This study explores perceptions of uncertainty and its effects on the policy-process on the science-policy interface in the Netherlands. Practitioners experience a misalignment, which leads to misunderstanding, decreased usefulness of policy assessments, and in the end affect policy design and investments.
Policy analysis can provide valuable information to understand what policy options are effective in complex policy problems, taking into account the uncertainty of human behaviour, economic development, and even weather changes. Previous studies have shown however that the applicability and relevance of uncertainty communication has been limited, specifically for policy-makers.
The case studied is the perception of uncertainty by researchers and policy officers that produce and use the Climate and EnergyOutlook in theNetherlands, which presents projections of emissions and energy use with an uncertainty bandwidth.
A conceptual framework was developed to capture how uncertainty is understood in scientific literature: Framing, Characterisation, Impact, and methods of Dealing with uncertainty. Using an adapted mental model method, 9 researchers and 6 policy officers were interviewed, and their perceptions qualitatively coded (deductive and inductive) and compared.
It is concluded that two distinct perspectives were indicated on each aspect of uncertainty (definition, characterisation, and interpretation), shaped by values and institutional context. The differences were just more nuanced than a split between the participant groups. Probability statements helped align interpretation, but this may risk neglecting other important (qualitative) aspects of uncertainty. As uncertainty is also used strategically, there is a limitation to how much researchers can influence the impact of uncertainty information.
The observations help clarify the difference in uncertainty perception experienced on the science-policy interface, how they effect communication and policy-making, and suggest ways to improve alignment. Though this case study focuses on a specific presentation of uncertainty in projections of greenhousegas emissions, the findings offer a new perspective on uncertainty perception in policy analysis. ... Read more

This thesis explores the policy, institutional, and discursive conditions for green and atmospheric water governance in the Amazon region. Just as regions are connected through rivers over land, they are also dependent on each other through “flying rivers”: the atmospheric transport of moisture. Water continuously circulates through the hydrological cycle, partitioning into blue, green, and atmospheric forms. Rainfall infiltrates soils as green water or runs off as blue water, while soil moisture can either percolate to groundwater or return to the atmosphere through transpiration, forming atmospheric water. Terrestrial moisture recycling occurs when evapotranspiration from land surfaces generates precipitation locally or at distant sites. In South America, this process sustains regional rainfall regimes: the Amazon basin contributes between 25–35% of its own rainfall and up to 48–54% of rainfall in the wider region, specifically the La Plata Basin. The process of terrestrial moisture recycling is not isolated. Rather, human activities such as land use influence green and atmospheric water flows and subsequent precipitation patterns. This is problematic and creates new dilemmas, as countries and basins are interdependent on each other and might be impacted by land use decisions elsewhere, affecting water supply for agriculture, drinking water and more. Despite this, current water and environmental governance frameworks in South America, and globally, focus primarily on visible blue water—rivers, lakes, and aquifers—while neglecting green and atmospheric water. Although the academic literature on green and atmospheric water governance has grown, a critical gap remains regarding case-specific, interdisciplinary, and interpretive research into the policy, institutional, and discursive conditions necessary to guide implementation. Addressing this gap, this thesis applies a multi-method, iterative approach combining actor analysis, social network analysis, and framing analysis to examine four central research questions: (1) Which actors, stakeholders, and formal arrangements currently shape water and environmental governance in the Amazon and La Plata Basins? (2) What dilemmas are likely to emerge for green and atmospheric water governance across and between these basins? (3) How are actors connected to each other, and who are potential policy brokers for advancing governance? (4) How is green and atmospheric water framed within the current discursive landscape? Regionally, both basins’ member countries cooperate within intergovernmental basin organizations, respectively the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of the Countries of the Plata Basin (CIC). The ACTO and CIC can be considered key decision arenas, in which shared agreements and visions by the basin countries are made regarding transboundary water and environmental governance. However, it should be noted that the sovereignty of the countries remains central in these decision arenas, which is reflected in the differences of laws and regulations on the national level. Notably, no institutionally embedded mechanism for cooperation between the basins on (green and atmospheric) water governance was observed. The Rio Conventions and Sustainable Development Goals are significantly reflected in the basins’ projects related to water governance, primarily in terms of funding and organizational support. Over the years, both ACTO and CIC have formulated strategies for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which were facilitated through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) together with GEF implementing agencies. Overall, green and atmospheric water is primarily referred to in scientific terms, such as "soil moisture," "precipitation," and "evapotranspiration". This aligns with the general observation of the lack of politicization of green and atmospheric water in current water governance debate and is explained through path dependencies resulting from the hegemony of sustainable development discourses across water and environmental policy arenas. Beyond scientific frames, green and atmospheric are found to be framed in climatic, solutionist (technocratic), functional and metaphorical ways using a river as metaphor. Climatic frames are widespread and primarily refer to droughts and floods. The widespread problematization of droughts and floods creates discursive space for green and atmospheric water governance. A climatization of green and atmospheric water could be beneficial given the established recognition of climate change, institutionalized through UNFCCC, and the Paris Agreement. Moreover, an embeddedness within climate change policy would also allow additional funding mechanisms, for example through the GCF. Yet, there are also risks. Climate policy deliberations are volatile which could affect stability for green and atmospheric water governance and a (perceived) distance to climate change could lead to lower levers of public engagement. A solutionist frame refers to green and atmospheric water in technocratic ways as a means to solve local problems. Within this frame, atmospheric water is referred to as a local, "unconventional" water resource in times of water scarcity. Green water (soil moisture) is referred to in relation to land management techniques, primarily for agriculture. Whereas a solutionist framing allows for the relevance of green and atmospheric water to be highlighted, it risks reestablishing existing blue-water oriented discourses through addressing local blue water scarcity problems. A functional frame was often observed together with the metaphor of a “flying” river. Such a framing highlights the several uses of green and atmospheric water, for example, for rainfed agriculture. As such, the flying river metaphor shows potential to bridge across different policy arenas and discourses. Yet, upon using the metaphor, one should be considerate to not oversimplify the policy problem of green and atmospheric water governance. For green and atmospheric water governance to take shape in the Amazon and Plata basins, political readiness, policy entrepreneurship, and cross-sectoral coordination are needed. Global visibility can be enhanced by UN Water, while coalitions like “80x25” and the GCEW can act as policy entrepreneurs using the “flying rivers” metaphor. Regionally, ACTO and CIC should establish inter-program and interbasin commissions including multi-disciplinary experts, Indigenous and civil society actors, and industry, supported by shared monitoring systems. International funding, such as an extended GEF International Waters mandate, is essential to enable negotiations, policy-making, and effective implementation of transboundary green and atmospheric water governance. The study concludes with several policy implications. First, inter-basin mechanisms should be strengthened, embedding ACTO and CIC into decision-making while exploring inter-basin committees or broader hemispheric forums such as the OAS. Second, organizations like the Science Panel for the Amazon can serve as brokers between competing advocacy coalitions, provided their positioning within governance ecosystems is carefully considered. Third, communicative tools such as the “flying rivers” metaphor may help connect problem streams and broaden political readiness. Finally, deliberate efforts are needed to prevent discursive lock-in by fostering plurality and facilitating deliberative learning across scales and sectors. In this way, green and atmospheric water governance can move from being an underdeveloped policy arena toward becoming an integral part of water and environmental governance in South America and beyond. This research faces several methodological and analytical limitations. The exploratory and interpretive nature of the work means that the identification of actors, network relations, and discursive patterns inevitably involves an element of subjectivity. The actor analysis was static, even though actors and their resources evolve dynamically, and data limitations may have produced incomplete assumptions. The framing analysis, conducted through Atlas.ti, risked both missing relevant passages and including false positives, while focusing only on textual sources excluded visual framings and metaphors. Similarly, the social network analysis was limited to publicly available data, omitting informal and undocumented ties. All analyses provide only a static snapshot for 2020–2025, even though discursive and institutional practices evolve continuously. Language barriers, translation issues, and cultural differences may also have shaped findings, particularly when examining actors communicating in Spanish, Portuguese, or Indigenous languages. Future research should therefore address these limitations by incorporating longitudinal analyses of evolving actor roles and discursive framings, combining textual with visual and oral data. Greater attention should also be paid to informal coalitions and evolving cross-basin relations that may not appear in formal documentation. Beyond the Amazon and La Plata basins, comparative research in other ecological and political contexts could shed light on the transferability of green and atmospheric water governance concepts. Finally, further study is needed on how emerging storylines, such as those of the GCEW, are taken up or resisted by actors and basin stakeholders. Beyond these directions, a research agenda is suggested to guide further stages of the policy processes. This includes Comparative Cognitive Mapping approaches to understand causes of action and inaction based on actor’s system perspectives, alongside the creation of boundary objects to facilitate decision making under diverging interests and incomplete knowledge. ... Read more

