Abstract
Ineffective water governance is a significant factor in causing water insecurity and hampering the goal of sustainable development in developing countries. The water resources in South Asia are under increasing pressure from population growth, urbanization and industrial growth along with socioeconomic water demand in the region. Urban water governance is pertinent in decision-making and policies designed based on the determinants of sustainability (society, economic and environmental). Due to the complexity of the decision-making system, fragmentation, poor coordination and lack of holistic planning, developing adaptive capacity in the developing region is underexplored. In this background, this chapter reviews the concept of urban water governance and its pathways to achieve adaptive water Governance in India. The main question here is which urban water governance pathway suits the Indian context and what are the barriers to implementing adaptive water governance in India. The analysis showed that water institutions' non-responsiveness, coordination/interaction issues, lack of collaboration, limited information access and communication between various levels of formal institutions and absence of capacity building and challenges to ensure fairness in distribution are the identified barriers. Furthermore, this chapter argues that the implementation of adaptive water governance through hybrid governance configuration is in the experimental phase in India and shows promising results. Evaluating the success of polycentric arrangement is too early now. Addressing the constraint herein, improving the dimension of the adaptive system mentioned in the section will enhance the strength of the urban water governance system to handle uncertainty in the future. The chapter contributes to the current discourse of the water governance pathways to achieve water security in developing countries in support of the water goal (SDG 6) of the United Nation's sustainable development goals.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aayog NITI (2018) Composite water management index. National Institution for Transforming India, GOI
ADB (2016) Asia water development outlook. Asian Development Bank, Manila
Andrijevic M, Cuaresma JC, Muttarak R, Schleussner CF (2020) Governance in socioeconomic pathways and its role for future adaptive capacity. Nat Sustain 3(1):35–41
Araral E, Ratra S (2016) Water governance in India and China: comparison of water law, policy and administration. Water Policy 18:14–31. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2016.102
Araral E, Wang Y (2013) Water governance 2.0: a review and second generation research agenda. Water Resour Manage 27(11):3945–3957. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-013-0389-x
Araral E, Yu D (2013) Comparative study of water law, policy and administration: evidence from 17 Asian countries. Water Resources Research
Arfanuzzaman M, Dahiya B (2019) Sustainable urbanization in Southeast Asia and beyond: Challenges of population growth, land use change, and environmental health. Growth and Change 50(2):725–744
Arnell NW (1999) Climate change and global water resources. Glob Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(99)00017-5
Ayre ML, Nettle RA (2017) Enacting resilience for adaptive water governance: a case study of irrigation modernization in an Australian catchment. Ecol Soc 22(3). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09256-220301
Bakker K, Cook C (2011) Water governance in Canada: innovation and fragmentation. Int J Water Resour Dev 27(2):275–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2011.564969
Bakker K, Morinville C (2013) The governance dimensions of water security: a review. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 371(2002):20130116
Bettini Y, Brown RR, de Haan FJ (2015) Exploring institutional adaptive capacity in practice: examining water governance adaptation in Australia. Ecol Soc 20(1)
Bichai F, Ryan H, Fitzgerald C, Williams K, Abdelmoteleb A, Brotchie R, Komatsu R (2015) Understanding the role of alternative water supply in an urban water security strategy: An analytical framework for decision-making. Urban Water J 12(3):175–189
Biswas AK, Seetharam KE (2008) Achieving water security for Asia. Int J Water Resour Dev. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900620701760556
