PRINWASS

PRINWASS investigates from a theoretical and empirical perspective the model of private sector participation that has been implemented worlwide and with different strategies and results since the 1980s. Although we have a wide definition of "private sector participation", in practice most of our case studies focus on situations where water and sanitation utilities are provided by large multinational conglomerates led by global water operators. Therefore, the coordination has sought to establish lines of communication with relevant actors in the companies involved, especially for gaining access to critical information needed to complete our case studies and also to receive feedback on our research work. In this regard, we welcome comments, suggestions, and especially information that can improve the quality of our work in areas where the empirical evidence is no longer available in the public domain. This concerns particularly actual figures of private-sector investment and financing in water and sanitation operations, but also extends to other areas such as access to concession contracts and similar documentation that is often considered to be commercially "sensitive" and therefore is not available for consultation by university researchers or the public in general. In this regard, we are actively seeking to establish and consolidate lines of cooperation with the private sector in order to enhance the quality of the information and analysis in PRINWASS research and teaching activities. Within this framework, the project coordinator has been in contact with some of the leading private water companies operating worldwide. Also, local partners have been in contact with private operators during the elaboration of their case studies (see below the individual reports by the project partners).

Dr J E Castro, PRINWASS coordinator, jointly with other colleagues and advanced students at Oxford University, were invited by RWE-Thames Water to make presentations of results from ongoing research on water issues to a group of managers and other key members of the company. The workshop (see details) took place on 3 July 2003 at St Antony's College, Oxford, and was part of a cooperation agreement between RWE-Thames Water and the Environment Change Institute at Oxford University. This was an excellent opportunity for informed debate, and we established informal channels of communication for the exchange of information and feedback. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that RWE-Thames Water is the main provider of water supply and the sole provider of sewerage services in London, one of PRINWASS' case studies.

Following our participation in the “Stakeholder Meeting” organized by Vivendi Environnement (now Veolia Environnement) on 11 December 2002 in London (see previous Newsletter), we have maintained an informal line of communication with the company, which has kept us informed of the developments following up the meeting.

We have also been in contact with Suez Environnement, owner of Ondeo. Suez accepted the invitation of the PRINWASS coordination (also extended at the time to other private operators, including Vivendi and Thames Water), to participate in the Second PRINWASS International Conference that took place in Mexico City on 2-3 April 2003. Two representatives of Suez's Mexican subsidiaries participated actively in the event (see the presentation by Mr Jacques Letondot in the Documents web pages). We have kept an informal line of communication with the company, which runs operations in some areas covered by PRINWASS' case studies (especially in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico).

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Work progress:

We have produced draft reports of our case studies and other relevant documents, most of which will be available by request. We welcome feedback and suggestions. If you are interested in any of these reports, please ask the project coordination for an electronic copy (please, provide your name, full contact details, institutional attachment, and a brief comment to indicate the reason why you are interested in receiving the reports).

Our project is now in the process of developing the comparative analysis of the case studies. This is a horizontal comparison that focuses on the key thematic dimensions of the project and will produce a report for each of these dimensions. We have allocated responsibility for the comparative analyses in the following way:

Environmental sustainability (Deliverable #15). Coordinator: Dr Giorgos Kallis, University of the Aegean.

Socio-demographic trends and urban development (Deliverable #17). Coordinators: Lic. Emilio Crenzel and Lic Gustavo Forte, University of Buenos Aires (Argentina).

Infrastructure and Technology (Deliverable #18). Coordinator: Dr María Luisa Torregrossa, Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Mexico).

Policy-institutional aspects and water and sanitation sector trends (Deliverable #19). Coordinators: Eng. Osmo Seppäla, Tampere University of Technology (Finland) and Dr Marcelo Coutinho Vargas, Federal University of Sao Carlos (Brazil).