This thesis investigates to what extent and under what conditions it is likely that the Netherlands will meet its national target of reducing the average use of household drinking water from 129 in 2021 to 100 litres per person per day [lpppd] in 2035, as described in the National Plan of Action for Drinking Water Conservation (2024). This plan, published by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, was formulated due to growing concerns about anticipated drinking water shortages by 2030. Along with other policy measures, it led the Dutch government to attempt to shift toward demand-management measures. However, the effectiveness of the recently introduced and planned conservation measures remains uncertain, especially in light of various future developments.

This research assesses the potential impact of the proposed household-level policy measures using a model with a bottom-up demand component combined with a higher-level supply component. It applies the methodology of Exploratory System Dynamics Modelling and Analysis. An approach to execute a scenario-based exploration under deep uncertainty, simulating the combined effects of demographic dynamics, increased periods of drought, and economic growth in twelve potential future scenarios. As each of the ten drinking water companies operates within their own demographic and geographical context, they all face their own challenges, and different results are generated.

These results show that in none of the simulated scenarios for any of the drinking water companies, household demand actually falls to the policy target of 100 lpppd by 2035. Instead, demand only decreases to around 120 lpppd in 2035, with slight variations between regions and exogenous factors.
However, that decrease persists and reaches 110 lpppd by 2050. Regarding the supply side of the drinking water distribution system, total household and industrial demand actually increases significantly in most scenarios up to 2030 due to population and economic growth. Regional variation further highlights that some water companies may encounter local shortages, even if national demand remains within its supply limits. A key outcome of this research is the demonstration of a policy-focused modelling framework that policy makers and researchers can reuse and extend.

These findings show that the current mix of policy interventions is unlikely to be sufficient to meet the policy objective set for the conservation of drinking water. Nevertheless, demand management is one element of several in drinking water management. The simulations also show that when drinking water companies are successful in developing additional fresh water sources the challenges of increasing drinking water demand could be met.

However, more impactful policy interventions could be made still if decisive action is taken in both the implementation and development of further demand management strategies. There remains a lot to gain by further exploring the limits and opportunities of the Dutch drinking water distribution system to support the implementation of more robust and future-proof policies. ... Read more

This thesis investigates how serious games can be designed and used to improve decision-making for stormwater management in urban areas, which are increasingly vulnerable to intense rainfall due to high surface sealing, urbanization, and climate change. The challenges include limited public awareness of household measures to store and infiltrate stormwater, fragmented decision-making across public and private actors, and lack of collaborative planning platforms. Serious games—used to foster learning and cooperation—offer a promising but underexplored approach to address these barriers. The thesis makes four key contributions: (1) a review of existing serious games in urban water management, identifying gaps in current approaches; (2) a systems analysis methodology to identify relevant actors, elicit their perceptions, and develop a systems map that can be used as a foundation for game design; (3) the design and testing of SUDSbury, a board game to raise awareness among urban residents; and (4) the design and testing of Urban dRain, a case-specific game to support multi-actor collaboration for neighborhood-scale stormwater planning. ... Read more

The Environment and Planning Act (EPA) is a major legislative policy with the intent to revise the Dutch spatial planning system through decentralisation. However, before its introduction date in January 2024, its implementation had encountered several challenges, including delays, rising media attention, and political tensions. With the politicised climate surrounding EPA, the thesis investigates how politics influences the implementation of EPA.

The study employs a discourse analysis approach, a means to studying public discourse where policy actors engage in discourse within the public sphere to convey their ideas about a given policy to the general public. The main discursive unit is the storyline, which is a shared interpretation of the policy employed by actors in their public claims.
Hence, the overarching research question is as follows:

What does the public discourse surrounding the Environment and Planning Act (EPA) in the Netherlands reveal about its policy implementation?

Data was collected from the public discourse surrounding EPA between its legislative inception in 2011 and its formal introduction in 2024. Four prominent Dutch newspapers—NRC, De Volkskrant, Friesch Dagblad, and Leidsch Dagblad—served as data sources.
The research utilises the Discourse Network Analysis methodology, which combines various content and network analyses to reveal changing descriptive and structured patterns of the public discourse.

First, the content analysis is used to characterise the nature of public discourse and identify critical factors that influence policy implementation. Second, the analysis of the actor and storyline congruence network captures coalition structures and the discursive context, respectively; it is used to explain how and why the public discourse evolves with respect to key events in media and the policy process. Third, a “meso-level” network analysis of actor’s positions within the actor congruence network is used to describe their responses to the shifting public discourse through changes in positions within the network.