Bogardi JJ, Dudgeon D, Lawford R, Flinkerbusch E, Meyn A, Pahl-Wostl C, Vörösmarty C (2012) Water security for a planet under pressure: interconnected challenges of a changing world call for sustainable solutions. Curr Opin Environ Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2011.12.002
Briscoe J, Malik RP (2008). India’s water economy: bracing for a turbulent future. Water
Carlisle K, Gruby RL (2017) Polycentric systems of governance: a theoretical model for the commons. Policy Stud J 00(00):1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12212
Chan NW, Roy R, Chaffin BC (2016) Water governance in bangladesh: An evaluation of institutional and political context. Water, 8(9):403
Cobbinah PB, Okyere DK, Gaisie E (2020) Population growth and water supply: the future of Ghanaian cities. In Megacities and Rapid Urbanization: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice (pp. 96–117). IGI Global
Cook C, Bakker K (2012) Water security: debating an emerging paradigm. Glob Environ Change 22(1):94–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.10.011
Deshkar S (2019) Resilience perspective for planning urban water infrastructures: a case of Nagpur city. In Urban Drought (pp 131–154). Springer, Singapore
Diaz H, Hurlbert M (2013) Water governance in Chile and Canada: a comparison of adaptive characteristics. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29831-8_11
Dietz T, Ostrom E, Stern PC (2008) The struggle to govern the commons. In: Urban ecology: an international perspective on the interaction between humans and nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73412-5_40
Dubey JT, Subramanian V, Kumar N (2020) Policy interventions in achieving water security in India. In Environmental Concerns and Sustainable Development (pp. 275–291). Springer, Singapore
du Plessis A (2019) Current and future water scarcity and stress. In Water as an Inescapable Risk (pp. 13–25). Springer, Cham
Empinotti VL, Budds J, Aversa M (2019) Governance and water security: the role of the water institutional framework in the 2013–15 water crisis in São Paulo, Brazil. Geoforum 98:46–54
Folke C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses. Glob Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.04.002
Global Water Partnership (GWP) (2002) Introducing Effective Water Governance; GWP Technical Paper; Global Water Partnership: Stockholm, Sweden
Grey D, Sadoff CW (2007) Sink or swim? Water security for growth and development. Water policy 9(6):545–571
Gupta J, Akhmouch A, Cosgrove W, Hurwitz Z, Maestu J, Ünver O (2013) Policymakers’ reflections on water governance issues 18(1)
Gupta J, Termeer C, Klostermann J, Meijerink S, van den Brink M, Jong P, Bergsma E (2010) The adaptive capacity wheel: a method to assess the inherent characteristics of institutions to enable the adaptive capacity of society. Environ Sci Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2010.05.006
Hooda SM (2017) Rajasthan water assessment: potential for private sector interventions. World Bank.
Hatfield-Dodds S (2006) The catchment care principle: a new equity principle for environmental policy, with advantages for efficiency and adaptive governance. Ecol Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.09.015
Huitema D, Mostert E, Egas W, Moellenkamp S, Pahl-Wostl C, Yalcin R (2009) Adaptive water governance: assessing the institutional prescriptions of adaptive (co-)management from a governance perspective and defining a research agenda. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02827-140126
Huntjens P, Lebel L, Pahl-Wostl C, Camkin J, Schulze R, Kranz N (2012) Institutional design propositions for the governance of adaptation to climate change in the water sector. Glob Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.09.015
IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014 synthesis report summary chapter for policymakers. Ipcc. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324
Jensen O (2017) Public–private partnerships for water in Asia: a review of two decades of experience. Int J Water Resour Dev. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2015.1121136
Jiménez A, Saikia P, Giné R, Avello P, Leten J, Liss Lymer B, ... Ward R (2020) Unpacking water governance: a framework for practitioners. Water 12(3):827
Jordan A, Huitema D, Schoenefeld J, van Asselt H, Forster J (2018) Governing climate change polycentrically. Governing Clim Change 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108284646.002
Jordan AJ, Huitema D, Hildén M, Van Asselt H, Rayner TJ, Schoenefeld JJ, Boasson EL (2015) Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects. Nat Clim Change 5(11):977–982. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2725
