Water Management Innovations In England

As pressures on water resources have increased, problems of water quality have claimed high priority in national concern and governmental policy. In this book, first published in 1969, Lyle E. Craine describes how Great Britain enacted new governmental procedures for studying, planning, and executing water management programmes. Although the physical and social characteristics of the United States’ water resources problems differ from those of England, this analysis of the British institutional arrangements for water management suggests constructive insights for managing water resources within the individual states. This title is a valuable resource for students interested in environment and sustainability issues, national water resources problems, and government policy making.

This is an extremely well-researched and documented book. The authors hypothesis is that the current water and wastewater sector is failing the populations of the western-world by clinging to orthodox and short-term visions of new technology and innovation, and also failing the developing nations by believing that delivery of western-world high-technology solutions is a contribution to humanitarian development. This is the crisis of innovation . To many practitioners in the water industry the book will be perceived to be hypercritical (of the incrementalism, conservative and dogged traditionalism ) of the sector, but in fact it is stimulating and positive. In the latter chapters an alternate more holistic model of water development is described. There needs to be a movement from large, central infrastructure resources to distributed systems that are more appropriate to local needs and can be coupled with environmentally sustainable energy sources and practices. Tim Lack, European Topic Centre on Water, UK Whilst acknowledging a massive leap from standpipe to universal water provision in 100 years in developed countries, the authors of this book see problems for global sustainable water supply and wastewater removal in the future. Using the UK water industry as an example, they describe the global water industry as risk averse and unwilling to innovate, a view that is encouraged by the institutional and financial regimes under which it works. The book explores the reasons for concern and sets out some hard-hitting views on how the water industry is failing to identify and tackle the essential problems in a world which is becoming ever more depleted of fresh water. The concluding chapter brings to a focus the problems of the crisis in innovation and gives some concrete suggestions for tackling them. This volume should raise the awareness of policymakers and regulators, technologists and concerned members of the public. Peter Chave, Independent Consultant and formerly Head of Pollution Control, National Rivers Authority, UK This significant new book highlights a little acknowledged but potentially catastrophic crisis of innovation in the global water sector, which institutions and industries are frighteningly ill-equipped to tackle or even accept. It suggests potential new technology and policy approaches to overcome both current and future problems. The book explores how technological innovation is vital to help provide sustainable water in both the UK and developing countries. However, innovation is being overlooked in the face of global trends to privatize and regulate water utilities. The authors highlight how the global water sector is failing to respond to increasingly complex world needs and continues to build largely unsustainable centralized infrastructures, opposing more appropriate, distributed and local modern technologies. The book also includes suggestions for potentially innovative technology and policy solutions to meet escalating global water and wastewater demands. Importantly, the authors adopt a long-term perspective that crosses both disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and include an international comparative perspective, covering a diverse range of examples and countries. This comprehensive book will have a broad appeal amongst researchers and academics with an interest in technology management, innovation studies, geography and development studies. It will also be a valuable asset for water regulators and governmental and non-governmental organisations working in this field.

Water supply is high on the international political agenda. This study, using the Scottish experience as an examplar, shows that institutional innovation is as important if not more so than improved technology in providing water for a growing world population.

This is the first book to cover the British people’s late twentieth century engagement with water in all its domestic, national and international forms, and from bathing and household chores to controversies about maritime pollution. The British Isles, a relatively wet and rainy archipelago, cannot in any way be said to be short of liquid resources. Even so, it was the site of highly contentious and revealing political controversies over the meaning and use of water after the Second World War. A series of such issues divided political parties, pressure groups, government and voters, and form the subject matter of this book: problems as diverse as flood defence to river and beach cleanliness, from the teaching of swimming to the installation of hot and cold running water in the home, from international controls over maritime pollution, and from the different housework duties of men and women to the British state’s proposals to fluoridise the drinking water supply.

Examines the changing way in which water has been used in England and Wales since the industrial revolution, through the Victorian period and up to the present day.