Three key findings that correspond to the three analyses are obtained. Firstly, public discourse surrounding EPA is characterised as highly disputative, characterised by varying types of disagreements on different policy issues and limitations in cross-actor engagement. Secondly, the study identifies a challenge in balancing the need for policy adjustments with the urgency of implementing them. This struggle can lead to difficulties in integrating ideas from stakeholders into policy formulation and development, which may hinder the overall progress of policy implementation. Lastly, the research suggests how politics is consequential to the policy implementation of EPA. This phenomenon is captured from the defensives of implementers to emerging political pressure on implementation—their original involvement in a broad range of policy issues has shifted to one that primarily defends their responsibilities. It is believed that implementers' critical role in influencing policy from the bottom-up is diminished.

The thesis contributes significantly to understanding policy implementation, highlighting various factors, challenges, and potential threats affecting EPA's implementation. While these findings may not directly aid EPA, they provide valuable guidance when developing similar complex policies in the Netherlands. Policy recommendations were also proposed to identify broad areas of improvement, such as planning the policy process to integrate ideas more effectively and providing more resources to implementers.

Additionally, the research makes a methodological contribution by demonstrating how discourse network analysis can be applied in implementation research. Various extensions and variations are highlighted, which were found to be useful—namely, the novel use of the storyline congruence network to study the changes in the discursive context within a rapidly evolving political process. Future research could explore the potential of discourse network analysis in studying the politics of policy implementation.
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This thesis investigates the adoption of circular design principles by engineers for the design of wastewater treatment plants for Water authorities, by exploring hindering and stimulating factors involved and applying the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) to develop strategic interventions for engineers at the case study consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV (RHDHV). The research problem addresses the challenge of integrating circular design principles into wastewater treatment plants, aiming to enhance circularity practices within engineering consultancy firms. The main research question is “How can the adoption of circular design in wastewater engineering consultancy firms be enhanced using the Behavior Change Wheel?” The objective is to gain insight into the key actors, the perception and engagement with circularity among RHDHV, the barriers and facilitators to the adoption of circular design and to propose strategic interventions using the Behaviour Change Wheel.
The research employs a qualitative research method, including a literature review, informal conversations, and semi-structured to open interviews with employees from the wastewater department of Royal HaskoningDHV. The collected data was analysed using thematic double coding, comprising an inductive explorative approach, and a deductive approach based on the Theoretical Domain Framework (TDF). The BCW framework was applied to identify behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and interventions that stimulate engineers to make more circular design choices in every phase of the project by considering and selecting materials and design choices that are reducing, reusable, recyclable, and demountable.
Key barriers to the adoption of circular design practices include limited knowledge, unclear principles, insufficient evidence of technical functionality, reluctance from clients, a preference for traditional design approaches, and budget constraints. On the other hand, facilitators include circularity workshops, partial integration into design processes, management ambition, and existing sustainability initiatives. Active client support and dedicated time for circular design are essential.
The BCW approach identified 43 behaviour change techniques beneficial for promoting circular design, from which a balanced selection addressing capability (knowledge and skills), opportunity (design routines and tools), and motivation (confidence in circular designs) is recommended. The recommended interventions for the specific case study are (i) comprehensive training sessions and educative materials on circular design, (ii) establishing clear, achievable circular design goals, (iii) a focus on projects with clients committed to circular design, (iv) establishing a helpdesk or expert team for practical and social support, (v) incorporating circular prompts and cues into project planning, and (vi) monitoring progress while showcasing successes and providing feedback. Although tailored to Royal HaskoningDHV, these interventions can serve as a guideline for other firms, with necessary adjustments for different contexts and client relationships.
The study highlights the significance of targeted, practical interventions and raises new questions about the balance between sustainable and functional requirements, re-evaluating comfort and budgetary requirements and the need for further development of practical tools and guidelines.
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Road networks play a crucial role in economic and sustainable growth, but they face challenges such as traffic loads, drainage, and secondary road works. Climate change poses risks, such as structural damage and vulnerability to extreme weather. The Dutch government has emphasized the importance of climate adaptation in road maintenance policies, but asset managers face difficulties in transitioning to climate-adaptive practices due to aging infrastructure, increasing traffic, and limited resources. Effective asset management is essential for optimizing asset utilization, enhancing quality, minimizing costs, adapting to climate change, and increasing asset lifespan. The study aimed to examine the decision-making process of asset managers in road maintenance and their efforts to enhance climate adaptability, focusing on stakeholders involved in decision-making and criteria influencing their decisions. Challenges include budget constraints, limited knowledge of climate adaptation within organizations, data availability for informed decision-making, and the influence of internal policies on driving climate adaptation efforts within road maintenance authorities. ... Read more

The water and sanitation sector faces well-documented issues that are challenging to address, leading to the establishment of the Platform of Vocational Excellence (PoVE) Water. This platform brings together five regional Centers of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) Water in Europe and South Africa to ensure high-quality skills and competencies in the water sector. These CoVEs facilitate collaboration among stakeholders, enabling the development of vocational education and training programs to increase awareness, responsiveness to industry needs, and address sector challenges. A few months ago, CoVE Water SA was established in South Africa to achieve the previously mentioned goals. Therefore, it is important that the following research question is answered in this initial set-up phase: What actions need to be taken to enhance the effectiveness of the CoVE Water SA?
To answer this research question, several important stakeholders were interviewed. Subsequently, the interviews were analysed thematically in order to extract the most important themes and quotes, PI grids were created to assess power and interest dynamics among stakeholders, and a Social Network Analysis was conducted to understand the CoVE Water SA network and potential clusters.

The research findings have unveiled key aspects for enhancing the effectiveness of CoVE Water SA. The current network in the water sector has a low density, implying that many collaborations are lacking. This leads to a high degree of interdependence within the network, resulting in a non dynamic system. The lack of collaborations, such as connections with TVET colleges, schools, farmers and local communities, results in a lack of knowledge, funding and connection to the labour market. Governmental stakeholders, like DWS, EWSeta, and BGCMA, have been identified as influential players with extensive networks and important resources, Local Authorities and Research Organizations also play important roles. Universities exhibit substantial international links, making them crucial contributors. These stakeholders have the potential to provide knowledge, collaboration, and power. These are valuable insights for CoVE Water SA, fostering network growth and effectiveness in the water sector.

