When several municipalities unite in a single administrative structure - a process known as aggregation - they can lower the cost of utility services through economies of scale. Aggregation of water supply and sanitation (WSS) services is established practice in some countries and is likely to...

Tanzania initiated a forward-looking National Water Policy (NAWAPO-2002) to promote an integrated approach to water resources management and improve water supply and sanitation service (WSS) delivery in both urban and rural areas. To do this, the Government initiated in 2004 a doubling of budget...

The Sustainable Development Network (SDN) calls for elevating the environment into upstream processes such as policy, programmatic, and investment dialogue. In its 2002 environment strategy, the Bank committed to use strategic environmental assessments (SEAs), an environmental planning tool for...

The impact of climate change is increasingly important for the design, construction, and maintenance of water sector infrastructure. Average global temperatures are on the rise, causing cycles of extreme weather: droughts and flooding are becoming common; seawater levels are rising; and many...

In post-apartheid Johannesburg, South Africa, the city water authority had fallen into disarray (a common situation with urban services). In 2001, a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) emerged as a way to bring new expertise and efficiency to the delivery of public utility services, where a...

The template is a tool to assess the performance of an urban water supply and sanitation (WSS) service provide by taking into account the governance, policy, and management context it operates in. The template complements extensive work done on comprehensive performance indicators through the...

After a period of stagnation, the story of hydropower infrastructure is changing. Emerging global dynamics are recasting the role and value of hydropower in development, recognizing its potential contribution to a complex web of energy security, water security and regional development and...

The study objectives were designed to enhance the state's capacity to assess long-term effects of drought and increase resilience to drought risks at state, district, and community levels. The process for development of study objectives featured extensive consultation with affected sectors, and...

Located in the heart of Mali, the Office du Niger (ON) is one of the oldest and largest irrigation schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The French, who began the scheme in 1932, planned on developing about 1,000,000 hectares (ha) over a period of 50 years. The scheme did not provide the expected...

Environmental flows are central to equitable distribution of and access to water and services provided by aquatic ecosystems. They refer to the quality, quantity, and timing of water flows required maintaining the components, functions, processes and resilience of aquatic ecosystems that provide...