Recap from day 2 and overview of day 3, by Josefina Maestu, director UNW-DPAC, at 2014 UN-Water Annual International Zaragoza Conference. Preparing for World Water Day 2014: Partnerships for improving water and energy access, efficiency and sustainability. 13-16 January 2014.

1. Josefina Maestu
United Nations Office to Support the International
Decade for Action: “Water for Life” 2005-2015,
UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and
Communication)
Recap of the
Second Day

2. The issues of the 1st day
The business case for
integrated energy-water
planning and investment
 From research and technology?
 From companies?
 Government´s responses?
Industry partnerships to ensure
water and energy efficiency and
sustainability
 Opportunities in industries as a
unit?
 Lessons learnt from PPPs?

3. Cooperation (through partnerships)
is not optional
• Policy design and investments planning needs continuous improvement
and adaptation not one for all decisions.
• Future challenges and options are unpredictable but will depend on
present decisions.
• There is not a non-cooperative way to manage cross vulnerability
between W&E.
• Governments need technological and business partners.
• There are not obvious technical solutions but complex trade-offs
between policy options and many alternative courses of action.
• There is the need to build up a shared vision of the challenges ahead as
well as to develop country capacity to take complex decisions.

4. Complex technology choices?:
Not that complex when we focus on the right choices
• Water efficiency indicators in power generation are not precise nor very
informative for making energy mix choices.
• Water consumption and withdrawal really depends on the type of cooling
•
BP Partnership
system.
in Australia
• Nothing can be said a-priori about the best cooling system. Location, Water
Kwinana water
abundance and reliability, incentives and institutional set-ups are more relevant
Minimisation Project.
than energy technology itself.
Local knowledge
• In a given location efficiency of the power generation itself (and residual heat) is
is essential.
the key for improvement.
•
Coal’s water use
• Technology choices are open. Water use is really a matter of business and policy
Cases from China,
choices (from water intensive through dry cooling and hybrid systemsand South
India in
between) –E.g. Abengoa solutions of affordable energy for developing Mismatch
Africa: and arid
countries.
between coal &
water resources.
The energy choice
is the single largest
.
Innovations are needed to address “lock-in”
issues and prevent rebound effects

5. Water Scarcity is a driver for energy
innovation
However.. water stressed areas (and others) need to
cope with institutional and technology/energy options
lock-ins
• Radical changes in social adaptation are required once all traditional alternatives
to develop water resources have been exhausted.
• Sooner or later the future will belong to alternative water sources (brackish,
wastewater, sea, etc.)
• Policy and technological options need to set long-term targets for both the water
and the energy mixes.
• Energy costs might be a driver for innovation in the water sector (natural
pressurised delivery of water for irrigation in Spain) and water costs might be a
driver of innovation in the energy sector (USA and South Africa).
• Once water become scarce pushing up traditional options for energy
development will only exacerbate the problem.

6. Back to Governance: The critical role
of water governing institutions- and
the issue of viability!
Well defined and properly enforced water property
rights is a pre-condition to make sustainable choices in
the energy sector.
• If fracking companies have the right incentives they will do their best to
minimize water consumption so that they can find the way to expand in
water stress areas without threatening sustainability (See US experience).
• Water scarcity signals might push Irrigated biofuels back as a viable
energy source (US).
• When properly regulated water might become one of the main objectives in
energy research (otherwise it might not)
• Water constraints make decisions in the energy sector move forward from
single (cost reductions) to multiple objectives (sustainability).

7. Partnerships: a marathon rather
than a sprint
Don´t try to make too much too soon.
Capitalize the attractiveness of the first easy steps.
• Dialogue is a long term task (see US experience)
•
Hydropower
• Successful dialogue is a gradual learning a self reinforcing process
Sustainability
(don’t be too ambitious in the first steps).
Assessment Protocol
• Partnerships progress through building a sharedThe multistakeholder
vision among
different partners.
partnership created
• But self interest need to be recognized as a driver of action. of the
the legitimacy
• Incentives for innovation depend on the ability of the acceptedsector to
method, private by
all.
push their priorities up in the political agenda (e.g. USA private
business investments in research and development).
• Stable regulatory frameworks drive innovation.

