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Call for Papers: International Seminar and Special Issue in Water Resources Management on
“European Water Utility Management: Promoting Efficiency, Innovation and Knowledge in the Water Industry”
In the European Union, the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) is based on the idea that water management needs to take into account economic, ecological and social issues, and that its major objective is the sustainable and efficient use and management of water resources. In the coming years,
European water resources will be placed under further pressure by many factors, such as population growth, urbanization and climate change. Therefore, policymakers and water utility managers face the puzzle of balancing the increasing human demand for water and the protection of the ecosystems’
sustainability, fueling the on-going search for the best practices in water utility management that produce superior performance.
In the light of the current challenges on resource efficiency and performance improvement, the promotion of innovation and benchmark activities within the water industry is a cutting edge issue for the European Union.
The literature still face the need of identifying and discussing in depth current relevant experiences of benchmarking in water utility management and regulation that characterize different European countries in order to identify the relevance, usefulness and potential cross-border diffusion of these activities, becoming trans-boundary strategies, policies and actions. Bearing this in mind, the European water management system could become a collaborative catalyst of methods and tools for setting, maintaining and improving best practices in utility management.
This special issue (SI) of Water Resources Management intends to foster relationships via discussion, creation and dissemination of relevant and cutting-edge European water utility management issues by bringing together outstanding international scholars and contribute positively to the research agenda. It will draw on an International Seminar held under the same theme and integrated in the European Jean Monnet EWUM Project, sponsored by the European Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The EWUM Seminar will take place in Pisa, Italy, 3 June 2015. The SI will gather selected research papers from the Seminar. The emphasis will be on research that accounts for cutting edge European water utility management issues, such as experiences in benchmarking (management and regulatory impacts) and attempts to highlight best practices to be spread throughout European countries.
Please download the call for papers here
Please download the Program of the seminar here
Here you can also download the ppt presentations of the speakers:
Marta Suárez-Varela (Universidad de Valencia, Spain), Marían García-Valiñas (Universidad de Oviedo, Spain), Francisco González-Gómez (Universidad de Granada, Spain) and Andrés J Picazo-Tadeo (Universidad de Valencia, Spain): “Ownership and performance in water services revisited: Do private management really outperform public one?” here
Alberto Ruiz Villaverde (Department of Applied Economics, University of Granada), Miguel A. García-Rubio (Department of Applied Economics, University of Granada and Water Institute University of Granada): “Public participation in water management: what is known and what needs to be done” here
Lin Crase and Bethany Cooper (Centre for Water Policy and Management, La Trobe University, Australia) “Pushing the governance boundaries: The role of water utilities in managing the ecological and amenity values of urban waterways” here
Jacopo Bercelli (University of Verona, Italy), Piergiorgio Novaro (University of Bologna, Italy): “The in-house providing of water services in Europe: regulatory schemes, governance models and performance” here
Eduardo Araral (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Alberto Asquer (University of Cagliari, Italy and SOAS, University of London, UK), Wang Yahya (Tsinghua University, China): “Opening Up the Black Box of the Regulatory Discourse: Exploring Subjectivities on Local Water Services among Public Officers in China” here
Francisco Silva Pinto and Rui Cunha Marques (Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CESUR-IST), University of Lisbon, Portugal): “Requisite tariffs: Establishing a regulatory tool linking multiple stakeholders’ objectives” here
Antonio Massarutto (DIES, University of Udine and FEEM): “Devil and the Details: Italian water pricing reform between technical rules and political will” here
Ch. Menexidou (Business and Environmental Technology Economics Laboratory (BETECO), Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece), J.F Vergès (International Consultant, Paris, France), A.N. Menegaki (Organismos Georgikon Asfaliseon and Hellenic Open University, Greece), K.P. Tsagarakis (Business and Environmental Technology Economics Laboratory (BETECO), Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece): “Does the open data movement permeate water utilities? A case study in Greece” here
Alexandros Maziotis (Foundazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Venice, Italy), Maria Molinos-Senante (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile) and R. Sala-Garrido (Department of Mathematics for Economics, University of Valencia, Spain): “Assessing the impact of quality of service on the productivity of water industry: A Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index approach for England and Wales” here
Andrea Guerrini (University of Verona, Italy), Giulia Romano (University of Pisa, Italy), Simone Lippi and Fabrizio Mancuso (Ingegnerie Toscane): “The efficiency of wastewater plants: enquiring and modelling the factors affecting the performance” here
Graziano Abrate, Clementina Bruno, Fabrizio Erbetta, Giovanni Fraquelli and Anna Giolitti (University of Piemonte Orientale, Department of Economics and Business, Novara, Italy): “Efficiency in the consolidation of the Italian water sector” here
Maria Molinos-Senante (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile), Alexandros Maziotis (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Venice, Italy) and Ramon. Sala-Garrido (Department of Mathematics for Economics, University of Valencia, Spain): “Assessment Of The Total Factor Productivity Change In The English And Welsh Water Industry: A Färe-Primont Productivity Index Approach” here
Andrea Guerrini (University of Verona), Giulia Romano (University of Pisa, Italy), Rui Cunha Marques (Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CESUR-IST), University of Lisbon, Portugal): “Identifying cost drivers for water utilities: an empirical analysis on Denmark” here
Angelo Antoci (University of Sassari, Italy), Simone Borghesi (University of Siena, Italy), Mauro Sodini (University of Pisa, Italy): “Water-resource use and conflict in a two-sector evolutionary model”
Oberdan Cei (Ingegnerie Toscane), Maurizio Creati (BRE Elettronica), S. Assunti and Fabrizio Mancuso (Ingegnerie Toscane): “WETNET – True Monitoring of Water Networks” here
