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Urban Water Demand Management in ASEAN Countries: Challenges and Solutions
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85 UrbanWaterDemandManagementin ASEANCountries: ChallengesandSolutions EduardoAraral,Jr.* ASEAN member countries face significant challenges in managing urban water demand given rising populations, urbanization and water scarcity. Depending on country circumstances, they have responded to these challenges with both short term and long term solutionsincludingtariffsolutions,managementsolutions,technical/ engineeringsolutions,institutional/regulatorysolutionsandleadership ,publiceducationandcommunityinvolvement.Shorttermsolutions include reducing commercial losses, checking on meter accuracy and reducing pressure. Long term solutions include pipe placement programs, shifting towards economic valuation of water service, performance and process benchmarking and 100% metering. Other long term institutional solutions include more effective regulation, private sector participation and financial restructuring of water utilities.Pushingthesesolutionsforwardrequirecontinuingcapacity buildingprogramsincludingformaltraining,staffexchange,advisory services, twinning arrangements and networking and leadership development. * Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor, Lee KuanYew School of Public Policy and Associate Fellow, Institute of Water Policy. This paper was presented at the ASEAN Studies Center, March 19, 2010, Institute of SoutheastAsianStudies,Singapore.Theoriginalcasestudiesusedinthis paperwerepresentedbycountryexpertsduringaworkshopinSingapore inJune2009. 05IWPEduardo.indd85 6/10/119:50:15AM EduardoAraral,Jr. 86 1. Introduction ASEAN member countries face significant challenges in managing urbanwaterdemandgivenrisingpopulations,urbanizationandwater scarcity.Theproblemofwaterscarcityinurbanareascanbeaddressed eitherthroughsupplyordemandsidesolutions.However,supplyside solutionsareexpensivefordevelopingASEANcountriesastheyentail the development of water resources such as dams and transmission pipes. One cost effective way to deal with water scarcity is through waterdemandmanagement. Among ASEAN member countries, there are several challenges tourbanwaterdemandmanagement:(1)howtomanagenon-revenue water particularly the problem of ageing and leaking infrastructure; (2)howtointroduceappropriatetariffstructurestoregulatedemand; (3) enforcementofregulations; and (4) how to financeurbanwater infrastructuredevelopment. Non-revenuewater(NRW)amongASEANcountriesvarywidely, from low levels in Singapore and Phnom Penh (below 10%) to more than30%(nationalaverage)inthecaseofcitiesinThailand,Indonesia, LaosandMalaysia.Replacingageingandleakinginfrastructurerequires substantial financing. ASEAN member countries, depending on their conditions, use internally generated funds, public-private partnership schemesincludingconcessionagreementsaswellasfundingfromdonors. InVietnam,Myanmar,CambodiaandLaos,fundingfromdonorsplay a key role in rehabilitating urban water infrastructure. In Manila and Jakarta, the private sector played key roles. A key to attracting private capitalforurbanwaterinfrastructureistheintroductionofwatertariff reforms but this too is challenging because of the politically sensitive natureofwater.Enforcementofregulationisanotherchallengeinurban waterdemandmanagementinsomeASEANmembercountriesespecially inthecaseofabstractionofgroundwater.Thisisparticularlychallenging whenenforcementcapacityandresourcesareseverelyconstrained. 2. UrbanWaterDemandManagement Dependingonthecountrycircumstances,ASEANmembercountries employawiderangeofsolutionstomanageurbanwaterdemand.These solutions can be broadly classified into five categories: (1) tariff solutions ; (2) management solutions; (3) technical /engineering solutions; 05IWPEduardo.indd86 6/10/119:50:15AM [44.221.43.88] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:43 GMT) 87 UrbanWaterDemandManagementinASEANCountries (4)institutional/regulatorysolutions;and(5)leadership,publiceducation andcommunityinvolvement. TariffReformSolutions Water tariff reform is a major instrument used by ASEAN member countries to regulate urban water demand. However, there are wide variations within and among member countries on how water tariff reform is applied but the underlying principles essentially focus on balancing affordability, conservation and sustainability through full cost recovery. Several ASEAN member countries have been successful in using water tariff to effectively regulate water demand, for example Malaysia, particularly in the states of Johor Bahru and Selangor. The underlying principle that they use has beentoensuretheaffordabilityofwatertolowincomegroupsbased on water demand studies and to charge full cost recovery to higher incomegroups. In the Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, water tariff has been adjusted to reflect the value of water as aneconomicgood.InMetroCebu,thepriceofwaterisaboutthree times the...