8. What role for the public incentives in
promoting new partnerships and
innovation?
•
Partnerships cannot be driven by the promise of getting financial
support from the government (EIP Water).
•
The government role is better defined by providing incentives to align
business interest (profitability, water and energy security, etc.) with
collective objectives (sustainability, water and energy access, etc.).
•
Incentives are making financially atractive/viable what is already a
good thing for the environment (ie: Carslberg case)

9. The Nexus is more than a technical
issue of energy and water
efficiency
• Biophysical nexus
• Utilitarian nexus
• Institutional nexus

The need to move beyond efficiency and
address issues of resource restoration and
regeneration, and sustainable
consumption.

Decoupling of socio-economic
development from resource use and
environmental impacts, and sustainable
resource management in relevant political
processes.

10. Going further than water and energy efficiency ….
Reminding us of the many objectives of partnerships
Economic
Social
More Innovation and Growth;
Increased Resilience…
Increase resource
productivity
 Bring down production costs
 Foster technology
development and innovation
 Improve competitiveness
 Open up new markets
 Develop new businesses

Environmental
More Employment, Rising
Incomes and Empowerment…
Create new jobs and make
existing jobs more secure
 Reduce poverty
 Develop new skills and
capacity
 Improve occupational health
and safety conditions
 Safeguard health and safety
of communities
 Lower risks to consumers

More Efficient Resource Use;
Less Waste and Pollution…
Reduce environmental
pollution
 Counteract resource
depletion
 Prevent degradation of
ecosystems
 Mitigate climate change
 Combat water scarcity

BENEFITS OF GREEN INDUSTRY

11. Scaling up – some rules of the game
Making Smart Decisions Transferable:
some keys towards good practice:
Some lessons from TEST
•
•
•
•
•
•
Link sustainability contributions to financial gains and core business
strategy.
Benchmarking company performance with ratios/technology in the
global market.
Training, Monitoring, Follow up & Top management engagement
Develop multidisciplinary skills and Technical sectoral expertise
Follow a flexible approach depending on company size and baseline,
applicable at existing sites and for start-ups
Develop enabling financial incentives.

12. The key role of information- still many
information gaps....
• There still is room for improvement in water accounting and energy
accounting systems (before the ambition of an integrated accounting system
become a viable target)
• The best integrated models available still have to overcome with important
drawbacks (in energy general equilibrium models water is an emission rather
than a carrier, models are sensitive to water prices but not to water
shortages, limited ability to deal with uncertainty, dynamic effects, technology
choices, etc…).
• Limited consideration of ecosystems and ecosystems services.
• Prospective scenarios are still based on BAU and ad-hoc assumptions on the
drivers and the options available to reconcile future demands and supplies.
• The availability of data, clear concepts and information is key to determine
which solution is most appropriate – e.g. water consumption vs
withdrawal.

13. Overview of the day
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
• 09:30-13.00 Local partnerships on W&E
- 09:30-11:00 Panel 1. Partnerships between W&E utilities:
Aquafed
-11:30–13:00 Panel 2. Partnerships of local and subnational
authorities with other actors: ICLEI
• 14:15-14:45 Side Event 3. World Water Week 2014: SIWI
• 14:45-18:00 Policy research and innovation partnerships for W&E
- 14:45-16:15 Panel 1. Partnerships on policy research on W&E:
UNU
- 16:30-18:00 Panel 2. Innovation partnerships on W&E: WWAP
• 18:00-18:30 Lessons learnt and roadmap to World Water Day
• 18:30-19:30 Side Event 4. Panel discussion on managing the nexus on
W&E in Spain: Ebro river basin authority and The World Council of
Civil Engineers