Economic-financial aspects (Deliverable #20). Coordinators: Lic. Daniel Azpiazu, Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Argentina) and Dr Carmen Ledo, Higher University of San Simón, Cochabamba (Bolivia).

Socio-political and cultural aspects (Deliverable #21). Coordinators: Dr José Esteban Castro, University of Oxford (UK) and Dr Nina Laurie, University of Newcastle (UK).

Note: Originally we had allocated an individual report to the dimension "Water sector trends" (Deliverable #16), but it has now been incorporated into Deliverable #19.

In addition to the value of producing comparative analyses cutting across our wide-ranging set of case studies, the comparative work will also help to identify gaps and weaknesses in the individual case study reports. We plan to come back to the case studies and produce a final version after completing the comparative studies, also taking into account any feedback, criticism, and suggestions from peer reviewers and external readers.

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Most of the documents of the Second PRINWASS International Conference, are now available for downloading in the Documents page.

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We have also launched a Spanish version of the project's web site

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PRINWASS has also been encouraging young students both in developed and developing countries, providing them with access to information, contacts, and support. We are very pleased that one of our students, Vincent Leguen from France, has just successfully completed his degree (see details).

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New Partnerships

PRINWASS continued to develop and strenghten partnerships with academic institutions, NGOs, and public and private sector organizations working on topics relevant for the project. Through the association with colleagues at these institutions we seek to establish relations of cooperation, which include exchanging information, receiving feedback on our work, provide advice based on our research, and developing new opportunities for research and related activities. The list of newly associated institutions includes:

Ministry of the Cities, National Secretary of Environmental Sanitation (SNSA), Brasilia. Following our initial contacts with the SNSA (see previous Newsletter), we have now developed lines of collaboration for further research, training, and exchange of information. Within this framework for collaboration, PRINWASS researchers were recently invited by the SNSA to participate in a series of workshops and conferences in Brasilia to support current efforts towards the modernization and universalization of water and sanitation services in the country.

Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Our colleague at the Department, Dr Jean Shaoul, is an expert on the financial aspects of the privatised water industry.

Contact: Dr Jean Shaoul.

Institute of Geography, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Our contact at the Institute, Dr Joel Carrillo Rivera, is a geologist and hydrologist with expertise in groundwater flow theory who has adopted an interdisciplinary approach and pays also attention to the social and political implications of growundwater management. He is also Vice-President of the Latin American Association for Groundwater Hydrology.

Contact: Dr Joel Carrillo Rivera.

School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK).

Contact: Dr Thomas P Curtis.

Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Contact: Prof. Léo Heller.

Ecological Economics Group, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.

Contact: Prof. Joan Martinez Allier.

Development Research Institute, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Contact: Dr. Roldan Muradian.

New Water Culture Foundation, Zaragoza, Spain.

Contact: Dr. María Luisa Feijóo Bello.

Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain.

Contact: Dr. Daniel Díaz Fuentes.

OXFAM (UK). Oxfam has long-standing expertise in water-related emergency and development aid in less developed countries.

Contact person: Public Health Advisor Eng. Tim Forster.

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News from the Federal University of São Carlos Team (Brazil)

Dr Marcelo Vargas, head of the Brazilian Team has completed the draft version of the Brazilian case study (Deliverable #7), which addresses the cases of Limeira (Sao Paulo), Niterói (Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area), and an intermunicipal arrangement in the Lakes region of Rio de Janiero state (involving the municipalities of Armação dos Búzios, Arraial do Cabo, Cabo Frio, Iguaba Grande and São Pedro da Aldeia). He is also collaborating with Eng Osmo Seppälä and Dr Jarmo Hukka (Tampere University of Technology Team) in the cordination of the "Cross-comparative Report on Legal and Institutional Aspects and Water Sector Trends" (Deliverable #19).