Furthermore, six key themes have been derived from the conducted interviews, addressing the needs of stakeholders and where CoVE can make a valuable contribution.
These themes include raising awareness, reducing the skills gap in the water sector, fostering international collaborations, mitigating the labour shortage in the water sector, improving education material and establishing desired collaborations. For each theme, the interviewed stakeholders have presented their views and numerous suggestions on how CoVE Water SA can assist in addressing these issues. Additionally, stakeholders have also mentioned possible failures of CoVE Water SA, which can aid in preventing any shortcomings of the platform. Furthermore, stakeholders mentioned ongoing initiatives related to the six themes, through which they can contribute to the platform.

From the Thematic Analysis, PI Grids and the SNA, a set of actions have emerged that are essential for enhancing the effectiveness of CoVE Water SA. These actions revolve around expanding and enhancing the network, organising activities and contributing to educational improvement. In terms of broadening and strengthening the network, the platform should focus on enhancing the collaborations among educational groups, building stronger relations with international institutions in Europe and Africa, involving TVETs and schools within the water network, improving stakeholder involvement and encouraging the involvement of Local Communities to increase awareness and knowledge about water issues. Furthermore, CoVE Water SA should play a role in organising activities to raise awareness of Water Resource Management. Additionally, it should assist in improving curricula, supporting students’ preparation for the workforce and making the education more practical instead of only theoretical. CoVE Water SA should also provide training and learning resources as well as comprehensive courses.

However, this study recognizes several limitations that should be considered in future research and when implementing recommendations for CoVE Water SA. These limitations encompass factors like a limited scope due to resource and time constraints, minimal varied interviewee responses, and potential biases in responses. Addressing these limitations will be crucial in guiding future research and actions for CoVE Water SA.
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In an increasingly conflict-ridden world, ensuring sustainable access to essential services for vulnerable populations presents a considerable challenge. Existing best practices for sustainable development, including participatory processes and community-led, collaborative governance structures, often overlook applications in conflict settings. As such, there is a need to study and adapt these approaches in order to ensure that sustainable development efforts leave no one behind.

The following paper will address this research gap by investigating a case study of water governance in Yangon, Myanmar. In February 2021, the Myanmar military staged an unexpected takeover of the government which has led to frequent clashes between the de facto authorities and the resistance movement. Within this context, the UN-Habitat office in Myanmar is in the process of establishing water distribution systems. These systems will provide clean water to inhabitants of informal settlements as a part of the COVID-WASH project. This project is an emergency response project designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19. When implementing projects in communities, UN-Habitat uses a participatory methodology called the People’s Process. The People’s Process includes the creation of Community Development Committees (CDCs) which, in the COVID-WASH project, will manage the water distribution systems. However, it is unclear how the conflict setting impacts the People’s Process and whether it is able to establish water governance systems that will be able to sustainably supply clean water to the informal settlement residents.

The research question is thus, “Does the People’s Process contribute to creating sustainable water governance structures in the current context of Yangon’s informal settlements, and if so, in what ways?” The following sub questions are used to answer the main research question: (1) What best practices exist for creating community-led sustainable water governance structures? (2) How does UN-Habitat operationalize the People's Process for water governance in Yangon's informal settlements? (3) In what ways does the People's Process compare to best practices for creating sustainable water governance and why? (4) In what ways does the conflict setting affect the ability of the Peoples' Process to create sustainable water governance and why?

Sub question one is answered through a literature review which investigates relevant fields such as participatory processes, governance of common pool resources, collaborative governance, and water governance. Literature on contextual factors relevant to the situation in Myanmar are also discussed. The results of the literature review are then used to create a theoretical framework for assessing UN-Habitat’s water governance structures. The resulting framework is grounded in a realist review which investigates how and why systems work the way they do. The following sub questions are answered with data from interviews. Nine interviews were conducted with UN-Habitat staff, members of CDC from similar projects, and one representative from the NGO WaterAid. Transcripts of the interviews were coded for analysis.

To answer sub question two, an outline of the People’s Process as used to implement the COVID-WASH project is presented and compared to other outlines of the People’s Process. Sub question three is then answered by investigating where UN-Habitat’s process aligns with the theoretical framework and where and why it does not. An actor analysis is another key result of this research. The discussion then expands on the results in order to answer the main research question, as well as sub question four.

Ultimately, the People's Process emerges as a powerful participatory model that fosters community ownership and engagement. The CDCs follow a well structured and functional governance framework. Given the 5-10 year lifecycle of the distribution systems, the governance structures appear to be somewhat sustainable within limitations. However due to a lack of clear cut parameters for sustainability, it is difficult to assess to what degree these structures are sustainable. Two points stand out from the research which may serve as areas for improvement. First, CDCs face difficulties in incentivizing community members to fill vacant positions. Second, financial constraints limit the CDCs' ability to undertake substantial improvements beyond routine O&M. It was additionally found that the conflict setting has a greater impact on UN-Habitat’s processes than on the CDC’s themselves. For the CDCs, the conflict setting primarily serves to exacerbate existing problems. As such, it may be more productive to search for ways to improve the resilience of the governance structures as a means of ensuring they are sustainable in the face of shocks to the system.

For UN-Habitat, recommendations therefore include considering how collaborative governance may be used to enhance the resilience of the systems by sharing the governance responsibilities of the CDCs among multiple actors. Additionally, greater reflection on what outcomes are sufficiently sustainable and how those can be empirically monitored and evaluated would allow for a better judgment on where improvements to the water governance structures are needed. Recommendations for future research include adding aspects of causality to the theoretical framework in order to identify which elements are directly linked to sustainability as an outcome. Additionally, further investigation into how community-led, multi-actor systems operate in a variety of conflict settings could be useful in refining the conclusions of this research. ... Read more

The global wicked problem of climate change forces us to policymaking, implementation, and climate action. In a hopeful attempt to reach the ambitious Paris Agreement goals, science indicates that collaborative action and science-based targets are required. Consequently, the political arena recognizes the importance of actors beyond national governments for collaborative climate action. These non-state and subnational actors could have a great impact on global emissions reductions, but current targets and pledges are often subject to a lack of transparency and greenwashing practices. In addition, current commitments and actions are often too modest in ambition to close the emission gap. As a response, a plethora of International Cooperative Initiatives (ICIs) has arisen. This research focuses on the promising and important role of corporates in non-state climate action, by assessing corporate determinants for participation in the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). To date, the SBTi is the most prominent ICI in the corporate landscape with more than 1,500 companies that are committed to science-based targets. Due to its popularity and rapid growth of the initiative, the SBTi evidently contributes to global emission reductions.

