scholarly journals Dry Pipes: Associations between Utility Performance and Intermittent Piped Water Supply in Low and Middle Income Countries

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Kaminsky ◽  
Emily Kumpel
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
International Benchmarking ◽  
Piped Water ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Infrastructure System ◽  
Utility Scale ◽  
Global Indicators ◽  
Relevant Factors

Intermittent piped water supply impacts at least one billion people around the globe. Given the environmental and public health implications of poor water supply, there is a strong practical need to understand how and why intermittent supply occurs, and what strategies may be used to move utilities towards the provision of continuous water supply. Leveraging data from the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities, we discover 42 variables that have statistically significant associations with intermittent water supply at the utility scale across 2115 utilities. We categorized these under the following themes: Physical infrastructure system scale, coverage, consumer type, public water points, financial, and non-revenue water and metering. This research identifies globally relevant factors with high potential for cross-context, scaled impact. In addition, using insights from the analysis, we provide empirically grounded recommendations and data needs for improved global indicators of utility performance related to intermittent supply.

scholarly journals Procurement, finance and the energy transition: Between global processes and territorial realities

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862199112
Author(s):  
Lucy Baker
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Renewable Electricity ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Asset Class ◽  
Renewable Electricity Generation ◽  
Utility Scale

Utility-scale renewable electricity generation is essential to decarbonisation as well as to ensuring affordable and secure electricity supplies around the world. Yet thus far there has been limited critical thinking dedicated to the complexities behind the finance and ownership of this new infrastructure and how national and local stakeholders should participate in and benefit from its development, particularly in contexts of high inequality in low- and middle-income countries. As the global renewable energy industry becomes increasingly consolidated and financialised, evidence from a number of countries suggests that despite the pro-environmental outcomes of utility-scale renewable electricity generation, the processes and institutions that procure and finance it have often failed to include or benefit individuals and communities living in the national and local vicinity. This paper therefore sets two key competing objectives of renewable electricity generation in context: as a predictable, long-term revenue stream for investors, and as a mechanism for socio-economic development and community empowerment. Building on scholarship from human geography, development studies and sustainability transitions, my analysis takes forward understandings of the role of finance in utility-scale renewable electricity generation as a key aspect of the political economy of the energy transition. In exploring the evolution of renewable electricity as a new and rapidly emerging asset class I consider how its development is increasingly determined by the frameworks and logics of finance and investment. Drawing on examples from South Africa and Mexico, I address the following questions: What are the evolving configurations and processes of finance and investment in utility-scale renewable electricity generation? How have they been facilitated? And what tensions have arisen from their implementation at the national and local level?

scholarly journals Will COVID-19 fiscal recovery packages accelerate or retard progress on climate change?

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S359-S381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Hepburn ◽  
Brian O’Callaghan ◽  
Nicholas Stern ◽  
Joseph Stiglitz ◽  
Dimitri Zenghelis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Economic Multiplier

Abstract The COVID-19 crisis is likely to have dramatic consequences for progress on climate change. Imminent fiscal recovery packages could entrench or partly displace the current fossil-fuel-intensive economic system. Here, we survey 231 central bank officials, finance ministry officials, and other economic experts from G20 countries on the relative performance of 25 major fiscal recovery archetypes across four dimensions: speed of implementation, economic multiplier, climate impact potential, and overall desirability. We identify five policies with high potential on both economic multiplier and climate impact metrics: clean physical infrastructure, building efficiency retrofits, investment in education and training, natural capital investment, and clean R&D. In lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rural support spending is of particular value while clean R&D is less important. These recommendations are contextualized through analysis of the short-run impacts of COVID-19 on greenhouse gas curtailment and plausible medium-run shifts in the habits and behaviours of humans and institutions.

scholarly journals Unpacking piped water consumption subsidies: Who benefits? New evidence from 10 countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Abramovsky ◽  
Luis Andrés ◽  
George Joseph ◽  
Juan Pablo Rud ◽  
Germán Sember ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Piped Water ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
The World ◽  
Tariff Structures ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Abstract This paper provides new evidence on the recent performance of piped water consumption subsidies in terms of pro-poor targeting for 10 low- and middle-income countries around the world. Our results suggest that in these countries, existing tariff structures fall well short of recovering the costs of service provision, and that, moreover, the resulting subsidies largely fail to achieve the goal of improving the accessibility and affordability of piped water among the poor. Instead, the majority of subsidies in all 10 countries are captured by the richest households. On average, across the 10 low- and middle-income countries examined, 56% of subsidies end up in the pockets of the richest 20%, but only 6% of subsidies find their way to the poorest 20%. This is predominantly due to the most vulnerable segments of the population facing challenges in access and connection to piped water services. Shortcomings in the design of the subsidy, conditional on poor households being connected, exist but are less important.