Dr Vargas has been also very active networking with key actors from the private, public, and voluntary sectors who are playing important roles in Brazilian water and sanitation policies:

He attended the last meeting of Brazil’s National Front on Water and Sanitation (FNSA), held in July 2003 at the headquarters of the Water, Sanitation, and Environment Workers Union of Sao Paulo (SINTAEMA). FNSA is a social movement against water sector privatisation organised as a large network gathering a wide array of interest groups, NGOs, consumers organisations, politicians, lawyers, and academics who defend water and sanitation services as a social right to be assured by the State to all citizens by means of public investment and decentralized and participatory policies. Many of its leaders with technical and administrative experience have been recruited to work at the Ministry of the Cities under President Lula's administration. Therefore, the event was an excellent opportunity to meet most of the key actors of the current national water and sanitation policy, in particular the Head of the National Secretary of Sanitation at the Ministry of the Cities, the President of the National Association of Municipal Water and Sewerage Services, and the FNSA’s coordinator. There was high interest in the PRINWASS project and Dr Vargas was able to establish links for further collaboration with the different organizations involved in the meeting.

Dr Vargas has also completed the following publications and papers:

A chapter on "the social perception of water", written jointly with Gabriela de Paula, in N. Valencio (ed.) Uso e Gestão dos Recursos Hídricos no Brasil, Vol. II, (forthcoming November 2003).

His paper on “Abastecimento de água e esgotamento sanitário nas cidades brasileiras: riscos e oportunidades do envolvimento privado na prestação dos serviços” (Risks and opportunities of private sector involvement on water and sanitation services in Brazilian cities), has been accepted to be presented and discussed at the 1st meeting of the Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ambiente e Sociedade (ANPPAS) (National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research on Environment and Society), to be held on 9-11 December 2003 at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo.

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News from the FLACSO Argentina Team

The FLACSO Argentina team has completed the sections on economic-financial and institutional aspects of the Buenos Aires Case Study (Deliverable #5.1). Lic Daniel Azpiazu, the team coordinator, is also leading, with the support of Dr Carmen Ledo from the UMSS team, the "Cross-comparative Report on Economic and Financial Aspects" (Deliverable #20).

Lic Azpiazu has also a number of additional high-profile activities related to the topic of our project, including:

Coordinating the Agreement for Cooperation and Technical Assistance between the Ministry for Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services and FLACSO Argentina. The Agreement provides for technical assistance to the water sector regulator, the Ente Tripartito de Servicios Sanitarios (ETOSS).

Heading the Project “Privatization and Regulation in the Argentinean Economy", funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET).

Leading the Argentinean counterpart of the interdisciplinary project ECOS on"Management and evolution of the water and sanitation services: problems arising from privatization and the challenges for improving control and regulation. The French and Argentinean experiences", funded by the Secretary for Technology, Science and Productive Innovation, within the framework of Technical Cooperation with France.

Lic. Karina Forcinito, also a member of the FLACSO-Argentina team, is heading the research project “Privatization and regulation of public services in Argentina. Impacts on sectoral performance, income distribution, and the competitiveness of the economy. The cases of telecommunications and water and sanitation, National University of General Sarmiento.

The team has also completed a series of publications and papers and developed teaching activities related to the project's topics:

Publications:

Azpiazu, D., A. Catenazzi, And K. Forcinito, “Recursos públicos, negocios privados: agua y saneamiento en el Area Metropolitana de Buenos Aires” (Public resources, private businesses: water and sanitation in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area) (under evaluation), National University of General Sarmiento-FLACSO Argentina.

Azpiazu, D., “Privatización del sistema de agua potable y saneamiento en el Area Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Debilidad institucional-regulatoria y enseñanzas” (Privatization of the water and sanitation system in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. Institutional-regulatory weakenesses and lessons), Tiikvixm GWP-SAMTAC, Santiago de Chile, 2003.

Papers:

Azpiazu, D. and K. Forcinito, “Historia de un fracaso. La privatización del sistema de agua y cloacas en Buenos Aires” (History of a failure. The privatization of the water and sanitation system in Buenos Aires), Session of the “Day of the Americas”, “Third World Water Forum”, World Water Council, Kyoto, Japón, 19 March 2003. The paper was later published in the GWP Journal, Central America.