With their step-wise process to science-based target commitment, development, and validation, the SBTi promises to prevent ”the worst effects of climate change”. To track the progression of this hopeful promise, a handful of studies have been conducted on the SBTi’s emission mitigation. However, the literature on the SBTi has remained inextensive. Furthermore, why corporates participate in the initiative was unaddressed. This thesis work is pioneering in the sense that it creates a novel, important, and relevant contribution to fulfilling this knowledge gap, by identifying determining factors for participation in the SBTi. Thereby, assessing associations be- tween firm characteristics and SBTi participation, in addition to whether and how these firm characteristics and several motives, reasons, and drivers cause a corporate to participate.

To this end, we have constructed a mixed-method study with a sequential explanatory design that entailed econometric statistical analysis and interviews. The group of corporates selected for the study was the Fortune 500 of the year 2015, which marks the start of the SBTi. We conclude that this research design is a good fit for the type of study which aims to find relations between firm characteristics, motives, reasons, drivers, and SBTi membership, or climate action in general. Mostly because our approach allowed for a more comprehensive picture of relevant factors to participate in the SBTi, compared to extant literature that is often lacking on detailed information due to exploratory designs that assess association rather than causation. We, therefore, want to shed light on the added value of semi-structured interviews in this work and potential future work, despite some of our main limitations of data availability, relatively small sample sizes, and selection bias.

We found that determining factors for corporates to participate in the SBTi relate to the concepts of Legitimacy, Market Success, Social Insurance and Organizational Culture. The latter added an angle that did not seem covered by the concepts derived from previous studies, while this concept became one of the most influential but controversial in management and organization studies. Our findings show that the pressure of stakeholders such as investors, competitors, the U.S. government, employees, end-consumers, and purchasers is an important determinant for corporates to participate; whereby we have shown that joining the SBTi is unexpectedly mainly driven by purchasers rather than end-consumers in the U.S. at this point. In addition, competitive pressures cause a company to join since corporates want to maintain their front-running position, find peer benchmarking important, and are experiencing peer pressure within their sector. Furthermore, a corporate’s perception of internal and external leadership is important in deciding to join the SBTi. In particular, a firm’s strategy and CEO determine whether the corporate wants to be a leader by joining the SBTi or not. On top of that, we found that the presence of a sustainability committee increases the likeliness of a firm becoming a SBTi member since it connects sustainability expertise in the organization that is needed to feed top management so that sustainability decisions can be made.

Interestingly, contrary to our expectations, our results show that corporates in the energy sector are not the most likely to join the SBTi. Albeit those companies are facing impressive stakeholder pressures, they often choose to lobby against future policies rather than set science-based targets. Moreover, we expect conservative corporate culture and the maturity of a sustainability program to influence the decision to join the SBTi. To specify, we believe that conservative corporates, possibly with a mature sustainability program, tend to stick to their system-centric targets and management processes rather than participating in the SBTi.

Overall, our pioneering research outcomes contribute to the inextensive body of academic literature on the SBTi, and it enriches the extant literature on ICIs participation, voluntary initiative participation, and corporate climate action in general. Moreover, the implications of this research are important to policymakers, government, as well as corporates, and the SBTi, in terms of responding to the determinants for SBTi participation. Especially because it is expected that the number of SBTi members will exponentially grow soon, thereby further enhancing the initiative’s prominent character. In addition, we argue that SBTi membership is and will not be a form of corporate greenwashing. We also think that SBTi members will environmentally and financially perform better in the long term, due to continuously aligned targets with science, and growing pressure and recognition of the SBTi by stakeholders.

Our study implies that the SBTi will most likely see a pattern of early adopters, the frontrunners; and late adopters, the followers or the firms that experience difficulties with emission identification. However, one should also be aware that there will be a group of outliers, identified as the corporates that will not voluntarily participate in this initiative, or corporate climate action in general. Yet, it requires global collaboration of the entire corporate landscape to close the emission gap. Therefore, our findings are valuable in the sense that they can aid different stakeholders to develop more effective strategies for encouraging businesses to develop a sustainability agenda. Thereby, understanding what motivates corporates to take climate action is important for policymakers, since the effectiveness of policies also depends in large part on how firms will respond to them.

To reach the tipping point in which companies cannot deny joining the SBTi, we recommend the SBTi to focus on targeting new sectors, firms with conservative corporate cultures, and mature sustainability programs. As well as responding to this expected growth within their own organization and establishing a network of experts and corporates which aids in scope 3 identification. In turn, we advise corporates to join forces that support emission identification and disclosure in comprehensible language. Furthermore, our results encourage corporates to establish an organizational structure that enhances collaborative action and sustainable decision-making, for instance with a sustainability committee and dedicated leadership. Additionally, purchasing companies should use their power to trigger a cascade of science-based targets amongst the supply chain. Moreover, corporates should always lobby for science-based climate policies, even when forms of voluntary climate action are already present. It is thereby up to the government to engage with corporate communities that promote climate policy formation, formulate policies on compulsory emission identification, and join forces with the SBTi to promote the advantages of standardized science-based targets by understanding what truly drives corporates to take voluntary climate action. Following our work, there is abundant room for formulating more detailed policies, investigating additional external pressures that affect corporates to join, and zooming in on each individual sector to account for existing sector differences. ... Read more

