Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

P R O T E C T I N G E C O S Y S T E M S F O R P E O P L E A N D P L A N E T / 1 4 9cleaner water by strengthening public health protection, targetingwatershed protection efforts at high priority areas and providingcommunities with new resources to control polluted runoff andenhance natural resource stewardship. States also regulate waterquality through federal programmes such as the National PollutantDischarge Elimination System and the Non-point Source Programme. Inthe United Kingdom, implementation and compliance monitoring forEuropean Community Directives provide a comprehensive framework ofwater quality standards. These include the Urban Waste Water Directiveand Surface Water Abstraction Directive. In Syria, water pollution fromunregulated discharges of industry, agriculture and public sewage arenot yet fully controlled but basic water quality parameters arecontinuously monitored and a database/network for seven basins hasbeen established. The Iranian Department of the Environment hasstandard limits for all toxic and hazardous substances from effluentsfrom different sectors to maintain water quality standards.Water source protectionThe United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural ResourcesConservation Services programme focuses on upland watershedprotection and on improving water management on farms, in ruralareas and in small communities through voluntary efforts backed inlarge part by financial incentives. To safeguard water resources inIsrael, the state of available resource is continuously monitored bythe Hydrological Service Department of the Water Commission andreports are used to influence the planning process. A waterresources conservation map restricting land use in critical areas toactivities that are not harmful to water resources has beenproduced and is used in land use planning.Species protection plansSpecies level initiatives may include regulating persecution andhunting, or developing integrated recovery plans for species at riskof extinction. Such approaches are more often concerned with largervertebrates, such as birds of water margins and other wetlands,than with other elements of inland water ecosystems. The WetlandsWorking Group of Namibia was formed in 1997 and prioritizes taxaand wetlands for research attention, reflecting the importance ofthe Okavango wetlands. The government of Norway has expandedits National Protection Plan and has proposed a plan for protectionof the most important salmon rivers and fjords.Environmental economicsEconomic factors tend to carry much weight in environmentaldecision-making. Where a costs/benefit approach to planning istaken, it is important that a comprehensive economic analysis alsobe undertaken, aiming in particular to attach value to environmentalbenefits that may not be routinely valued, and to take into accountcosts that would otherwise be externalized (see box 6.6). Thisapproach appears of special importance in the case of freshwaterecosystems because these systems are assets that underpin such awide range of human activities (e.g. Swanson et al., 1999).Examples presented here include the use of environmentaleconomics in the broader sense as a range of measures that are usedin protecting ecosystems for specific aims. This includes pricingstructures, incentives, fines, cost-benefit analysis and the polluter paysprinciple. The water-pricing policy of Singapore is based on costrecovery and support of water conservation objectives (see box 7.1).Measures include fiscal incentives and monetary penalties to discouragewasteful use. The water tariff structure comprises domestic andindustrial/commercial categories and a water conservation tax(percentage of water charges) is imposed. The household tariff is a flatrate, up to 40 m 3 per month at which point a higher charge is imposed.Policy in Saudi Arabia treats water as an economic commodity andpricing has been updated so that unit price increases with consumption.In Thailand, the command and control approach, which is based on thepolluter pays principle, has been complemented by economic incentivessuch as taxes and low interest loans from environmental funds. InBelgium, the Flemish Environment Holding Company was created(51 percent public, 49 percent private) to promote investments in theenvironment sector. Through its daughter AQUAFIN, supra-municipalinfrastructure is being developed. In 1996 the government of Denmarkadopted a tax on wastewater for discharges of nitrogen, phosphorousand organic substances and this has been complemented withadditional investment in treatment plants.Box 6.6: Taking hidden costs andbenefits into accountAn early partial analysis of a tropical wetland system(Barbier et al., 1991) calculated that agricultural, fuelwoodand fishery benefits of unmodified wetlandamounted to about US$32.00 per 1,000 m 3 of water used,whereas the equivalent value of crops grown underirrigation in the region was about US$0.15. Similarly, acost/benefit analysis was made of the economicconsequences of maintaining four dams on the SnakeRiver (north-west United States) or removing them andrestoring the river and its salmon run. It was calculatedthat the restoration option would save a minimum ofUS$86.6 million annually compared with the costs ofmaintaining the dams.Source: Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC, n.d.).