Table Of ContentROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF URBAN
WATER GOVERNANCE
This handbook provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of urban water governance.
Of the many growing challenges presented by rapid urbanisation, water governance is a critical
one and while urban water governance is now regarded as a critical field of research, the literature
is fragmented. For the first time, this handbook brings together urban water governance research,
containing interdisciplinary contributions from established and emerging scholars, practitioners,
and policymakers. It addresses the key questions of how urban water governance works, how is
it shaped, and what the impacts are. The handbook’s structure offers a progressive entry into the
complexity of urban water governance. Starting with technical dimensions, the handbook addresses
supply and demand, wastewater, and sanitation. It then considers regulation and economic factors,
examining water utilities and services. Political processes, and the actors involved, are addressed
and the handbook finishes with a part focusing on governance and sustainability, where chapters
address critically important topics such as access to water, water safety, and water security.
This handbook is essential reading for students, scholars, and professionals interested in urban
water governance, urban studies, and water resource management and sustainability more broadly.
Thomas Bolognesi is a researcher at the Geneva School of Business Administration, HES-SO.
His research investigates the processes of social-ecological systems evolution, emphasizing non-
linearities and patterns diversity. He combines economics and public policy analysis to study
the organization and effects of urban water services regulation, the development of water policy
regimes, and water security.
Francisco Silva Pinto is an Assistant Professor at Lusofona University (LU) and researcher at
EIGeS, FE-LU, and CERIS, IST-UL. His research interests cover the application of numerical
modelling and analytics to support decision making in governance, pricing, and finance of
utilities (mainly water supply, wastewater, and waste) under critical socio-economic and
environmental situations.
Megan Farrelly is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University.
Her research explores the intersection of urban water governance and sustainability transitions,
focusing on processes and pathways for delivering practical and socio-institutional change
towards sustainable urban transformations.
ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF
URBAN WATER GOVERNANCE
Edited by Thomas Bolognesi, Francisco Silva Pinto
and Megan Farrelly
Cover image: Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Thomas Bolognesi, Francisco Silva
Pinto, Megan Farrelly; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Thomas Bolognesi, Francisco Silva Pinto, and Megan Farrelly
to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-52353-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-52354-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05757-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003057574
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
CONTENTS
Contributors viii
Urban water governance: Approaching a pressing environmental and social challenge 1
Thomas Bolognesi, Megan Farrelly, and Francisco Silva Pinto
PART I
Technical and historical aspects of Water supply systems 15
1 Urban water cycle and services: An integrative perspective 17
Francisco Silva Pinto, Thomas Bolognesi, and Christopher Gasson
2 Traditional systems of drinking water delivery: Technical aspects and sources 34
Raziyeh Farmani and Chris Sweetapple
3 Hybrid water supply systems: Resilience and implementability 44
Casey Furlong, Ryan Brotchie, Peter Morison, Lindsey Brown, and Greg Finlayson
4 Urban water supply and life cycle assessment 64
Zepon Tarpani and Gallego Schmid
5 Modelling Urban Water Infrastructure Renewal 78
Yves Le Gat
6 Territories and technologies: History and current trends of their
interaction in urban water services 103
Bernard Barraqué
v
Contents
PART II
Technical and historical aspects of wastewater systems 117
7 Conventional systems for urban sanitation and wastewater management
in middle- and high-income countries 119
Jenifer R. McConville
8 Sanitation systems: Are hybrid systems sustainable or does winner takes all? 134
Max Maurer
9 Management of Urban Drainage Infrastructure 145
Nelson Carriço, Maria do Céu Almeida, and João Paulo Leitão
10 History of technological change in urban wastewater management,
1830–2010 163
Jonas Hallström and Martin V. Melosi
PART III
Regulation and economic perspectives 173
11 Institutional perspectives on water services 175
Sylvain Barone and Pierre-Louis Mayaux
12 Fragmentation in Urban Water Governance: Navigating Legal and
Normative Modalities 188
Lee Godden
13 Revisiting the theory on the regulation of water utilities: Evolution,
challenges, and trends 204
Rui Cunha Marques
14 Trends and comparisons of outcomes between public and privately
owned utilities 216
Germà Bel
15 Institutional, economic, and spatial barriers to water services delivery in
urban slums and informal settlements 227
Ellis A. Adams and William F. Vásquez
PART IV
Political processes 241
16 Actor networks in urban water governance 243
Manuel Fischer, Karin Ingold, Mert Duygan, Liliane Manny, and Katrin Pakizer
vi
Contents
17 Policy transfer in urban water management: Evidence from ten BEGIN
cities 257
Jannes Willems, Ellen Minkman, William Veerbeek, Richard Ashley, and Arwin
van Buuren
18 Rethinking urban water governance and infrastructure in Europe:
Challenges and opportunities of regionalization and organizational
autonomy 272
Eva Lieberherr, Frank Hüesker, and Katrin Pakizer
19 Sustainability transitions in urban water management: Assessing the
robustness of institutional arrangements 284
Aaron Deslatte, Margaret Garcia, Elizabeth A. Koebele, and John M. Anderies
PART V
Urban water governance and sustainability 297
20 Urban metabolism and Water Sensitive Cities governance: Designing and
evaluating water-secure, resilient, sustainable, liveable cities 299
Steven J. Kenway, Marguerite Renouf, J. Allan, KMN Islam,
N. Tarakemehzadeh, M. Moravej, B. Sochacka, and M. Surendran
21 Leveraging artificial intelligence in addressing water safety challenges 316
Xu Wang
22 Political ecologies of urban water governance 331
Julian S. Yates, Marc Tadaki, and Cristy Clark
23 Territorial integration and innovation for good urban water governance 345
Susana Neto
24 Urban water security 357
Joost Buurman
25 Urban water quality and chemical pollution: New emerging
contaminants, nanomaterials, and microplastics 374
Serge Stoll and Stéphan Ramseier Gentile
Index 387
vii
CONTRIBUTORS
Christopher Gasson is an authority on water finance and markets. After obtaining a degree in
politics and economics at Oxford University, he worked as a financial journalist and investment
banker before acquiring Global Water Intelligence in 2002.