Previous academic work on Portfolio Decision Analysis (PDA) have pointed at the advantage of using PDA in multi-actor situations and environmental sectors, but have also pointed at the lack of research done in such case studies. Currently there exist situations where PDA would be beneficial but current methods are not able to analyse the systems. This is because most of the PDA and MCDA methods require certain data that is often absent in real life case studies, such as reliable information on alternatives performances including synergies and the availability of time and willingness for detailed preference elicitation. Multi-actor situations make preference elicitation an even more time consuming aspect. Therefore, this thesis develops a novel methodology making PDA analysis accessible, robust and fast in decision support to multi-actor systems lacking detailed synergy and preference information. First the portfolios are created in a linear-additivity framework covering the solution space (creating thus all feasible portfolios). The methodology uses different strains of thought and concepts within the MCDA community, such as a combination of stochastic and heuristic approaches to analyse the portfolios. The stochastic techniques include Monte Carlo sampling for uncertainty propagation of the alternative performances and stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) to handle attribute weight uncertainties. The heuristics applied stand within the Fast and Frugal Heuristics tradition (FFH). The studied heuristics are the Take-The-Best Heuristic and a Lexicographic heuristic to incorporate synergy information. Application results in portfolio shortlists for the involved actors. In order to analyze consensus among the actors a Core Indices (CI) approach is applied. Subsequently a Sobol sensitivity analysis is conducted on the most promising portfolios. The integration of these methods result in an overarching unconventional approach capable of informing decision makers on most promising portfolios and most important attributes. An application of this methodology is shown through application to both simulated data and a real life case study in a multi-actor case-study in India, on wastewater treatment, reuse and resource recovery. The case study encompasses multiple stakeholders in which, due to the political nature of the situation, it is difficult to obtain explicit preference. The alternatives also likely have interactions and interdependencies, affecting the portfolio set performance. The application shows that the method is able to deal with the complexities of real life case studies. For both the simulated data set as for the case study consensus on portfolios, alternatives and corresponding attributes have identified for further decision-making. Regarding the analysis of the attribute weights uncertainty the SMAA-O approach is deemed better than the Take-The-Best approach if a complete ordinal ranking of the attributes is available. Furthermore, the approach of lexicographic heuristics to deal with the lack of detailed synergy information seems promising for situations where synergy information is lacking. For the general application of the method there are, however, some limitations due to assumed linear properties, these encompass: The assumed linear additivity of the alternatives in the portfolio creation, the monotonic behaviour of the marginal value functions and the hierarchical addition aggregation value function. These form also the points where the method can be expanded upon to integrate these assumptions and corresponding uncertainties. In the future the method can be expanded upon in the open source software to make further use of the computing power able to perform stochastic analysis and to build upon the novel application of heuristics, quickly allowing PDA analysis in ever more environmental case studies. ... Read more

Foul sewer networks face many challenges related to new pressures and ageing infrastructure. There is a need to be able to evaluate how networks will be able to adapt to varying population densities, urban development and ecologic changes. Some suggest the use of exploratory models to test large numbers of network configurations, intended as alternative responses to the driving pressures. However, in order to carry out exploratory modelling, a trade-off between computational time and accuracy must be achieved. An approach to generate and size foul sewer networks which allow computational savings was developed in a collaboration between Eawag, ETH Zurich and TU Delft.This approach was used in this study to evaluate the computational time savings and accuracy of a generated sewer network in hydraulic performance assessment. Two case studies of 7km2 (Port Phillip) and 57km2 (Melbourne), and different land uses were used to evaluate the ability of the generated network to represent a real network. It was found that computational time was reduced for both case studies, by a maximum factor of 10. Hydraulic performance was compared under high, typical and low flow conditions. It was found that high flow parameters are better represented in small case studies, where network capacity reduction and topology differences are less evident between real and generated networks. For low flow conditions, percentages of network length at risk of sedimentation were well represented for both case studies, with the larger case study showing slightly better performance. Under typical flow conditions, it was shown that topology simplification in the generated network leads to significant changes in times of concentration between networks, and hydrograph discrepancies, especially for the larger case study. However, general trends, including distribution of pipe cumulative flow percentage for pipes in sedimentation, or pipe diameter for pipe surcharge, are well represented by the generated network. Therefore, it is found that the generated network should be used to evaluate hydraulic performance trends in generated networks, as well as global values (eg. flood volume) if the network differences (eg. capacity, path length) are taken into account. Finally, future work needs are highlighted which could strengthen the findings of this study, including use of real network flow and hydraulic performance data. Moreover, the computational time savings for a full assessment (rather than just hydraulic evaluations) should be quantified and compared. ... Read more

The aim of the research is to aid selection of Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS) technologies. By creating an overview of important criteria for choosing between HWTS in a certain context, information on trade-offs is gathered. To do so, an explorative assessment is made of HWTS preferences in various contexts. ... Read more

Water challenges the livelihood of all living beings through its scarcity and its abundance. Due to climate change these extremes will intensify in the future. As mankind continues to cluster in economic centre points, housing areas as well as infrastructure increases. This situation forces the water to run off rather than infiltrate. Inundated areas place a threat to health and mankind will be forced to increase the resilience in urban areas. Adaptation to more extreme weather situation on private terrain is necessary as private space contributes 50% of the area. In order to stimulate inhabitants to adapt different measures it is essential to get an idea of their receptivity. The receptivity model of Jeffrey and Seaton (2009) offers a framework to understand with which of the 4 A’s (Awareness, Association, Acquisition and Application) residents are struggling most. A sequential mixed method of combining questionnaires and focus groups was used to collect data on residents’ receptivity and perceived effectiveness of potential rainproof measures. Additionally, the hydrologic expected effectiveness of selected rainproof measures was analysed with help of the Adaptation Support Tool and compared to the perceived effectiveness. Although residents are developing all 4 A’s simultaneously to different extend and speed, it appears that residents are struggling with Awareness. Their experience with flooding and water damage reveals awareness of the issue itself; however, hesitation to implement countermeasures was noticed. The awareness of solutions is missing for more than half of the respondents. The association with their own agenda and recognising the benefits is not yet widespread among residents. The acquisition requirement of receptivity – the knowledge about implementation, operation and maintenance – is missing. It is evident that the application requirement cannot be accomplished as acquisition is absent. Residents demand additional information. The development of the 4 A’s, specifically Association and Acquisition, require more attention. Residents recognise their own responsibility for the private lot, but also shared responsibility and thus community actions are expected. Residents insist that the municipality and Waternet fulfil their tasks within their responsibilities. Transparency and communication with residents are important features, whereby provision of tailor-made advice has high importance. Recognising responsibilities and also dependencies between different stakeholders as well as knowledge requests reveal lacking receptivity and further encouragement is required. Frontrunners can hereby play an important role. The effectiveness of countermeasures is an important consideration for increasing resilience. Evidently respondents indicated rainwater barrels as possible measure to temporarily store water. Green roofs were also well known. The perceived effectiveness scored relatively high for all temporary water storage measures. The Adaptation Support Tool (AST ) calculated effectiveness between 2% and 42%, where this is a percentage of a 60mm precipitation storage target. The highest effectiveness of 42% is achieved by intensive green roofs, whereas the costs are relatively high. A rainwater pond on the other hand has low investment and maintenance costs and scored an effectiveness of 22%. Green gardens reveal higher costs, but also greater effectiveness. It is expected that all gardens already have some green spaces and a simple intervention as reducing tiles could contribute up to 30% of the target. The calculations demonstrate that none of the measures could achieve the target alone. A combination is required, whereby the order of implementation can be guided by their effectiveness and costs. For improving receptivity of residents, several points should be considered. First of all connect residents with similar issues, they possibly motivate each other and develop an urge to action. Tailor-made information improves information distribution. Residents are reluctant due to unfamiliarity with alternatives for their specific situation. It is also important that residents are aware of the effectiveness and the costs of measures for when they need to chose. The AST calculations give insight in the effectiveness and costs of measures. Transparency of tasks, responsibilities and choices of the municipality, Waternet and Amsterdam Rainproof could provide a positive mindset towards the implementation of rainproof measures. Communication about (possible) barriers might be helpful in order to prepare residents. It is important that the municipality promotes climate adaptation throughout the entire legal and organisational levels. ... Read more