Kumpel E, Woelfle-Erskine C, Ray I, Nelson KL (2017) Measuring household consumption and waste in unmetered, intermittent piped water systems. Water Resour Res 53(1):302–315
Lieberherr E, Truffer B (2015) The impact of privatization on sustainability transitions: a comparative analysis of dynamic capabilities in three water utilities. Environ Innov Societal Trans. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2013.12.002
Luo T, Young R, Reig P (2015) Aqueduct projected water stress country rankings. World Resources Institute
McIntosh A (2003) Asian water supplies: reaching the urban poor. Asian Development Bank
McDonald RI, Weber K, Padowski J, Flörke M, Schneider C, Green PA, Montgomery M (2014) Water on an urban planet: urbanization and the reach of urban water infrastructure. Glob Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.022
Meride Y, Ayenew B (2016) Drinking water quality assessment and its effects on residents health in Wondo genet campus, Ethiopia. Environ Syst Res 5(1):1
Mishra BKBK, Regmi RKRK, Masago Y, Fukushi K, Kumar P, Saraswat C (2017) Assessment of Bagmati river pollution in Kathmandu valley: scenario-based modeling and analysis for sustainable urban development. Sustain Water Quality Ecol 9–10:67–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.swaqe.2017.06.001
Mogomotsi PK, Mogomotsi GE, Matlhola DM (2018) A review of formal institutions affecting water supply and access in Botswana. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 105:283–289
Munaretto S, Siciliano G, Turvani ME (2014) Integrating adaptive governance and participatory multicriteria methods: a framework for climate adaptation governance. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06381-190274
Narain V, Singh AK (2017) Flowing against the current: The socio-technical mediation of water (in) security in periurban Gurgaon, India. Geoforum 81:66–75
Ostrom E (2014) A polycentric approach to climate change. Ann Econ Finance 15(1):71–108. https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-5095
Pahl-Wostl C (2007) Transitions towards adaptive management of water facing climate and global change. Water Resour Manage 21(1):49–62
Pahl-Wostl C (2009) A conceptual framework for analysing adaptive capacity and multi-level learning processes in resource governance regimes. Glob Environ Change 19(3):354–365
Pahl-Wostl C (2019) The role of governance modes and meta-governance in the transformation towards sustainable water governance. Environ Sci Policy 91:6–16
Pahl-Wostl C, Knieper C (2014) The capacity of water governance to deal with the climate change adaptation challenge: using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to distinguish between polycentric, fragmented and centralized regimes. Glob Environ Change 29:139–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.09.003
Pahl-Wostl C, Knieper C, Lukat E, Meergans F, Schoderer M, Schütze N, ... Thiel A (2020) Enhancing the capacity of water governance to deal with complex management challenges: A framework of analysis. Environ Sci Pol 107:23–35
Pahl-Wostl C, Lebel L, Knieper C, Nikitina E (2012) From applying panaceas to mastering complexity: toward adaptive water governance in river basins. Environ Sci Policy 23:24–34
Pahl-Wostl C, Vörösmarty C, Bhaduri A, Bogardi J, Rockström J, Alcamo J (2013) Towards a sustainable water future: shaping the next decade of global water research, 5. Curr Opin Environ Sustain § (2013). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2013.10.012
Pandey CL (2020) Managing urban water security: challenges and prospects in Nepal. Environ Dev Sustain, 1–17
Pandey VP, Shrestha S (2016) Water environment in Southeast Asia: an introduction. In Groundwater Environment in Asian Cities (pp 187–191). Butterworth-Heinemann
Ray B, Shaw R (2019) Water insecurity in Asian cities. In Urban Drought (pp. 17–32). Springer, Singapore
Rogers P (2006) Water governance, water security and water sustainability. Water crisis: myth or reality, 3–36
Rogers P, Hall AW, Van de Meene SJ, Brown RR, Farrelly MA (2003) Effective water governance global water partnership technical committee (TEC). Glob Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.04.003
Rola AC, Abansi CL, Arcala-Hall R, Lizada JC, Siason IML, Araral EK (2016) Drivers of water governance reforms in the Philippines. Int J Water Resour Dev 32(1):135–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2015.1060196
Roth D, Khan MSA, Jahan I, Rahman R, Narain V, Singh AK, ... Yakami S (2019) Climates of urbanization: local experiences of water security, conflict and cooperation in peri-urban South-Asia. Climate Policy 19(sup1):S78–S93
Saleth RM, Dinar A (2005) Water institutional reforms: theory and practice. Water Policy 7(1):1–19
Saraswat C, Kumar P, Mishra BK (2016) Assessment of stormwater runoff management practices and governance under climate change and urbanization: an analysis of Bangkok, Hanoi and Tokyo. Environ Sci Policy 64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.06.018
Saraswat C, Mishra BKBK, Kumar P (2017) Integrated urban water management scenario modeling for sustainable water governance in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Sustain Sci 12(6):1037–1053. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0471-z
Shah M (2019a) Crafting a paradigm shift in water. In Water Governance: Challenges and Prospects (pp. 341–368). Springer, Singapore
Shah M (2019b) Reforming india’s water governance to meet 21st century challenges: practical pathways to realizing the vision of the Mihir Shah Committee. IWMI
Sharma M, Alipalo MH (2017) The Dhaka water services turnaround. Asian Development Bank
Singh S, Tanvir Hassan SM, Hassan M, Bharti N (2020) Urbanisation and water insecurity in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: insights from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Water Policy 22(S1):9–32
Singh NP, Anand B, Khan MA (2018) Micro-level perception to climate change and adaptation issues: A prelude to mainstreaming climate adaptation into developmental landscape in India. Nat Hazards 92(3):1287–1304
Strang V (2020) The meaning of water. Routledge
Tomo A, Mangia G, Hinna A, Pellegrini MM (2020) Making collaborative governance effective: a case study on the pathway to successful public-private interactions. International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management 6(1):36–55
Tortajada C (2016) Policy dimensions of development and financing of water infrastructure: The cases of China and India. Environ Sci Policy 64:177–187
Tropp H (2007) Water governance: trends and needs for new capacity development. Water Policy 9(S2):19–30
UNDP (2013) User’s guide on assessing water governance. Oslo: United Nations Development Programme
UN-Water (2012) WWDR4: managing water under uncertainty and risk. The United Nations World Water Development Report 4
Van de Meene SJ, Brown RR, Farrelly MA (2011) Towards understanding governance for sustainable urban water management. Glob Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.04.003
Vairavamoorthy K, Gorantiwar SD, Pathirana A (2008) Managing urban water supplies in developing countries—Climate change and water scarcity scenarios. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 33(5):330–339
Wada Y, van Beek LPH, Bierkens MFP (2011) Modelling global water stress of the recent past: on the relative importance of trends in water demand and climate variability. Earth Syst Sci, Hydrol. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3785-2011
Wada Y, Van Beek LPH, Wanders N, Bierkens MFP (2013) Human water consumption intensifies hydrological drought world wide. Environ Res Let. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034036
Walch C (2018) Adaptive governance in the developing world: disaster risk reduction in the State of Odisha, India. Clim Dev. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2018.1442794
Wiek A, Larson KL (2012) Water, people, and sustainability—a systems framework for analyzing and assessing water governance regimes. Water Resour Manage 26(11):3153–3171
World Bank (2018) Water scarce cities: thriving in a finite world. Int Bank Reconstr Dev
Wu X, Schuyler House R, Peri R (2016) Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in water and sanitation in India: lessons from China. Water Policy 18(S1):153–176
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mishra, B.K., Chakraborty, S., Kumar, P., Saraswat, C. (2020). Urban Water Governance: Concept and Pathway. In: Sustainable Solutions for Urban Water Security . Water Science and Technology Library, vol 93. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53110-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53110-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-53109-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-53110-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)