Toolkit for integrated urban water management, developed by Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy

This toolkit published by the Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy (IRAP) is an outcome of a study that involved exhaustive review of research undertaken all over the world on various aspects of urban water management by scholars and practitioners. It is not only relevant for water managers of urban local bodies, but also senior policy makers, scholars and practitioners concerned with water resources, particularly urban water.

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Updated on:

12 Apr 2012, 5:54 pm

3 min read

The review included, but was not limited to urban hydrology, management of water supply infrastructure, water resources management, water quality management (WQM), groundwater management, technical and economic instruments for water demand management, technical and economic aspects of leakage reduction, environmental and economic aspects of wastewater treatment and reuse, storm water management, capacity building for IUWM and legal and regulatory frameworks.

Primary data collection for 27 cities/towns and secondary data collection for 300 cities/towns was carried out, covering all the 16 delineated typologies. Suitable sets of IUWM interventions were identified for each typology based on the understanding of how the prevailing characteristics of these typologies influenced the physical, economic, institutional, financial and environmental performance of urban water utilities. Continuous interaction of the clients and researchers enriched the content of the tool kit.

Volume 1

of the tool kit provides a brief background and the need for the tool kit followed by details of the five sets of tools and includes:

Background
Need for IUWM and tools
Approach, methodology and scope of the study
Content and audience for the tools
Limitations of the toolkit
IUWM framework
IUWM framework for different urban typologies
Details of the tools, which includes:

The first set that provides analytical procedures for population and urban water demand projections under different socio-economic scenarios. These tools are useful in planning decisions.
The second include environmental management tools, comprising tools for choosing urban water supply augmentation strategies, wastewater treatment technologies and methods, and storm water management practices.
The third set of tools deal with capacity building and organizational change issues while the fourth set of relates to community interface.
The fourth set of tools pertain to issues in good governance, covering the practical suggestions for improving the key areas of urban water governance, and the legal and policy framework for affecting implementation of urban water management interventions.

Description of tools:

Conceptual issues in urban population projections
Urban water demand projections
Identifying technically feasible and cost effective options for urban water supply
Socio-economically and institutionally viable options for water supply
Determining the hydrological opportunity and cost of RWHS
Scope of desalination
Determining technically feasible option for wastewater treatment
Determining the socio-economic viability of the WWT options
Technically feasible storm water management practices
Water-less toilets
Water auditing, and leakage detection and reduction
Economics of 24X7 water supply schemes and UFW reduction
Role of water pricing in urban water demand management
Estimating the elasticity of urban water demand
Resource evaluation and planning of urban water management actions
Generating data on water quality
WEAP simulation of urban water system
Techno-institutional model for water supply & sanitation for the poor
Capacity building for IUWM
Organisation setup for IUWM under different conditions
Criteria for selection of private sector participation (PSP) models for Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM)
Appropriate staffing of urban water utilities
Community participation in urban water management
Training for capacity building
Institutional arrangement for urban water management
Practices for improving urban water governance
Legal framework for Integrated Urban Water Management

Volume 2

includes the technical report and provides background literature and details of IUWM, the IUWM frameworks, urban water demand and factors influencing the demand, details of the urban water scenario, management, financing and capacity building for the urban water sector and includes: