Making IUWM Work in African Cities 117
Table 5.1 (continued) Principles
Evaluative questions
Local solutions
• Is the amount and availability of local water supply known? • Do growth management strategies consider the availability of local water supplies? • Is consideration of water availability a condition within the development approval process?
Prevention or reduction of natural resource degradation
• Do management decisions take into account the long-term implications for aquatic habitats? • Do management strategies help to protect groundwater recharge/discharge areas?
Sources: Bloch, 2012; Carter et al., 2005.
IUWM could lead to a diversity of solutions that will create greater institutional complexity. The IUWM approach considers a diversity of solutions instead of assuming complete reliance on centralized water supply and discharge systems. Even when each of the solutions used might be technically simple—such as rainwater harvesting and sustainable urban drainage systems—dividing cities into clusters, each with a variety of possible solutions to be applied, will mean that more solutions must be considered by more authorities in more locations. After implementation, it is likely that maintenance of the systems will require different actions performed by more authorities in more locations than for a traditional centralized system. Careful consideration will be required to assess whether this added institutional complexity inhibits effective implementation of integrated solutions. It will also be necessary to determine how to build local institutional capacity to ensure that it is sufficient for effective implementation.
Implement Pilot Projects to Demonstrate IUWM in Practice Demonstration projects are essential to raise awareness and gain a better understanding of how IUWM could work in practice in Africa. Implementation of IUWM is likely to raise a host of institutional, regulatory, political, and practical issues. Some of these can be foreseen—for example, the need to revise regulations to enable wastewater reuse and rainwater harvesting. But a number of unforeseen issues are also likely to arise. Demonstration projects will be an effective way to assess the potential benefits and drawbacks of IUWM solutions.