Raziyeh Farmani (ORCID: 0000-0001-8148-0488) is an Associate Professor of Water
Engineering and Industrial Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering at the Centre for
Water Systems, University of Exeter (UK). She is the Chair of IWA’s Intermittent Water Supply
Specialist Group. She specialises in urban water systems modelling, asset management, water
resources management, many-objective optimisation, uncertainty and risk assessment, and deci-
sion aid. Her research interests cover the interdisciplinary field of hydroinformatics, including
artificial intelligence (AI), data mining, and optimisation techniques and their application for
real-time control for smart water systems, asset deterioration modelling and management of
water supply and distribution systems, leakage management, energy management, and sustain-
ability and resilience issues.
Chris Sweetapple (ORCID: 0000-0002-9329-5367) is a Research Fellow at the Centre for
Water Systems, University of Exeter (UK). His interests lie broadly in improving the resilience
and sustainability of urban water systems and, in particular, the development of tools that can
inform the design and implementation of interventions.
Casey Furlong (ORCID: 0000-0003-0594-1179) has a decade of experience in water secu-
rity and urban livability. His employment has spanned water utilities, government, consult-
ing, and academia. He has published extensively on various topics related to Integrated Water
Management, including decision making for alternative water source projects and water sector
support for urban greening and cooling.
Ryan Brotchie (ORCID: 0000-0002-5903-2360) is a water strategy consultant with GHD in
Melbourne. He is passionate about developing sustainable water solutions and helping the water
industry plan for future uncertainty and adapt to climate change. He has particular experience
in multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder strategic planning and advisory projects across the
whole water cycle as well as across Australia and overseas.
viii
Contributors
Greg Finlayson (ORCID: 0000-0002-5468-0545) has more than 30 years of experience in
the water sector. As a water treatment and desalination specialist, he has held senior technical
and commercial roles on a number of large PPPs and DBOs, including a central role in the
Victorian Desalination Project. He is now focused on leading strategic planning and integrated
water management in the water industry.
Peter Morison (ORCID: 0000-0003-2715-9911) is an environmental and social scientist with
over 25 years of experience working in water services, natural resource management, local gov-
ernance, and as a consultant to various government organisations. He maintains collaborative
research as a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s School of Ecosystem and Forest
Services.
Lindsey Brown (ORCID: 0000-0003-0420-2542) is a water industry strategist specialising in
urban water management and industry modernisation. With experience spanning three con-
tinents, her passions for collaborative leadership, governance, and stakeholder engagement see
her involved in important conversations across the Australian water industry on how it can
continue to evolve to meet the needs of current and future generations while delivering best
value. She is a renowned commentator and speaker on industry issues and trends, particularly
relating to ESG.
Raphael Ricardo Zepon Tarpani (ORCID: 0000-0001-6774-458X) has a PhD in chemical
engineering from the University of Manchester (UK). Research interests are related to water
supply, circular economy, food–energy–water nexus, and life cycle sustainability assessment.
Alejandro Gallego Schmid (ORCID: 0000-0002-0583-2143) works as a Senior Lecturer
in Circular Economy and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment at the University of Manchester
(UK). Research interests are related to the circular economy, renewable energy, climate change,
informal waste sector, digitalisation, and life cycle sustainability assessment.
Yves Le Gat is a civil engineer and PhD researcher at the French National Research Institute
for Agriculture, Food and Environment. He has been involved since 1995 in applied research
works, in the domain of water infrastructure asset management, and in mobilizing approaches
that combine reliability engineering with probability theory and statistics.
Bernard O. Barraqué (ORCID: 0000-0003-4638-3708) is a civil engineer with a PhD in
urban socioeconomic issues from the University of Paris. After working as a consultant in urban
environmental policies, he turned to teaching and research, increasingly focusing on water poli-
cies in Europe (resources allocation, urban water). He is CNRS research director (emeritus) at
the Centre International de Recherches sur l’Environnement et le Développement (CIRED).
Jennifer R. McConville (ORCID: 0000-0003-0373-685X) is an Associate Professor at the
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She teaches and undertakes research on design,
planning, and decision-making processes for sanitation systems, with a special focus on sustain-
ability assessments and resource recovery.
Max Maurer (ORCID: 0000-0002-5326-6035) is Professor of Urban Water Systems at ETH
Zürich in Switzerland, and heads the department of urban water management at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) in Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Nelson Carriço (ORCID: 0000-0002-2474-7665) is a water resources engineer and holds a
PhD in civil engineering from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is an assistant professor
at the Portuguese Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal where he lectures on urban hydraulics. His
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