Search results for "Urban water"
showing 10 items of 31 documents
The dynamics of privatization and regulation of water services: a comparative study of two Spanish regions
2013
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 regions, Andalusia and Catalonia. Water service delivery is structured very differently in these two regions with respect to private involvement, the degree of market concentration and, as a result, problems in competition. The characteristics of the two regions' respective regulatory agencies reflect the different paths taken to privatization: in Catalonia private firms have much more tradition and o…
Public choice of urban water service management: a multi-criteria approach
2013
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 criteria involved in making such a decision. This article employs ‘analytic hierarchy process’ techniques to perform an ex post analysis of the decision to transfer the management of the urban water service in Granada (in southern Spain) to a public-private partnership. The main conclusion is that the decision was rational, in that it was the best possible alternative considering the hierarchy of prefe…
Micropollutants throughout an integrated urban drainage model: Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis
2017
Abstract The paper presents the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of an integrated urban drainage model which includes micropollutants. Specifically, a bespoke integrated model developed in previous studies has been modified in order to include the micropollutant assessment (namely, sulfamethoxazole – SMX). The model takes into account also the interactions between the three components of the system: sewer system (SS), wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and receiving water body (RWB). The analysis has been applied to an experimental catchment nearby Palermo (Italy): the Nocella catchment. Overall, five scenarios, each characterized by different uncertainty combinations of sub-systems (i.e…
¿Está relacionada la eficiencia en el servicio urbano de agua con la titularidad del gestor?
2015
El presente estudio tiene como objetivo realizar una revisión de la literatura acerca de qué forma de titularidad de los servicios de agua urbana, pública o privada, se muestra superior en términos de eficiencia. Con el fi n de arrojar luz sobre esta cuestión hemos realizado, en primer lugar, un análisis de la situación de la industria a nivel internacional. A continuación se ofrece una exposición de los principales argumentos a favor y en contra de la privatización para finalizar con el examen de la evidencia empírica al respecto. La revisión efectuada no nos permite concluir que alguna de las formas de gestión se muestre indiscutiblemente superior en términos de eficiencia. Sin embargo, e…
Assessing the marginal cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the English and Welsh water and sewerage industry: A parametric approach
2021
Abstract Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions involves effort from different sectors of the economy, including the water and sewerage industry. This study estimates the marginal cost of curtailing GHG emissions in the water and sewerage industry using stochastic frontier analysis techniques for a sample of ten English and Welsh water and sewerage companies over the 2010–2019 period. Results illustrated that the average marginal cost of reducing GHG emissions was 0.181 £/Kg CO2 equivalent. The marginal cost estimated notably differs across companies and over time. Findings further illustrate the impact of water companies' operating characteristics on the marginal cost of reducing carbon e…
Contract Renewal in Urban Water Services, Incumbent Advantage, and Market Concentration
2020
Contract renewal with the incumbent is common practice in the contracting-out of public services. It could, however, affect competition by reinforcing trends towards market concentration. This article contributes empirical evidence on the determinants of the result of public tenders for the renewal of private provision of the urban water service. A dataset with information on 215 public tenders held in Spain between 2008 and 2019 is employed. The methodology is grounded in logistic regression techniques. The findings indicate that incumbents' size does not play a role in the proba-bility of alternating between service providers. Furthermore, competition−proxied by the number of bidders−and …
Energy intensity of treating drinking water: Understanding the influence of factors
2017
Abstract To provide safe drinking water to urban populations, raw water must be treated in drinking water treatment plants, which are energy-intensive facilities. Previous studies have assessed energy intensity (EI: unit of energy required per unit of treated water) of conventional drinking water treatment plants, but they ignored variations related to water treatment trains. By modeling 179 facilities of four water treatment trains, we explored factors potentially affecting energy intensity, such as removal efficiencies of pollutants and treatment capacities of drinking water treatment plants. We also investigated the economies of scale in energy intensity of drinking water treatment plant…
Drivers of productivity change: a comparison of English and Welsh water only and water and sewerage companies
2021
In regulated industries, such as the water industry, it is of great significance to estimate productivity change as it helps policy makers to evaluate the effectiveness of regulatory regime and ind...
Does market concentration affect prices in the urban water industry?
2015
This paper analyzes the relationship between market concentration in the private segment of the water industry and water prices with a sample of municipalities located in the Southern Spanish region of Andalusia. In doing so, several Heckman sample selection models are estimated with the main finding being that market concentration increases the price of water for residential use charged by private companies. The main policy recommendation is that urban water service privatization must be accompanied by the appropriate regulatory and institutional frameworks to promote competition among businesses and monitor water pricing.
Urban Storm-Water Quality Management: Centralized versus Source Control
2010
The continuous growth of urban areas and the increasing public awareness of the environmental impacts of storm water have raised interest on the quality of the receiving water bodies. In the past two decades, many efforts have been directed at improving urban drainage systems by introducing mitigation measures to limit the negative environmental impacts of storm water. These mitigation measures are generally called best management practices (BMPs), sustainable urban drainage systems, or low impact developments, and they include practices such as infiltration and storage tanks that reduce the peak flow and retain some of the polluting materials. Choosing the best mitigation measure is still …