122 The Future of Water in African Cities
Funding will be needed to secure the viability of an IUWM Network– Learning Alliance for Africa. The Water Partnership Program has funded initial work with IUWM in three World Bank regions but additional financing will be necessary. Considering the emerging global interest in IUWM and the potential of IUWM to help solve key water challenges in Africa, it should be possible to secure financing based on a strong value proposition. Globally there are a limited number of centers of excellence for IUWM; some of those have been involved with this book. A future network should reach out to other centers of excellence, as well as to municipalities and utilities that have successfully implemented IUWM solutions.
Flowing Water in Fluid Cities: IUWM in Expanding African Cities This book has argued that a new approach to urban water management is needed in Africa in light of the looming crisis of supplying water to a rapidly growing population. The complexity of challenges and the uncertainty about the future necessitate a more sustainable, more integrated, and more adaptive water management approach. We have described what a more sustainable, more integrated, and more adaptive approach might mean in practice. This includes spatial integration, better coordination among institutions and across sectors, diversification of sources, and consideration of nontraditional sources of water such as wastewater reuse. In some cases this may entail decentralized and modular approaches. In arguing that IUWM could contribute to meeting the challenge, we have recognized that institutional and economic implications of IUWM are not yet well known. This is not surprising, considering that the concept is still relatively new, but more work is needed in these areas for IUWM to become the preferred approach in practice.