When evaluating and applying asset management concepts, water companies can face challenges in enabling targeted recommendation-making due to difficulties in accessing and processing of large volumes of data. These factors can lead to entrance barriers in utilization of breakdown data when assessing network reliability and scope of attainable improvements in asset strategy and maintenance concepts. Proven solutions and contextualized research are not readily available for water companies which, as asset-intensive enterprise relying on physical assets to deliver water to its customers, have a big stake in optimizing its use of data. This project has set out to research whether aspects of recommendation making for asset management at water companies can be aided with application of commonly available and deployable business intelligence tools. To this end, a water company which faces similar challenges has been selected. Evides – a water provider in the region of Rijnmond seeks more data-driven approaches in asset management of water connections. This asset group can be characterized by high volume, high technological heterogeneity and high absolute number of breakdowns as compared to distribution pipes. Together with a vast volume of data, this combination of factors leads to challenges in maintaining a continuous oversight and transparent conversion of performance data into strategic goals and clear service level agreements. The case of Evides inspired a research approach in which application of a custom-made decision support system is evaluated for the process of recommendation making in asset management of water connections. Methodology for this research encompassed for semi-structured interviews with network specialists and managers to obtain information on current asset management goals and the corresponding recommendation-making process for water connections. Thereafter, a thematic analysis was conducted to distill the main themes depicting aspects of interests to network-specialists in charge of producing recommendations and to managers – the decision makers. The type and moments at which performance data is processed and consulted were described and positioned in a managerial decision-making model, together with aspects assessed at each stage. Simple performance indicators were selected to aid the assessments and to connect performance readings with company goals. Findings were thereafter embedded into a purpose-made prototype of a decision support system, utilizing capacity of business intelligence software in creating curated datasets and user-friendly front end. In the last phase of the research, network specialists participated in appraisal of the created tool by completing a series of tasks designed to assess performance of water connections. Surveys were then conducted among participants to evaluate the added value of the created tool in the context of recommendation-making for asset management of water connections at Evides. Results show that, for the case study company, the created tool allows for improvements in accessibility and connectivity of company performance data and can contribute towards greater transparency in goal setting and enabling data-driven recommendation making for asset management of water connections. Performance outliers and policy non-compliers can be localized easier and help company in localizing areas in need of attention. Display of simple performance indicators for connections as per user-selected criteria can in the long run enable more nuances in describing network performance, shifting away from binary descriptions of asset’s performance. In case of Evides, the performance management framework for water connections was discovered as insufficiently defined to allow for assessments of direct benefits as result of application of the designed decision support-system. It is therefore recommended for future research to apply similar methodology for asset groups with well defined performance management standards and to focus on experimental design with higher external validity. ... Read more

In this thesis, I develop and evaluate a demand-side approach to transition from an intermittent to a continuous water supply using a district metered areas approach in Accra, Ghana, an urban metroplex of 4.0 million persons in western Africa. Intermittent water supply (IWS) is inherently inefficient. These systems foment health hazards and are expensive with an inherent low return on investment. Various causes and effects with positive feedback loops exacerbate intermittency. And building more robust IWS systems does not help because of rapid system degradation and high socio-economic costs render them unsustainable. Continuous water supply (CWS) systems are superior in every respect. Therefore, I view transitioning from IWS to CWS as the optimal choice for urban water districts. The general strategy to make this transition is to increase production and sharply improve the transmission capacity and efficiency of the drinking water system, the so-called supply-side approach. But because the supply side approach does not factor the underlying causes of IWS-- leakage and variable pressure levels, I used a demand-side approach for this study and designed a novel method, based on leakage theory with the application of district metered areas (DMAs). We tested this method on a case study performed in Accra, Ghana. The method is essentially a set of requirements and boundary conditions used to facilitate the transition from IWS to CWS from a demand-side perspective. A decision tree gives insight into the causes of IWS per DMA and the interventions required to reduce intermittency. Based on the foregoing, water engineers can build strategies to roll out a demand-side CWS systems in DMAs for an entire region. In our Accra study, we tested three DMAs using this approach with a focus on supply security. Data from those DMAs was collected and a top down NRW assessment was performed. We selected one DMA to collect and analyse flow and pressure data (minimum night flow, non-revenue water, billing, intermittency level, average zonal pressure). Furthermore, the supply conditions and proposed intervention (pressure adjustments) were hydraulically modelled for the district. Based on the DMA data, a transition strategy was developed for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. We also assessed the applicability of the demand-side approach to other areas through a survey among water supply specialists. The study shows that gains in water savings at the DMA level to more than justify the costs of transitioning to CWS. In cases of high pressure and high real loss volumes, pressure management improves supply conditions for customers. And, after attaining CWS, water recovered from loss reductions can be redistributed into neighboring districts, increasing their water availability. Because hydraulic pressure dependent demand (PDD) modelling cannot model leakage accurately, it was not possible to evaluate leakage reduction interventions. And it was not possible to create a working hydraulic model to assess the effect of this DMA approach for the entire Accra metroplex because of limited data availability at a district level, leakage parameters that were difficult to verify with field measurements, and the lack of a proven hydraulic PDD software able to distinguish between domestic demand and real losses. In conclusion, the developed method looks promising. But two factors limited fully exploring its real-world application: (1) the absence of mature modelling software; (2) detailed water district data. Developing a working hydraulic modelling software was beyond the scope of an MSc. thesis. But such hydraulic modelling software should be developed to help water utilities with limited technical and human resources improve services. Further research is required into leakage component modelling and validation from field measurements, after which interventions can be more properly and easily applied. ... Read more

