Problems related to water access and quality are significant in several countries around the world. Thus water management becomes a key issue, especially in developing countries, where the institutional and regulatory context is not always properly designed. The aim of this research is to...

This paper reviews the current thinking on institutions and finds that the notion of legitimacy is incompletely developed in the pervasive collective action model of new institutional economics. It argues that institutional legitimacy should be conceived as a set of <italic>normative incentives</italic>...

Africa has set ambitious targets for development of water resources over the coming decades. <italic>Africa Water Vision 2025</italic> calls for a doubling of irrigated agriculture and a five-fold increase in water use for agriculture, industry, and hydropower. The ambitious development targets are framed in the...

This paper reports an investigation of the impact of price policies (PP) and non-price policies (NPP) on residential water demand. Using a sample of US water utilities located in Wisconsin, residential water demand was estimated by taking into account the fact that some of the characteristics of...

This paper presents an example of how expected climate change effects have been factored into hydrological planning for the Ebro River basin in Spain. Between now and 2030, a 5% reduction in the basin's water resources is foreseen, along with a drop in the hydrographs' snow component and an...

Local policy makers in developed countries have to make decisions in increasingly complex scenarios. Consequently, they should use all the tools available when deciding which management option is the most suitable for urban water service, given how important that service is and the variety of...

This contribution analyzes the impact on Iberian water resources of anthropogenic climatic change, using the output from four simulations obtained from two coupled general circulation models (HadCM2 and PCM) under the A2 and B2 emissions scenarios. The results show that the magnitude of those...

This paper provides empirical evidence that power tariff reform with <italic>pro rata</italic> pricing and higher unit rates for electricity not only would promote equity, efficiency and sustainability in groundwater use, but also would be socio-economically viable for small-holder farmers. It shows that the...

Much effort has gone into the recognition of the human right to water. Without doubt, this milestone influences governance and decision making processes at many scales so it is essential now to shift the discussion from the legal and conceptual framework to practice. Along this line, the article...

As in other economic activities, privatization of water delivery has not resulted in the retreat of the public sector, but rather a change in the way in which the government intervenes in the water industry. This paper illustrates this situation by comparing urban water services in two Spanish...