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1 – 10 of over 1000Cesar Casiano Flores, Hans Bressers, Carina Gutierrez and Cheryl de Boer
In Mexico, only 19.3 per cent of industrial water is treated (Green-Peace, 2014, pp. 3-4), whereas municipal treatment levels are approximately 50 per cent (CONAGUA, 2014a). This…
Abstract
Purpose
In Mexico, only 19.3 per cent of industrial water is treated (Green-Peace, 2014, pp. 3-4), whereas municipal treatment levels are approximately 50 per cent (CONAGUA, 2014a). This paper aims to focus on how the wastewater treatment plant policy, from a circular economy perspective, is affected by the governance context at the Presa Guadalupe sub-basin. Circular economy can contribute to water innovations that help in improving water quality. However, such benefits are not easily achieved. This case provides an example of the complexity and challenges that the implementation of a circular economy model can face.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected via semi-structured in-depth interviews with the stakeholders that are members of the Presa Guadalupe Commission. The contextual interaction theory (CIT) is the theoretical basis for this analysis (Boer de and Bressers, 2011; Bressers, 2009).
Findings
The findings show that the wastewater treatment plant policy plays an important role in a circular economy model. Some incentives towards a circular economy model are already in place; however, the hurdles of a top-down implementation perspective, low availability of resources, prioritisation of short-term results, lack of enforcement of the “polluter pays” principle and a linear model of water systems need to be overcome. If Mexico wants to move towards a circular economy model and if the government wants to enforce sustainable development principles, wastewater treatment is a challenge that must be addressed.
Originality/value
There are few studies in the circular economy literature that have analysed its implementation under a governance arrangement perspective.
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Jorge Alejandro Silva-Rodríguez de San Miguel
The purpose of this paper is to examine literature relating to water management on the Mexico-US border. It suggests avenues that may be valuable in improving cooperation in policy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine literature relating to water management on the Mexico-US border. It suggests avenues that may be valuable in improving cooperation in policy-making between the USA and Mexico on water management issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature associated with water management on the border of Mexico and the USA is conducted in this paper. The studies are chosen from scholarly databases (pre-eminently EBSCOHost and JSTOR), and are chosen for their depth, authoritativeness of the authors involved, and because of the empirical and quantifiable data they present. The studies selected ranged from the mid-1990s to 2017.
Findings
The literature selected for review in this paper demonstrates that shared water resources must be managed in a combination of national and binational ways to lead to sustainability. In the border region, recent initiatives to resolve inequalities have emerged, including steps taken by North American Development Bank to purchase bonds as loans.
Originality/value
Historical approaches to policy have been moderately successful, but policy needs to be updated in line with current circumstances and requirements. There appears to be a misunderstanding of what is currently needed from policy. This paper identifies areas that need updated policy and makes policy recommendations.
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Private provision of public services has always been a factor in local government. In 1736 Benjamin Franklin and a group of civic leaders founded a fire company in Philadelphia…
Abstract
Private provision of public services has always been a factor in local government. In 1736 Benjamin Franklin and a group of civic leaders founded a fire company in Philadelphia because such a service was needed and the city could not provide it. Local municipalities often cannot provide the labor, equipment, and expertise to build roads, to do data processing, or to run hospitals but rather arrange with someone else who has the expertise to perform these tasks. However, during the 1970s rapid inflation, shrinking tax bases, and “no growth” budgets made the public provision of even what is popularly perceived as essential government services seem more like a tight‐rope walk than responsible government.
Jorge Alejandro Silva Rodríguez de San Miguel
The purpose of this paper is to survey water-governance issues impacting women in Mexico and steps that have been taken to rectify the issues, including factors that impact the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to survey water-governance issues impacting women in Mexico and steps that have been taken to rectify the issues, including factors that impact the success of such ventures.
Design/methodology/approach
Various major academic databases were searched for material pertaining to the issue of water management and gender in Mexico, such as EBSCOHost and JSTOR. Both global and regional concerns were a factor in this search. Material was considered on the basis of its recency, academic import, and specificity.
Findings
The review finds that though gender has become a primary concern in addressing water management and other environmental issues, debate has occurred as to whether a perspective of gender mainstreaming or gender-specific projects is preferable in addressing this issue. Although success in implementing gender mainstreaming has been attained by several major organizations, there does not yet exist conclusive evidence that this approach yields desired results.