Teaching:

Course on "Economic agents and social actors: the privatizations in Argentina. regulatory frameworks, extraordinary rents, economic power, and social impact", at the Master Programmes in Political Science and Economic Sociology, National University of General San Martín, Institute of Higher Social Studies (IDAES)". Lic Daniel Azpiazu, with the support of Lic Karina Forcinito.
Course on "Infrastructure and public services in Argentina", at the Master Programme in Development and Territorial Management, jointly run by: National University of Rosario, School of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, National University of Río Cuarto, Institute of Regional development, Faculty of Economics, and National University of the South, Departments of Economics and Geography. Lic Daniel Azpiazu, with the support of Lic Karina Forcinito.

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News from the FLACSO Mexico Team

The FLACSO Mexico Team, coordinated by Dr María Luisa Torregrosa, has completed the draft version of the Mexican case study (Deliverable #12), focusing on the city of Aguascalientes. The team is also coordinating the "Cross-comparative Report on Infrastructure and Technology" (Deliverable #18). The team is developing an analytical model for this study, and has engaged Dr Medardo Mesa, a water engineer, to reinforce the interdisciplinary capabilities of the local team for carrying out this task.

The PRINWASS team at FLACSO-Mexico was invited by the Population Research Area to present the provisional research fundings of the project to the institution's academic community. The presentation was made jointly by Lic Karina Kloster, Dr Fernando Saavedra, and Dr María Luisa Torregrosa on 22 September 2003.

The FLACSO-Mexico team has been invited to collaborate in the research project Service Provision Governance in the Peri-urban Interface of Metropolitan Areas, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and coordinated by the Development Planning Unit, University College London. FLACSO is developing a case study on the semi- rural department of Milpa Alta, in the Federal District of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.

The Mexican team has also produced publications and papers, and developed project-related teaching activities during this period:

Publications:

Castro, J. E., K. Kloster, I. Studer, and M. L. Torregrosa, “Ciudadanía y gobernabilidad en la cuenca del Río Bravo-Grande” (Citizenship and governance in the Rio Bravo-Grande basin), chapter in Análisis de la Disponibilidad, Calidad y Futuro del Agua en México (Analysis of Water Availability, Quality, and Prospects in Mexico), México DF: Academia Mexicana de Ciencias-Red del Agua (forthcoming 2003).

Saavedra, F., "Disponibilidad y escasez de agua en los Consejos de Cuenca en México" (Availability and scarcity of water in the Basin Councils of Mexico) (under evaluation), Consejo Nacional de Población (CONAPO), Mexico City, August 2003.

Papers:

Dr Fernando Saavedra presented a paper on "La participación privada en los servicios de agua y saneamiento en México, dentro del Proyecto PRINWASS" (Private participation in water and snitation services in Mexico - PRINWASS Project), at the 51 Congreso Internacional de Americanistas "Repensando las Américas en los Umbrales del Siglo XXI", Session PAT 9 on “El acceso al agua: un problema histórico actual” (Access to Water: a Current Historical Problem), Santiago, Chile, 14-18 July 2003.
Dr María Luisa Torregrosa attended the workshop “Problemas de gobernabilidad en la gestión del agua” (Governance problems in water management), jointly organized by the Coordination of Basin Councils, part of the Rural Programmes and Participation Unit of the National Water Commission, and the Programme Water, Environment and Society of El Colegio de México, coordinated by Dr Fernando Tudela, El Colegio de México, Mexico City, 7 August 2003.

Teaching:

Dr. Saavedra taught the course on Population and Environment at the Master Programme in Integrated Environmental Management, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. Tijuana, Mexico, June 2003.
He also continues as Coordinator in the ongoing seminar programme “Población, recursos naturales y medio ambiente” (Population, natural resources, and environment), in the Master Programme on Population, at FLACSO, México.

