application of the model is detailed within the selected business functions of a water and wastewater utility. Observed risk analysis and risk based decision making practices are discussed, together with their maturity of implementation. The findings provide academics, utility professionals, and regulators a deeper understanding of the practical and theoretical underpinnings of risk management, and how distinctions can be made between organisational capabilities in this essential business process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In many African countries, public water utilities are undergoing reform characterized by the introduction of management principles and practices often associated with the private sector. On the one hand, these reforms, which can be placed under the umbrella of the New Public Management, have been promoted by a broad coalition of sector professionals, donors and lending agencies. On the other hand, the NPM-style reforms witnessed in many African countries appear to be the result of declining interest of the large international operators to venture into these countries. This article describes the nature of these reforms in two African countries, Uganda and Zambia. Although, especially in Uganda, the reforms appear to have been successful, this article concludes by raising some questions regarding the potential of NPM-style reforms in the African water and sanitation sectors. First of all, it is difficult to fully attribute the observed performance improvements to NPM-style reforms. Secondly, these reforms require pre-requisites, which do not exist in many African countries. Thirdly, even if reform is successful public water utilities remain dependent on the government and (international) donors to sustain performance improvements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Application of ozone in drinking water treatment plants in the US is growing because of ozone''s multiple benefits. Ozone functions as a powerful oxidizing agent and disinfecting agent, it improves finished water quality by reducing turbidity, it reduces the formation of many halogenated disinfection by-products, and it is capable of treating chlorine resistant organisms like cryptosporidia. However, when bromide ion is present, e.g. from the geology, runoff, or sea water intrusion, ozone will convert some of the bromide to bromate depending upon the treatment reaction conditions. Bromate can also be introduced into drinking water as a contaminant in the chlorine used for disinfection. The current maximum contaminant level (MCL) in the USA is 0.010mg/L, and the maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) is zero, because of the possibility that bromate may function as a genotoxic carcinogen. The level of the MCL, especially if it is lowered, will significantly impact the ability of many water suppliers to utilize ozone in their water treatment processes and also raise the costs of those applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The recovery of costs in water utilities is a key element in sustainability of both the provider and of the water resource itself. This paper examines the role played by consumer awareness in their willingness to pay for water supply in two cities in Zambia. Research conducted in Kitwe and Lusaka reveals that level of awareness, willingness to pay and cost recovery all vary directly. Whereas awareness may increase consumers’ willingness to pay, therefore assisting service provider’s cost recovery, the research presented here also reveals that factors such as ability to pay, affordability of bills, quality of water and of the service provided, as well as good business-consumer relations are important factors affecting a utility’s ability to recover its costs. If water utilities are to attain sustainability over the long-term, they will have to embark on and maintain consumer awareness programmes, raise the quality of service (e.g., through improved operation and maintenance), and develop and apply the right water tariff. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper focuses on the level of dialogism between organizations and participants. The unit of analysis is a water utility's direct engagement with its household customers. Through participant observation and Bebbington et al.'s (2007) model, we analyzed engagement factors to detect elements occasioning a dialogic experience and its determinants. This contribution to the public utilities and social accounting literature outlines interrelated factors impacting barriers to and opportunities for creating dialogism. It enhances public utility business reputation and drives sustainability innovations. Managerially, we identified enablers and limits of an effective stakeholder engagement process. • The case provides specific insights related to the development of a dialogic process. • Mutual learning, in engagement processes, is directly connected with the empowerment of participants. • Dialogic exchange can promote innovative projects based on sustainability and to increase business reputation. • Transformative actions require the development of common paths between an organization and its stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is a perceived individual financial responsibility to support those displaced. • Collective and individual responsibility misaligned when providing public goods. • Individual responsibility is less than collective expectation of providing service. • Males, and wealthier, more educated, and urban individuals are more willing to pay. • This can inform utilities on rate increases to fund a portion of services. In 2019, the number of displaced persons worldwide reached a historic peak. When those displaced arrive in hosting cities, local utilities, often with no additional money, are tasked with meeting unexpected demands. One way to recoup these costs is to raise rates. However, publics are not always willing to share their own financial resources and utilities. In this empirical study, we quantitatively assess the residents' perceived individual responsibility—or willingness to pay—for these expanded services. Here we seek to not only identify if an individual is willing to financially support the provision of services for those displaced via an increase in their own rates, but also, to quantify how long they are willing to support these services. Further, we explore factors that influence this perceived individual responsibility. Enabling this study is survey data from the German public in 2016, a time when the asylum seekers, who were displaced by instability in the Middle East, encountered increased public opposition. We find respondents who are male, wealthier, more highly educated, and more urban are more willing to pay for services for displaced populations. These results can inform awareness campaigns or changes in rates and rate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slums, one of the main faces of urban poverty, are escalating in Sub-Saharan countries and other developing countries. Achievement of the overly ambitious Sustainable Development Goals will require cross-sectoral interventions. A good example is the Multiple Use water Services (MUS) framework, a livelihood-centred approach that is implemented in rural areas of over twenty countries, where water supply primarily designed for domestic or irrigation purposes is also used for productive uses (e.g. animal husbandry) to improve householders' livelihoods. This paper reports on a study conducted in 2017/18 in Kampala (Uganda) which adapted the existing rural-based MUS framework into a slum-specific framework. The study found that using utility-supplied water for productive uses was predominant in the slums, albeit unrecognised by the water utility. Implementation of the slum-specific MUS framework will be effective only with the water utility's recognition/support, probably as part of its philanthropic portfolio. Livelihoods-based NGOs could provide further 'software' support. • The MUS approach has worked well in rural areas to provide water for domestic and productive uses for livelihood enhancement. • Productive water uses are common in slums of cities in the developing world, but not recognised/supported by water utilities. • The Kampala case study enabled co-development of a slum-specific MUS framework, which is feasible with the utility's support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]