This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the most important water-related issues that centre on Italy, analysed from several disciplinary perspectives – such as hydrology, economics, law, sociology, environmental sciences and policy studies – in order to promote full understanding of the challenges the country is facing and the ways it could best tackle them. Despite the misconception that Italy is a water-scarce country, is in fact quite rich in water resources. Such resources, however, are unevenly distributed over the Italian territory. Italy’s northern regions rely on quite an abundant quantity of freshwater, whereas in the southern area water endowment is limited. Moreover, climatic differences between North and South contribute to widen the divide. This disparity has notable consequences of socio-economic character, some of which, in turn, feed back into the environmental conditions of Italian regions: pollution, floods, landslides and droughts are among the problems affecting the country. There are numerous features of water use and consumption that distinguish Italy from other comparable countries, such as the significant role played by agriculture (a water-intensive activity), a lead position in the consumption of bottled water, lower-than-average prices of water and a far-from-optimal efficiency of waterworks. All such aspects, and many others, make Italy an essential case study.

Water Footprints and Sustainable Development serves as the sole comprehensive volume of the role of waste management for sustainable development. It provides an overview of Global Scenario of water footprints in water smart cities and technologies and investigates the critical factors that enable the sustainable developments of various industries in respect to water resources management. The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to the current technologies used for reducing water footprints, and to offer the necessary information and tools for sustainable development. - Provides detailed coverage of the role of Water, Energy and Food Nexus with respect to sustainability - Covers methods such as lifecycle assessment, sustainability assessment, multi-criteria decision-making, and multi-objective optimization modes - Includes key techniques for water resources management and sustainable development

How can subnational governments best integrate climate change considerations across policy areas? Which factors contribute to successful integration? With a specific focus on transport, spatial planning policies, and energy and water in selected cases located at the border of the Alpine region between Italy and Austria, this volume shows that coordination (vertical and horizontal), public participation and information, leadership, and dedicated funding play fundamental and interlinked roles in climate change policy integration.

From the western United States to the Indian subcontinent, water issues have always been economic issues. Considered ubiquitous under the continents, groundwater varies considerably in depth, quality, accessibility, and availability. A unified discussion of groundwater and its economic importance, Groundwater Economics explores the application of e

This book discusses the international right to water and the liberalization of water services. It is concerned with the harmonization of the right to water with the legal systems under which liberalization of water services has taken or may take place. It assesses paths of harmonization between international human rights law and international economic law in this specific field. The issue of the compatibility between the fulfilment of the right to water and the liberalization of water services has been at the heart of a passionate public debate between opponents and advocates of the privatization of the utility. The book provides an unbiased analysis of different international legal regimes under which the liberalization of water services has occurred or is likely to occur, notably international investment law, international trade law and European Union law, in order to assess whether the main features of the right to water can be guaranteed under each of these systems of law and whether there is space for prospective harmonization. The work will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of International Human Rights Law, International Economic Law, International Water Law, International Trade Law and EU Law.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Water Policy, Productivity and Economic Efficiency" that was published in Water

This publication examines issues of water sector reform and performance from the perspectives of institutional economics and political economic studies. The authors develop an alternative quantitative assessment methodology based on the principle of 'institutional ecology', as well as data collected from 127 water experts from 43 countries and regions around the world using a cross-country review of recent water sector reforms within an institutional transaction cost framework.

Includes a new chaper on sustainable groundwater management and all chapters are updated with a focus on sustainability Comprehensively explains the economic value of groundwater for sustainable use and needs, with practical examples Includes 13 new and updated case studies on economics of groundwater data for decisionmaking Addresses local and regional groundwater economic choices through a series of applications at an international level Written for professionals who need to understand and evaluate water resources and manage their use from a variety of sustainable approches

All over the world countries struggle with water stress. Problems vary from water scarcity and a degrading water quality, to floods and a rising sea level due to climate change. The European Union adopted a Water Framework Directive to improve the sustainability of water management in its member states. Water management should be coordinated at the level of river basins as a whole. Interests of various user groups should be better represented. River basin visions should take into account the impact of all human activities on the status of the resource. Water legislation needs streamlining and more focus on its implementation. The European Union advocates regulating water prices by charging the costs of water services on the basis of full cost recovery and the polluter pays principle. This book examines the development of water management in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. It is based on the European research project EUWARENESS. The authors apply a theoretical framework for the analysis of institutional regimes, water governance and property rights. The evolution of national water resource regimes is described over a period of almost 200 years (1800-2000). The long-term perspective enables the reader to see the conditions under which regime transformation and paradigm change are made possible. The book also includes a critical analysis of policy making by the European Union, and a comparative review and analysis of regime development in the six countries involved. This book is followed by another volume published with Kluwer Academic Publishers on "Integrated Governance and Water Basin Management", edited by Hans Bressers and Stefan Kuks.