Other relevant activities:

The PRINWASS team at FLACSO Mexico was invited to attend the signature of the Sectoral Water Fund Agreement between the National Water Commission and the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) that took place on 10 September. Dr María Luisa Torregrosa and Lic Karina Kloster attended the event. Dr Torregrosa has been appointed member of the Evaluation Committee of the Fund, which is oriented at funding research projects on water-related subjects in Mexico. The first call for proposals of the Fund will be launched in October 2003.

FLACSO Mexico, represented by Dr María Luisa Torregrosa, was accepted as member of the World Water Council at the 15th Meeting of the WWC's Governing Body that took place in Marseille, France on 27 June 2003.

Dr Fernando Saavedra has been appointed member of the Editorial Committee at FLACSO Mexico in July 2003.

Dr Torregrosa has been appointed Associate Editor of Tlaloc, the journal of the National Water Commission (CNA).

Dr Torregrosa has been establishing a line of collaboration with Lic Leonor Pintado, Advisors Coordinator at the General Coordination for Projects on Potable Water and Sanitation of the National Water Commission's Valley of Mexico Section. The talks involved collaboration in the project for the modenrization of the water systems in the conurbated municipalities of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.

Training

Mr Vincent Leguen, a French student at the Ecole Supérieure d'Agro-devélopemment Internationale (ISTOM) in France, who joined the FLACSO Mexico team and actively participated in the PRINWASS case-study field work, has successfully completed his studies. Vincent submitted a dissertation on "Privatization of water and sanitation services in Aguascalientes". ISTOM's authorities sent a warm message of gratitude to Dr Torregrosa, responsible for Vincent's stay at FLACSO-Mexico. Vincent himself sent us a message saying "I succeeded in my studies and am now starting looking for a job in the water sector. I shall keep you informed of the evolutions. Many thanks, I do remenber that it was you at PRINWASS that started it all". Congratulations Vincent!

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News from the Higher University of San Simón Team (UMSS) (Cochabamba, Bolivia)

The local team, coordinated by Dr Carmen Ledo, is completing its part of the Bolivian case study (Deliverable #6) focusing on the case of Cochabamba, which is jointly developed with the Newcastle-CESU team. She is also contributing to the co-ordination of the "Cross-comparative Report on Economic and Financial Aspects" (Deliverable #20), headed by FLACSO Argentina.

Dr Ledo has also produced publications and papers, and developed project-related teaching activities during this period:

Academic papers and presentations in meetings:

"La Multidimensional cara de la pobreza: vulnerabilidad, deprivación y desigualdad social en Cochabamba (un esquema explicativo)" (The multidimensional face of poverty: vulnerability, deprivation, and social inequality in Cochabamba [an explanatory approach]), at the "Reunión Técnica sobre la Incorporación de la Perspectiva de Género en la Medición de la Pobreza" (Technical Meeting on the Incorporation of the Gender Perspective in the Measurement of Poverty), organized by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), La Paz, Bolivia, 23-25 September 2003.

"Pobreza, vulnerabilidad y exclusión social en Bolivia" (Poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion in Bolivia), at the Workshop "The Role of the State in the Struggle against Poverty", Joaquín Nabuco Foundation, CROP-CLACSO, Recife, Brazil, 19–21 March 2003.

"Urbanisation and Poverty in the Cities of the National Economic Corridor in Bolivia. Case Study: Cochabamba", at the Session on "Women's Right to Water: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the Context of Feminized Poverty", UNIFEM, New York, 4-6 march 2003.

Academic publications

Ledo, C. (2003), Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Desarrollo Humano, capitulo del Primer Informe de Derechos Humanos de Bolivia, Defensor del Pueblo – Ceres, Cochabamba – Bolivia.