Urban sanitation in developing countries requires systems thinking as there is a plethora different variables which can impact the delivery of adequate sanitation for the people. In the traditional sense, sanitation planning in urban cities focuses on keeping people away from human-waste related pathogens. As cities in India and several developing countries are growing at exponential rates, government agencies are struggling to provide adequate safe sanitation in their cities. In recent years, due to a range of factors such as increasing water stress, recreational needs and biodiversity protection in an urban fabric, urban waterbodies are deemed worthy of conservation. The objective of this research was to systematically understand urban sanitation and how it relates to urban waterbody health. Having understood the system adequately, the aim of the thesis was to answer the research question, can “Citywide Inclusive Sanitation as a planning approach aid in the betterment of urban waterbodies?”. The study adopted a mixed method which comprises of quantitative water quality testing in Kommaghatta lake in Bengaluru city, India and a qualitative analysis at the Bengaluru city level. It included elements of qualitative social research methods such as field observations, informal conversations and semi-structured interviews to answer the research questions. Water quality results and qualitative analysis suggests that there are three significant pollution pathways into Bengaluru lakes, each carrying different wastewater characteristics and pollution load. The predominant pathway for the pollution of waterbodies in the city is through the stormwater drainage. Additionally, sewer pipes and desludging trucks which dispose faecal waste from on-site sanitation systems also contribute to pollutant load entering into the lakes in the city. From the semi-structured interviews, a conceptual model of urban sanitation in Bengaluru city and how it relates to waterbodies was developed. From conducting a qualitative analysis, six major system levers were identified. They levers influence the dynamics of urban sanitation in Bengaluru and forms the basis for the pollution pathways that enter into the lake. They six major system levers for Bengaluru urban sanitation are:
1.Rapid urbanization
2.Fragmentation of government entities
3.Sewer infrastructure
4.Feacal sludge management
5.Treated water reuse
6.Citizen group involvement The study shows that CWIS principles have a significant relevance for solving urban sanitation issues which were identified through the system levers. In addition to solving urban sanitation issues which centres on public health matters, the study also shows that there is also an environmental case for CWIS by arresting waterbody pollution through the identified pollution pathways. Findings from this research can help to improve decision making in terms of urban sanitation by paying close attention to the cause-effect relationships between variables in the urban sanitation sphere and improve waterbody health in their cities. ... Read more

In many parts of the world, water retained in snowpack and glaciers are critical to the stability of downstream ecosystems and human society. This study sets out to quantify, map, and explain the spatiotemporal pattern of annual snow cover duration, which are quantified by regional differences in the number of annual snow cover days (Dsc) and its sensitivities to climate change across the Qilian Mountains between 2001 and 2018. The Qilian Mountains, based on the previous studies on regional climate difference, can be divided into three subregions from east to west. Across the entire Qilian Mountains, Dsc is about 20-40 days at elevations below 3500 m.a.s.l and increases to about 130 days at 4500 m.a.s.l, and more than 300 days above 5000 m.a.s.l. In the west, the interannual average Dsc is consistently lower than the east at the same elevation, and the largest difference is about 200 days at 4300 m.a.s.l. The middle subregion has its Dsc lower than the west below 4000 m.a.s.l, but higher above that elevation. Throughout the 18 years, a 100-200 m upward shift of the RSLE in the hottest months (July and August) has happened in all the subregions of the Qilian Mountains, which certainly results in a decrease of snow cover area and duration. The statistical analysis indicates that on the 3500-4500 m.a.s.l hillside regions in the west section, the number of annual snow cover has the most pronounced decline of Dsc with a rate from -3 to -5 d/year, and this declining trend is caused by the 0.1-0.2 ℃/year increasing trend of the local land surface temperature. The sensitivities analysis of Dsc to temperature and precipitation suggests that, in all the subregions, the annual mean temperatures T has a consistent first-order control on Dsc across the years. However, throughout the elevation, neither the temperature nor cold half-year precipitation has consistent first-order control on Dsc. On the contrary, the data highlight the importance of the interaction between the two climatic variables at 3500-5000 m.a.s.l, where Dsc is sensitive to local climate change. In this elevation range, the positive effects of cold half-year precipitation increasing may partly compensate for the negative effects of temperature rising on Dsc. Furthermore, since the lack of precipitation in the west section, the interplay between temperature and precipitation has its influence on Dsc mostly in the east section, and as a consequence, the significant reduction of Dsc in a large area only happens in the west of the Qilian Mountains. Moreover, we look into the correlation between Dsc and the hillshade and get an interesting result that the medium-hillshade regions, but not the lightest regions, always have the lowest Dsc. The possible reason for this phenomenon is that the lightest regions are more likely the peaks of the mountains i.e. glaciers, while the medium-hillshade regions are more likely the hillshade at low or medium elevation. ... Read more

This research aims to identify the key stakeholders, explain factors that influence water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) behaviours, determine the chance of bacterial contamination in water, and hygiene and sanitary practises in East Sumba. The interview results show that DinKes (health agency), PAMSIMAS (rural water company), and the village board are the key players that connect the upper administrative units to the local communities. The data obtained also show that the root causes that influence the WASH condition are low education level, upbringing norms, weak economy, and geography. The water quality testing results show that in terms of E. coli 14% and 12% of the respondents had a high chance of contamination in their water source and household respectively. These numbers are 25% and 29% in terms of total coliforms. Approximately 59% respondents still use poor sanitation facilities, which includes open defecation (33%) and unimproved latrines (26%). The other 14% respondents are listed under limited sanitation service, and 27% of the respondents had their own toilet, however, it is difficult to conclude if these people fall under the basic or safely managed category of sanitation services. ... Read more

Site selection is a critical factor in the ability to provide safe and healthy environment for refugees. At the outset of an emergency, limited resource and time create large planning uncertainties and current refugee sites’ assessments based on field visit are no longer adequate. The selection of unsuitable locations triggers a number of issues such as environmental degradation, competition for scarce resources and, exploitation of water sources. These can be reduced through a rational refugee allocation decision process. The question that arises is, can the refugee allocation process be supported by a structured decision-making (SDM) approach and more specifically, by a portfolio decision analysis (PDA) model? Focusing on water security criteria, this study presents the initial phases of the SDM-approach intended to ensure a more sustainable allocation of newly-arrived refugees among new and/or existing hosing sites. To this end, a procedural tool for supporting WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) officers in the site assessment is proposed. This was obtained based on 15 semi-structured interviews and questionnaires carried out in a global stakeholder environment, in order to make the SDM framework applicable to other settings.
The generic procedural tool was tested in a case-study in south-western Uganda by applying a portfolio decision analysis model. Local and global data were combined with stakeholder preferences to predict the performance of diverse sets of alternatives. The latter were generated according to different combinations of numbers of refugees, hosting locations and percentage of water extracted from surface water, groundwater and rain water. To identify efficient portfolios, we used the Robust Portfolio Modelling - Decisions software. Results showed that overlooked solutions outperforms over the current allocation strategy. In specific, the scatter of newly arrived refugees showed the highest scores on availability of water, socio-economic costs and host communities' advantages. The proposed framework provides also options for the optimal repartition of the future water extraction among available water sources, aiming to avoid their depletion while preserving sustainable costs of the water services.
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