Choosing bottled over tapped: drinking water in the Dominican Republic

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. McLennan
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
Drinking Water Source ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Head Of Household ◽  
Piped Water ◽  
Nationally Representative

While not designated as an improved drinking water source, bottled water is increasingly used by households in low- and middle-income countries as families strive to obtain perceived safer drinking water. The Dominican Republic has high levels of bottled water use despite high levels of piped water access. This study aimed to identify household characteristics that are associated with choosing bottled over tapped drinking water in the Dominican Republic through further examination of data available from a nationally representative Demographic and Healthy Survey from 2007. Among households reporting tapped water as their primary non-drinking water source, 59.6% identified bottled water as their principal drinking water source in comparison with 24.7% identifying tapped water. Greater wealth explained the largest amount of variance in bottled over tapped drinking water. Other hypothesized variables related to choosing bottled over tapped included residence in more urban settings, having a young child in the household, having fewer persons in the household, and a head of household who is female, younger and with higher education. Nationally, representative data which include components investigating perceptions about drinking water and actual quality of drinking water are required to further understand this phenomenon and its impact.

Water Supply, Sanitation, and the Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Vijay Jagannathan
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The World

Sustainable Development Goal No. 6 (SDG 6) has committed all nations of the world to achieving ambitious water supply and sanitation targets by 2030 to meet the universal basic needs of humans and the environment. Many lower-middle-income countries and all low-income countries face an uphill challenge in achieving these ambitious targets. The cause of poor performance is explored, some possible ways to accelerate progress toward achieving SDG 6 are suggested. The analysis will be of interest to a three-part audience: (a) readers with a general interest on how SDG 6 can be achieved; (b) actors with policy interest on improving water supply and safe sanitation (WSS) service issues; and (c) activists skeptical of conventional WSS policy prescriptions who advocate out-of-the-box solutions to improve WSS delivery.

scholarly journals The role of packaged water in meeting global targets on improved water access

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sridhar Vedachalam ◽  
Luke H. MacDonald ◽  
Elizabeth Omoluabi ◽  
Funmilola OlaOlorun ◽  
Easmon Otupiri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Piped Water ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Using Data

Packaged water (as either refill, bottled, or sachet water) has become an important element of water security in many low- and middle-income countries, owing to poor reliability and lack of piped water infrastructure. However, over time and across countries, the Demographic and Health Surveys monitoring program has inconsistently classified packaged water components as either improved or unimproved. Using data collected as part of the Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) surveys on water options in nine study geographies across eight countries, we identified five geographies where packaged water constituted one of several options for 5% or more of users. In this study, four scenarios were designed in which packaged water components were variously classified as either improved or unimproved. Unimproved water use was highest in scenarios where sachet or refill water was classified as an unimproved source. Across the four scenarios, the difference in the use of unimproved water as the main option was highest (65%) in Nigeria (Lagos). That difference increased to 78% when considering all regular options. The development of these scenarios highlights the importance of classifying a source as improved or unimproved in the overall metric that indicates progress at national and international levels.

scholarly journals Ending Global Poverty: Why Money Isn’t Enough

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Page ◽  
Rohini Pande
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Extreme Poverty ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Global Population

Between 1981 and 2013, the share of the global population living in extreme poverty fell by 34 percentage points. This paper argues that such rapid reductions will become increasingly hard to achieve for two reasons. First, the majority of the poor now live in middle-income countries where the benefits of growth have often been distributed selectively and unequally. Second, a reservoir of extreme poverty remains in low-income countries where growth is erratic and aid often fails to reach the poor. If the international community is to most effectively leverage available resources to end extreme poverty, it must ensure that its investments in institutions and physical infrastructure actually provide the poor the capabilities they need to craft an effective pathway out of poverty. We term the human and social systems that are required to form this pathway “invisible infrastructure” and argue that an effective domestic state is central to building this. By corollary, ending extreme poverty will require both expanding state capacity and giving the poor power to demand reforms they need by solving agency problems between citizens, politicians, and bureaucrats.

scholarly journals Reliability of water supplies in low and middle-income countries: a structured review of definitions and assessment criteria

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Batsirai Majuru ◽  
Marc Suhrcke ◽  
Paul R. Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Assessment Criteria ◽  
Domestic Water ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
Common Criterion

Abstract The unreliability of water supplies in developing countries is a widely recognised concern. However, unreliability means different things in the variety of literature on water supplies, and no unified definition or assessment criteria exists. We review definitions of water supply reliability used in existing literature, as well as the various ways in which it is assessed. Thirty-three papers were selected for review that reported on reliability of domestic water supply and were based on empirical research in developing countries. Explicit definitions of reliability are given in four out of the 33 papers reviewed. These definitions vary, but features common are the functionality of the water supply system itself, and the extent to which it meets the needs of water users. Assessment criteria also vary greatly, with the most common criterion in urban settings being the duration/continuity of supply in hours per day, while in rural settings, the proportion of functional water systems is commonly used. The heterogeneity in the definitions and assessment criteria found in the review is perhaps indicative of a multi-attribute nature of the concept of reliability and any unifying definition and assessment criteria might do well to take this into account.

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