Urban Water Supply and Demand

Beijing is facing the considerable challenge of water shortage, as it is just able to meet current water demand in a year with average precipitation and a shortfall between water supply and demand is estimated to be around 1.8 billion[109] cubic meters (BCM) by 2010. Aiming to find the solution to such a severe challenge, this paper investigates Beijing's current and future water resources availability and water-use configurations, as well as past and current effort on both areas of water supply and demand. The analysis shows a continuously growing demand for water and an aggravating deficit of traditionally available water resources. The paper concludes that it is necessary to establish well-structured water-use data and employ more advanced forecasting methods if sound future decisions regarding water balance are expected to be made. In order to realize Beijing Municipality's full urban water conservation potential, it is suggested that a comprehensive and integrated long-term conservation program be implemented, which is technically feasible and economically justified, to conserve water consistently for many years.

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PPP – policies, practices and problems in Ghana's urban water supply

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2007.060 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 169-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Veronika Fuest ◽

Stefan A. Haffner

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Private Investment ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Supply ◽

Water Sector ◽

External Donor ◽

Technical Problems ◽

Economic Trends ◽

The Government

Since the beginning of the 1990s, comprehensive reforms of the Ghanaian water sector were initiated by the Bretton Woods Institutions. The Government of Ghana was obliged to restructure the sector by establishing regulatory bodies, opening the sector to private sector participation and separating responsibilities for urban water supply from rural water supply. The parastatal Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) was created to be solely in charge of urban water supply. In spite of external assistance, GWCL continued to suffer from massive financial, managerial and technical problems. The gap between supply and demand increased while demand for potable water in the cities was on the rise and the supply systems were degenerating. In order to introduce greater efficiency, two options for public–private partnerships (PPP) were developed and contested, over a period of 10 years. At first private companies were invited to take over the GWCL by a lease contract. Numerous factors, among them a massive anti-privatisation campaign and global economic trends unfavourable to private investment, particularly in the water sector, caused a comprehensive revision of the policy and the modification of the PPP programme from lease to short-term management contract with an ensuing affermage concession in 2004. This process was to be supported by external donor agencies substantially upgrading the water supply infrastructure. However, it seemed doubtful if the recent policy would lead to a sustainable system of urban water supply and substantial improvements in the supply situation of the poor. Patronage relations were not sufficiently addressed and alternative PPP options based on local potential had not been considered. The case of Ghana raises issues of imposed PPP policies that are not based on adequate information about local, national and international framework conditions.

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Urban water resources allocation under the uncertainties of water supply and demand: a case study of Urumqi, China

Environmental Earth Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12665-015-4420-9 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 74 (4) ◽

pp. 3543-3557 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

B. Wang ◽

W. Li ◽

G. H. Huang ◽

L. Liu ◽

L. Ji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Water Supply ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Resources Allocation ◽

Urban Water ◽

Water Resources Allocation ◽

Water Supply And Demand

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