Towards a new paradigm of urban water services

In recent decades, Western societies have been experiencing accelerated growth in diversity, connectivity, complexity, and uncertainty. In the urban water sector, this evolution has thus far manifested in the emergence of new water-related needs and risks. Some good examples are those derived from climate change, resource scarcity, financial instability, infrastructure decay, cybersecurity and bioterrorism, emergence of new pollutants, and many others that connect water to energy, food, health, transportation, urban planning and liveability. Since approximately the turn of the century, it has become increasingly accepted among scholars that the traditional infrastructures, management styles, and governance modes for urban water?or what conforms to the traditional configuration of urban water systems (UWSs)?are inadequate for the satisfactory and sustainable management of the emerging needs and risks. Despite the adoption of several technical and social innovations, system-wide transitions towards more sustainable UWSs have been sluggish and disappointing. While there is no doubt that technological advancements have made the provision of basic urban water services safer, todays UWSs are still, in general terms, astonishingly similar to those that were in place a century ago. The UWSs of today must undergo a comprehensive transformation in order to adapt to an increasingly complex and uncertain reality. To understand this transition, and identify strategies to accelerate it, the present thesis considers the frames of reference of UWSs. These are the underlying aspirations, values, beliefs, assumptions, etc., within and beyond the urban water sector, which shape UWSs in terms of particular infrastructures, management and governance. The work explores different forms of these frames of reference such as paradigms, institutional logics and cultural frameworks. In this thesis, it is claimed that all isolated and slowly-emerging innovations in infrastructure, management and governance reflect an emergent urban water paradigm that attempts to replace the dominant ?old? paradigm underpinning traditional UWSs. Indeed, a growing number of scholars have argued that a complete and purposive paradigm shift is the most effective path towards sustainable UWSs. However, the paradigm shift has been also rather sluggish, preventing innovations in infrastructure, management and governance from becoming more widespread. Some factors that hinder this transition are explored in this thesis, although there are two, in particular, which must be highlighted. A prime factor may be the inertia of the old paradigm, which is embedded and entrenched in the elements that it shapes. These elements, which include physical infrastructures, management tools, rules, organization systems and language, are hard to change. This then results in a negative feedback loop; without a paradigm shift, there can hardly be innovations, and a lack of innovations will also prevent the occurrence of a paradigm shift. The second key factor that may hinder the adoption of a new paradigm is the fact that the new paradigm remains unacknowledged, vague and impractical, which limits the capacity of actors to transcend old ways of thinking and doing. The goals of this thesis are: - to understand what frames of reference/paradigms of UWSs are. - to define the new urban water paradigm as a coherent system of philosophies which ascribe meaning to emerging changes in the governance, management and infrastructures of recent decades.to investigate how broad social transformations influence the transformation of the urban water paradigm. - to advance the understanding of governance as a critical element of urban water services, and the knowledge of how it is shaped by different frames of reference.

Denne doktorgraden utgjør et konseptuelt grunnlag for forståelse og utvikling av mer bærekraftig vann-relaterte teknologier, infrastrukturer, forvaltning og styring. Definisjon og konkretisering av dette konseptuelle grunnlaget er viktig fordi det støtter og legitimere nye løsninger som faller utenfor de mest tradisjonelle tilnærmingene og som ofte er forkastet. Denne studien gir for eksempel et grunnlag for valg av desentraliserte, flerfunksjonelle, naturbaserte infrastrukturer, i motsetning til tradisjonelle sentraliserte, monofunksjonelle og energi/kapital-intensive infrastrukturer. Det kan fremheve sirkulær i stedet for lineær forvaltning av ressurser, eller kan føre til deltakende styring med fleksible normer og regler i stedet for «ovenfra og ned» styring med rigide regler.

Water utilities in Norway face today the rapid decay of their infrastructure due to poor maintenance practices and lack of expertise. The consequences are higher risk of interruption of the service, health risk, floods (that cause material damages) and higher operation and maintenance costs. In addition, climate change brings more frequent and intense storms that threatens the proper function of the network, putting these infrastructures even further away from sustainability. Consulting companies like Multiconsult offer their engineering services to water utilities for the expansion and renovation of their infrastructure, but they are not involved in the management process. They try to produce the "best technical solution", but they are unaware of the decision making process that determines their election and the right application and maintenance of the system. On the other hand, Multiconsult has expertise in technical and management solutions, but not as a single product. This project aims to analyse the governance and infrastructure asset management processes in water utilities. Investigate the fundamental reasons that defer economic, social and environmental sustainability and understand the decision making process of these organizations. As a result, it will be designed a model for engineering consultants so they can offer to these organizations an integrated system for management of their infrastructure. It is believed that this system will help them to improve the quality of the service and minimize the cost to reduce the risk to the desired level. Multiconsult wants to position itself in a market where it is not present today. It wants to offer to water utilities (which are believed to have a great potential to improvement) a product that combines its technical and managerial experience.