Oriana Romano (OECD) - 6th WGI Meeting (2-3 November 2015, Paris)

1. WATER GOVERNANCE IN CITIES
KEY FINDINGS
6th OECD Water Governance Initiative
Paris, 2 November 2015
Aziza Akhmouch & Oriana Romano

2. OECD Survey “Water Governance in cities”
Key questions
METHODOLOGY
OBJECTIVES
• Challenges to urban water governance
• Performance indicators
• Governance gaps
• Best practices in urban water governance
• Factors of urban water governance
• Allocation of roles and responsibilities
• Interconnection with water-related sectors
• Tools and strategies to overcome fragmentation
TARGET
• Questionnaire to 48 cities from OECD and emerging economies
• Policy makers at local and national level
• Water managers at city and metropolitan level

3. Analytical framework for assessing
water governance in cities
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

4. The 3Ps co-ordination framework
Cities
complex
interactions
People
PlacesPolicies
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

5. PEOPLE

6. Facts
Multiplicity of governmental actors
with shared prerogatives on water
• Central governments : policy making (e.g. water
security 65%) and regulatory functions ( e.g.
drinking water 52%)
• Local government ( policy making, information,
financing e.g. drainage/ drinking water)
• Other sub-national governments:
information/monitoring/evaluation
Multiplicity of non-governmental
actors with a stake in urban water
governance
• Service providers (main counterparts of city
departments, 79%)
• Industry/ Business ( not frequent interaction )
• Irrigators and their association ( rare
interactions)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Service providers
Regional / provincial
government
Local government
Advisors
Media
Customers and their
associations
Civil society
Central government
Business/ Industry
Sub-national institution
dealing specifically with water
Trade unions and workers
Science, academia and
research centres
Regulator
Inter-municipal /
metropolitan authority
Financial actors
International organisations
Irrigators and their
associations
Frequent interactions between cities and stakeholders
Obstacles
• Complexity of issues at hand
• Resistance to change
• Lack of funding for engaging stakeholders
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

7. Opportunities
• Building trust and ownership
• Securing the willingness to pay for water services
• Raising awareness on current and future water challenges
• Ensuring the accountability of city managers and service providers to end
users and citizens
• Managing conflicts on water allocation
• Ensuring the political acceptability of different ownership models
• Setting convergent objectives across policy areas.
Focus on  Stakeholder engagement
Focus on  Multi-level approaches to water governance
• Minimising overlaps
• Avoiding duplications
• Identifying grey areas
• Vertical and horizontal co-ordination

8. PLACES

9. Facts
75% 73%
63%
58%
54% 54%
44% 42%
8%
Issues generating interdependencies between
cities and surrounding areas• Major issues: water quality (75%) ,
flood control (73%), wastewater
treatment ( 63%).
• Ageing/lacking infrastructure and
extreme events are the main water-
related challenges for surveyed cities
(92% and 83%)
• For OECD countries as a whole,
investment requirements in the water
supply and treatment sector are expected
to increase by almost 50% by 2030
(OECD, 2007)
• Cities coordinate with rural areas and
other municipalities: 46% of cities
implemented inter-municipal co-
ordination mechanisms
• Lack of relevant scale for investment ( administrative
gap)
• Mismatch between hydrological and administrative
boundaries (administrative gap)
Obstacles
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

10. Opportunities
Focus on Rural- Urban partnerships
• Building synergies for a more efficient use of water
• Managing trade-offs and building trust and
capacities
• Integrate water management between cities and
their hinterland
Focus on  Metropolitan governance
• Enhancing information sharing and costs saving
for projects on water
• Integrate planning, policy making, strategy
setting and service provision across municipalities
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

11. POLICIES

12. Facts
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100% 81% 77%
71%
56%
39% 38%
31%
Policy areas influencing water challenges in
surveyed cities
• Land use and spatial planning (81%),
Energy (77%) and territorial
development (71%) mainly influence water
challenges in surveyed cities
• Surveyed cities coordinate across sectors
through planning, but also through
contracts (energy, agriculture);
coordination groups (territorial
development, environment)
Obstacles
• Lack of strategic vision across water
related policy areas ( policy gap)
• Lack of institutional incentives for
sectoral cooperation ( objective gap)
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

13. • Managing conflicts on water
allocation
• Efficiently allocating resources
• Increasing capacity
• Strategic vision
Opportunities
Focus on  policy complementarities
Coordination
mechanisms
Conditionalities
Financial
incentives
Joint
programmes
Partnerships
Contracts
Legal
requirements
Co-ordination
groups
Planning
Environment
Spatial
planning
Energy
Agriculture
Regional
development
Land use
Water
Waste
Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

14. THANK YOU
AZIZA.AKHMOUCH@OECD.ORG
ORIANA.ROMANO@OECD.ORG
WWW.OECD.ORG/GOV/WATER