Upscaling urban recycled water schemes

Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging, and little is known about the governance conditions which are required for this. This paper addresses this knowledge gap....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pinyol Alberich, Josep|||0000-0003-3961-0431, Mukhtarov, F., Dieperink, C., Driessen, P., Broekman, Annelies|||0000-0002-8961-0467
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:201037
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/201037
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/w11010011
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Water recycle
Upscaling
Water governance
Water availability
Climate change adaptation
Descripción
Sumario:Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging, and little is known about the governance conditions which are required for this. This paper addresses this knowledge gap. Based on a review of governance literature we suggest that five governance conditions are necessary for a successful upscaling of recycled water schemes: (1) policy leadership, (2) policy coordination, (3) availability of financial resources, (4) awareness of a problem, and (5) the presence of a public forum. We applied these concepts in a case study on the upscaling of a recycled water scheme in Sabadell, Spain. We reviewed policy documents, conducted a set of 21 semi-structured interviews, and attended two policy meetings about the subject. Our results suggest that Sabadell meets the required conditions for upscaling reused water to a certain extent. However, a public forum is not well-developed. We discuss the implications of this and conclude with some suggestions for future research and some lessons for other cities that plan to upscale their recycled water schemes.