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Despite the increasing need to address long-term challenges, public sector organizations are incentivized to focus on short-term results. This article uses an ethnographic approach to analyse how members of a regional water authority understand and deal with long-term policy problems as part of their everyday practices. It reveals three specific dilemmas: investing in the realization of objects or objectives, adopting a stable or responsive approach, and taking a proactive or reactive stance towards the external environment. The concept of strategic agility enables organizations to respond proactively to unexpected developments by devising strategies to steer as well as to accommodate change.

Spring discharge from the Masingini catchment plays a crucial role in the Zanzibar Municipality water supply scheme. However, there has been remarkable attenuation in spring discharge over the years due to a change in rainfall patterns. The study's objective was to assess the effect of rainfall variability on Mtoni and Bububu springs discharge in the Masingini catchment. It analyzed rainfall variability on the Masingini catchment between 1992 and 2018 to assess spring discharge at least ten years before and after the water policy. The monthly rainfall data was collected from Tanzania Meteorological Agency in the Zanzibar office. The spring discharge data was collected from Zanzibar Water Authority and supplemented by field measurements of monthly groundwater levels for wet and dry seasons from fifteen boreholes. The data analysis was carried out using the M-K test. The results revealed a non-significant downward trend in seasonal rainfall over rainfall stations due to the decline of seasonal rainfall over the years. Annual rainfall showed a significant decreasing trend for Kizimbani Agromet station (p < 0.05). On the other hand, the groundwater level dropped by an average of 5±2.6m between the long rainy and dry seasons. The maximum and minimum spring discharges coincide with wet and dry seasons, respectively. There was a significant decreasing trend in annual spring discharge at α = 0.05 and α = 0.01 for Mtoni and Bububu spring discharge, respectively. The M-K revealed a significantly positive correlation of annual spring discharge and rainfall, τ = 0.333 and τ = 0.453 for Mtoni and Bububu spring, respectively, implying that discharge increases as rainfall increases. The average daily discharge of Mtoni and Bububu spring declined by 23.9% and 18.9%, respectively, before and after water policy. The study concluded that rainfall variability was the primary hydroclimate factor for declining spring discharge on the catchment.

En el departamento de Tacna específicamente los Distritos de Pachía y Calana presentan vulnerabilidad a inundación por máximas avenidas, según las evaluaciones realizadas por la Autoridad Nacional del Agua, en los años del 2001 y 2019 según el registro de datos hidrométricos de la Estación Calientes, se reportaron caudales de 33 m3/s y 26 m3/s respectivamente ocasionando destrucción de las bocatomas de Challata y Calientes, inundación de áreas agrícolas, dejando en aniego la zona de los Baños termales en Calientes, colmatación de las obras de encauzamiento del rio Caplina desde Calana hasta el sector Piedra Blanca. La determinación de una faja marginal mediante un modelamiento hidráulico busca salvaguardar la vida de los habitantes y también los aspectos económicos y ambientales

The goal of research planning is to optimize human and material resources while maximizing efficiency. If there are databases that can be used as a substitute for own data collection, effective research can be facilitated by reallocating resources. In the case of environmental studies, the knowledge of the climatic conditions of the study period is known to be a key factor in research planning process. In the present study, the data of our meteorological station in our research area (known as “Szamárháti Tanya”, Kesznyéten, Hungary) was compared with the measurements of meteorological stations operated by the competent water authority. Stations were taken into the study within a 10 and 20 km radius over a period of 21 months, to determine which provided more relevant data from the area. During the evaluation of results, the relationship between the local and regional weather stations were determined, and deductions were made from the obtained results to support the decision which of the targeted investigations could be of greater benefit.

[EN] The objective of this study was to analyse periodicities and the long-term variability of monthly Jucar River-Mancha Oriental Aquifer interactions (RAI) and regionally measured precipitation (PP) with special focus on the correlations between these local hydrological variables and the large climatic patterns governing the Iberian Peninsula, represented by their teleconnection indices - the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAOi) and the Western Mediterranean Oscillation index (WeMOi). To that end, wavelet analysis has been applied since it not only provides insight into the time-series dynamics but also permits statistical interpretation and correlation analysis. As a result, several periodicities have been detected: intermittent semi-annual periodicity in PP and the NAOi and annual periodicity in the RAI, NAOi and WeMOi time series. Long cycles (approximately 14 years) are also observed in the PP and WeMOi time series. The cross-wavelet spectra show a correlation between the RAI and the rest of the variables on the semi-annual and the annual scales, while wavelet coherence detects common behaviour with longer cycles - 5-6 years between the NAOi and the RAI and cycles of both 1-5 years and 7-10 years between PP and the RAI. Furthermore, results show that the periodicities in the teleconnection indices and precipitation propagate into the RAI with certain lead times: 3 months between the RAI and PP and 6 months between the RAI and the NAOi. The results indicate that the detected periodicities and the coherence between the studied variables could have applications in strategic planning on a river basin scale, taking into account the propagation times and the frequency scale. This methodological approach can be applied into strategic water resource planning independently of the geographical location of the hydrogeological system, the basin size and the climate region., Special thanks go to the Júcar Water Authority (CHJ) and stakeholders (JCRMO) in the Mancha Oriental System for providing the necessary information. The content of this report does not represent the view of CHJ and JCRMO. This work has been funded by the research projects CGL2017-87216-C4-2-R from the National Research Program I + D + i (FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Investigación y Universidades) and SBPLY/17/180501/000296 from the National Research Program I + D + i of the Junta of Communities of Castile-La Mancha. We would also like to thank Christine Laurin for the English copy editing and valued comments.

Developed countries provide attention to risks for all their critical sectors. Utilities are one of these critical sectors. Communication network is a main element for any utility. Any major failure in this network will have huge impact on the utilities’ operations. Focus should be always on all types of risks that have effects on operations. Some risks can be considered hidden meaning that they have in direct impact on the equipment’s operation. Identifying these hidden risks in telecommunication panels will provide huge benefits for utilities since they will prevent failures and maintain sustainable operations. This paper aims to highlight some examples of hidden risks in utilities communication panels, their effects on the network and how to mitigate them. The study is based on several failures and challenges faced by DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) communication engineers during maintenance and troubleshooting. The study concludes that it is essential to take care about and mitigate these hidden risks in all stages starting from design up to maintenance stages.

Excellence is a current focus for developed countries. Utilities, which are one of the critical sectors, need to apply excellence in order to deliver the required results to all their stakeholders. Communication network is a main element for any utility. Maintaining communication network requires additional efforts nowadays, which calls the need of shifting from normal to excellent maintenance. Applying excellent maintenance will ensure the availability and sustainability of the communication network, which will ensure utilities’ continuous operations. This paper aims to highlight the ways to achieve excellence maintenance for communication equipment in the utility sector. The study is based on several challenges and studies done by DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) communication engineers during maintenance stage. The study concludes that it is essential to take care about all stages in order to apply excellent maintenance.