World Bank - Water resources

Given population and income growth, it is widely expected that the agricultural sector will have to expand the use of water for irrigation to meet rising food demand; at the same time, the competition for water resources is growing in many regions. As a response, it is increasingly recommended that efforts should focus on improving water productivity in agriculture, and significant public and private investments are being made with this goal in mind. Yet most public communications are vague on the meaning of agricultural water productivity, and on what should be done to improve it. They also tend to emphasize water as if it were the only input that mattered. This paper presents findings from a first attempt to survey the agricultural productivity and efficiency literature with regard to the explicit inclusion of water aspects in productivity and efficiency measurements, with the aim of contributing to the discussion on how to assess and possibly improve agricultural water productivity. The focus is on studies applying single-factor productivity measures, total factor productivity indices, frontier models, and deductive models that incorporate water. A key finding is that most studies either incorporate field- and basin-level aspects but focus only on a single input (water), or they apply a multi-factor approach but do not tackle the basin level. It seems that no study on agricultural water productivity has yet presented an approach that accounts for multiple inputs and basin-level issues. However, deductive methods do provide the flexibility to overcome many of the limitations of the other methods. 2014-07-28T04:00:00.000Z2014-07-28T04:00:00.000ZWater Supply and Sanitation|Water ResourcesWater Supply and Systems|Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions|Water and Industry|Town Water Supply and Sanitation|Water ConservationThe World RegionScheierling, Susanne M.|Treguer, David O.|Booker, James F.|Decker, ElisabethHow to assess agricultural water productivity ? looking for water in the agricultural productivity and efficiency literatureEnglishWorldWater Supply and Sanitation|Water ResourcesWater Supply and Systems|Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions|Water and Industry|Town Water Supply and Sanitation|Water ConservationWPS6982WorldEnglishPolicy Research Working PaperThe World Region

This paper examines whether countries consider the welfare of other nations when they make water development decisions. The paper estimates econometric models of the location of major dams around the world as a function of the degree of international sharing of rivers. The analysis finds that dams are more prevalent in areas of river basins upstream of foreign countries, supporting the view that countries free ride in exploiting water resources. There is weak evidence that international water management institutions reduce the extent of such free-riding.2014-07-30T04:00:00.000Z2014-07-30T04:00:00.000ZWater Supply and Sanitation|Water ResourcesRiver Basin Management|Dams and Reservoirs|Water Supply and Systems|Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions|Water and IndustryThe World RegionOlmstead, Sheila M.|Sigman, HilaryDamming the commons : an empirical analysis of international cooperation and conflict in dam locationEnglishWorldWater Supply and Sanitation|Water ResourcesRiver Basin Management|Dams and Reservoirs|Water Supply and Systems|Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions|Water and IndustryWPS6992WorldEnglishPolicy Research Working PaperThe World Region

To many, reducing water losses is seen as key to more sustainable water management. The arguments to reduce water losses are compelling, but reducing water losses has turned out to be challenging. This paper applies a panel data analysis with fixed effects to determine the major drivers of non-revenue water, which is define as the volume of water losses per kilometer of network per day. The analysis uses data from the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities, covering utilities in 68 countries between 2006 and 2011. The analysis finds that non-revenue water is driven by many factors. Some of the most important drivers are beyond the control of the utility, such as population density per kilometer of network, the type of distribution network, and the length of the network, which are largely the result of urbanization and settlement patterns in the localities that the utility serves. The opportunity costs of water losses are also key in explaining what drives non-revenue water. The paper finds that very low opportunity costs of water losses have an adverse effect on the reduction of non-revenue water. Country fixed effects turn out to be important, meaning that the environment in which the utility operates has an important impact on non-revenue water levels. An important conclusion is that the design of non-revenue water reduction programs should study the main drivers of non-revenue water to provide utility managers with a better understanding of what can be achieved in terms of non-revenue water reduction and whether the benefits of these reductions exceed their costs.2014-08-05T04:00:00.000Z2014-08-05T04:00:00.000ZWater Supply and Sanitation|Water ResourcesTown Water Supply and Sanitation|Urban Water Supply and Sanitation|Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions|Water and Industry|Water ConservationThe World Regionvan den Berg, CarolineThe drivers of non-revenue water : how effective are non-revenue water reduction programs ?EnglishWorldWater Supply and Sanitation|Water ResourcesTown Water Supply and Sanitation|Urban Water Supply and Sanitation|Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions|Water and Industry|Water ConservationWPS6997WorldEnglishPolicy Research Working PaperThe World Region