Research limitations/implications
Information about the efficacy of water access programs is not always available and it is frequently inaccurate. Therefore, much information used in this review takes the form of observations about water policy and its efficacy in regard to gendered approaches.
Originality/value
Women and girls are unevenly affected by a lack of access to water, as it is typically women who bear the brunt of managing household water, and they are more significantly impacted by lacking hygiene facilities.
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Adrian Cashman and Richard Ashley
The water sector is set to continue to face severe challenges in meeting the financial requirements for maintaining, extending and upgrading new and ageing water systems in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The water sector is set to continue to face severe challenges in meeting the financial requirements for maintaining, extending and upgrading new and ageing water systems in the face of growing water scarcity, stricter regulatory requirements and competition for capital. The gap between the required financing and the projected financing is said to be growing but there are no good estimates available. The purpose of this paper is to present a recent analysis of the investment requirements of the water sector in OECD countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China up to 2030, taking into account the likely impact of socio‐economic trends, internal politics, environmental challenges and technological change.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to estimate the required financing, present expenditures as a percentage of GDP were analysed. Estimates of projected annual GDP growth coupled with an evaluation of the impact of country specific socio‐economic, political, environmental and technological trends were used to derive projections for future investment needs.
Findings
The estimated level of infrastructure investment requirements to 2030 as determined by this study is considerably higher than had been expected and higher than for the energy, telecommunications and transport infrastructure sectors.
Practical implications
The findings have enormous implications in terms of the ability of service providers for their business models and in raising the necessary finances.
Originality/value
This is one of a very few studies to report on the potential scale of the overall future investment requirements of the water sector that has been undertaken. Previous works have focused mainly on sub‐sectoral goals such as meeting the Millennium Development Goals and so have under‐reported the scale of the financing problem.
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Jorge Alejandro Silva, Dulce María Monroy Becerril and Esteban Martínez Díaz
This systematic review of literature purposes to explore the impact of climate change on Mexico's water resources, exploring the impacts and efforts to address the problem as well…
Abstract
Purpose
This systematic review of literature purposes to explore the impact of climate change on Mexico's water resources, exploring the impacts and efforts to address the problem as well as their effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher relied on several tools to obtain scholarly articles. The primary approach was using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The Journal Impact Factor was an important consideration for the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The work also excluded all journals predating 2009. The work emphasized using journal articles. However, it consulted textbooks and documents from the government and water conservation sources. Contextually the sources with the highest Journal Impact Factor index were selected, paying heed to their relevance to the topic under investigation. Fifty sources out of seventy were included in the systematic review.
Findings
Mexico's already strained water resources have been negatively impacted by climate change, behooving the Mexican government to implement various mitigative strategies. However, scholars reported mixed results on the effectiveness of the various policies and programs implemented by the Mexican government. Key impediments to sustainable implementations entailed the political and social contexts surrounding the conservation policies in Mexico.
Originality/value
Numerous articles have explored the impact of climate change on Mexico's water resources, but many focus on a specific aspect. This work took a holistic approach, synthesizing multiple impacts and providing a sociological perspective on the effects, mitigation efforts, and implementation challenges.
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Benjamin Blair, Jenny Kehl and Rebecca Klaper
Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and phosphorus are pollutants that can cause a wide array of negative environmental impacts. Phosphorus is a regulated pollutant…
Abstract
Purpose
Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and phosphorus are pollutants that can cause a wide array of negative environmental impacts. Phosphorus is a regulated pollutant in many industrial countries, while PPCPs are widely unregulated. Many technologies designed to remove phosphorus from wastewater can remove PPCPs, therefore the purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of these technologies to also reduce the emission of unregulated PPCPs.
Design/methodology/approach
Through meta-analysis, the authors use the PPCPs’ risk quotient (RQ) to measure and compare the effectiveness of different wastewater treatment technologies. The RQ data are then applied via a case study that uses phosphorus effluent regulations to determine the ability of the recommended technologies to also mitigate PPCPs.
Findings
The tertiary membrane bioreactor and nanofiltration processes recommended to remove phosphorus can reduce the median RQ from PPCPs by 71 and 81 percent, respectively. The ultrafiltration technology was estimated to reduce the median RQ from PPCPs by 28 percent with no cost in addition to the costs expected under the current phosphorus effluent regulations. RQ reduction is expected with a membrane bioreactor and the cost of upgrading to this technology was found to be $11.76 per capita/year.
Practical implications
The authors discuss the management implications, including watershed management, alternative PPCPs reduction strategies, and water quality trading.
