Global Water Funding: Innovation and efficiency as enablers for safe, secure and affordable supplies (Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management)

Is safe and sustainable water and sanitation for all an unaffordable pipedream? This book surveys the worldwide development of water and sewage services and the challenges in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) along with climate change, population growth and urbanisation. It explores the reasons why current SDG6 progress is failing, including weak policy implementation, staff shortages and inadequate funding, as well as the limited impact of aid funding. The author contends that despite a series of innovations, debt finance remains too small to address needs of developing economies. Therefore, instead of advocating new funding, this book proposes addressing the funding gap through technological innovation and more efficient management and procurement through a series of examples that have challenged traditional assumptions. After four decades of good intentions, SDG6 is making a difference in monitoring shortfalls for the first time, allowing for more effective responses. This book outlines the role of innovation in hardware development, procurement and installation, and discusses how network management and operations can most effectively address funding gaps. The potential for savings is considerable, if effectively replicated. New approaches are driving forward affordable resilience, including nature-based solutions such as upstream habitat enhancement to retain water and improve downstream water quality; the circular economy, including water, nutrient, energy and heat recovery from wastewater; and demand management. This book will be of great value to scholars, policy makers and practitioners interested in the global finance of sustainable water and sanitation. David Lloyd Owen runs Envisager, advising multilaterals, governments, companies and financiers about water regulation, economics and policy. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Pictet Water Fund and has previously authored Smart Water Technologies and Techniques: Data Capture and Analysis for S ustainable Water Management (2018) Front Matter ....Pages i-xxix The Case for Universal and Sustainable Access (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 1-41 Where We Are (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 43-108 Where We Need to Be (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 109-144 The Costs Involved (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 145-187 Funding Flows Today (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 189-224 The Gap Between Aspirations and Realities (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 225-261 Addressing Capital Costs (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 263-293 Lowering Operating Costs (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 295-315 Demand Management and Resource Recovery (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 317-341 Innovation, Efficiency and Affordability (David Lloyd Owen)....Pages 343-366 Back Matter ....Pages 367-372