Originality/value
The evaluation of the co-management of priority and emerging pollutants illuminates how the removal of regulated pollutants from wastewater could significantly reduce the emission of unregulated PPCPs.
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Micropollutants in the aquatic environment pose threats to both ecosystems and human health. Traditional wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) reduce some micropollutants, especially…
Abstract
Purpose
Micropollutants in the aquatic environment pose threats to both ecosystems and human health. Traditional wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) reduce some micropollutants, especially those who adhere to sludge or suspended matter. The hydrophilic micropollutants, on the other side, which may be non-biodegradable and resistant to UV-treatment etc. are typically transported untreated into the water recipients. This paper contains a literature study on the state of the art of advanced wastewater treatment technologies for reducing micropollutants such as pharmaceutical degradation products, personal care products, surfactants and industrial chemicals including heavy metals.
Design/methodology/approach
This literature study is completed using the most extensive and expansive literature database in the World to date, Google Scholar (GS). Published papers in recognized scientific journals are sought out in GS, and for relevance for this literature study, papers published here from 2016 and onwards (the last 5 years) have been chosen to eliminate irrelevant studies.
Findings
The result of the study is that there are many promising technologies on the market or emerging; however, no one solution treats every micropollutant equally well. Since advanced technologies often require expensive investments for municipalities and companies, it is important to identify which micropollutants pose the highest risk towards human health and the environment, because choosing systems to eliminate them all is not economically wise, and even choosing a system combining the existing technologies can be more expensive than states, municipalities and private companies are capable of investing in.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited to published papers on GS, which may omit certain papers published in closed databases not sharing their work on GS.
Practical implications
The practical implications are that practitioners cannot find go-to solutions based on the conclusions of the research and thus need to use the results to investigate their own needs further in order to make the wisest decision accordingly. However, the paper outlines the state of the art in advanced wastewater treatment and explains the benefits and downsides of the technologies mentioned; however, more research in the field is required before practitioners may find a proper solution to their specific issues.
Social implications
The social implications are that the consequences of introducing a removal of micropollutants from the water environment can ultimately effect the citizens/consumers/end-users through added costs to the tariffs or taxes on advanced wastewater treatment, added costs on everyday goods, wares and products and added costs on services that uses goods, wares and products that ultimately produces micropollutants affecting the water environment.
Originality/value
This paper presents a much needed state of the art regarding the current advanced technologies to mitigate micropollutants in wastewater. The overview the paper provides supports politics on national as well as international levels, where larger unions such as the EU has stated that advanced wastewater treatment will be the next step in regulating pollutants for aquatic outlet.
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Hani Gilani, Sahar Shobeiry, Mohammad Biglari Kami and Hadi Sahebi
A sustainable selection method for facility location of the water treatment is formulated by best–worst method. In addition, the model addresses the selection of appropriate…
Abstract
Purpose
A sustainable selection method for facility location of the water treatment is formulated by best–worst method. In addition, the model addresses the selection of appropriate technologies in the treatment plant, management of water leakage in the whole transmission network by using modernization and selection of different transmission technologies. Finally, the interaction between water and energy in this network seems to be paying particular attention.
Design/methodology/approach
Rapid population growth and urban development, and the constraints of water supply have become one of the crucial challenges around the world in the 21st century. Hence, the use of refined urban wastewater is increasing in many countries as an alternative source of water. In this regard, the rehabilitation of urban wastewater recycling and reuse has been proposed as one of the most suitable solutions for urban water management. Hence, in this paper, a mathematical model is formulated to design the simultaneous marketing of the urban water distribution network and wastewater treatment (including).
Findings
It seeks to ensure that energy is supplied through chemical methods to ensure that the system's energy dependence is on the national electricity grid. And in order to validate the model, a case study has been studied. By analyzing the results, it can be concluded that the upgrading of sewage treatment plants to replace underground water and water from nearby dams in household, agricultural and industrial applications will have positive environmental and economic impacts. One of the notable environmental impacts is the decline in groundwater and water scarcity in the coming years.
Originality/value
The summary of contributions is presented follow as: design and planning of water and urban wastewater integrated network; sustainable selection of facility location for the water treatment; capability selecting different treatment technologies in simultaneous design water and urban sewage supply chain; managing water leak in the network; proposed a water–energy nexus model in simultaneous design water and urban sewage supply chain; studying the feasibility of construction of power plants from biogas, the resulting of anaerobic digestion in treatment centers.
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