Advice and exchange of information

Dr Ledo is participating in the ongoing debate about the new role of Cochabamba's water utility SEMAPA, jointly with the Director of SEMAPA Sur, Mr Luis Sanches, the researcher Tom Kruse, and other colleagues.

She is also providing advice to the Instituto de Formación Femenina Integral (IFFI) (Institute for Integrated Women Training), Cochabamba.

She has continued providing technical advice to members of the poorest neighbourhoods in the southern part of the city regarding the situation of the water and sanitation services in the city.

Teaching

Dr Ledo has taught the seminar on Analysis of Demographic, Economic, Social, and Legal Variables, at the Master Programme in Human Settlements, Higher University of San Simón, June 2003.

She also offered the course Thesis Seminar at the Multidisciplinary Doctoral Programme in Development Sciences, at the Postgraduate Programme in Development Sciences (CIDES), Higher University of San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia, June-July 2003.

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News from the National University of Buenos Aires Team

The team, led by Prof. Juan Carlos Marín, has completed draft versions of their part in the Argentinean case studies. Although in the original project we envisaged one single deliverable for the Argentinean case study (Deliverable #5), we have decided that given the specificities of each case it was better to have two separate reports (now, Deliverables #5.1 and #5.2). Lic Emilio Crenzel has completed the draft report for the Tucumán case study (Deliverable #5.2), and he and Lic Gustavo Forte have jointly prepared the socio-demographic and the socio-political and cultural aspects of the Buenos Aires case study (Deliverable #5.1), which is being developed in combination with the FLACSO-Argentina and the UNGS teams.

Lic. Crenzel and Lic Forte are also coordinating the Cross-comparative report on the Socio-demographic trends and urban development (Deliverable #17).

Members of the team have also participated in relevant academic and professional meetings:

Participation in project-related academic and professional meetings:

Lic Gustavo Forte has participated is a series of meetings organized by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), oriented at improving the existing databases for the study of the housing conditions of the population, including access to water and sanitation services.

Lic Crenzel attended the "Foro del Agua 2003" (Water Forum 2003), a debate around the environmental constraints facing the management of water resources and issues of privatse-sector participation in water and sanitation services, organized by the Fundación Centro de la Comunicación and Aspen F.M., that took place at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Montevideo, Uruguay, 3 April 2003. The meeting, that gathered a wide-ranging group of experts, decision makers, practioners, and academics with responsibility for water related activities, allowed the team to establish new contacts through Uruguay's "Comisión Nacional en Defensa del Agua y la Vida" (National Commission for the Defence of Water and Life), which is integrated by the "Comisión en Defensa del Agua" (Commission for Defending Water), "Liga de Fomento de Manantiales", "Uruguay Sustentable", "Comisión Nacionalista", the workers union PIT-CNT, the ONG "REDES - Amigos de la Tierra", as well as other civil and professional entities engaged in collecting signatures to call for a popular consultation for challenging the government's initiative that seeks to privatize the water and sanitation services in the country.

The team continues its programme for the training of young researchers and has now incorporated Mr Gustavo Antón, a student in the latest stages of the BA in Sociology (UBA). Mr Antón is contributing to the development of the Cross-comparative report on the Socio-demographic and urban development dimensions of the study.

Prof. Juan Carlos Marín has succeeded in securing a first instalment of the funding that had been granted to the team under the "Tri-annual Subsidy" of the Agency of Technology, Science, and Productive Innovation, part of the Cooperation Agreement between Argentina and the European Commission's V Framework Programme. Owing to the well-known financial crisis affecting the country, the subsidy that originally had been granted for a period of 3 years (2002-2005) has been reduced to 2 years, while the original amount has been reduced to one third owing to the devaluation of the local currency. The funds, however reduced, will strenghten the research strategies followed by the UBA team, especially by allowing them to continue incorporating young researchers and expanding collaboration with colleagues in other institutions.

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News from the National University of General Sarmiento Team (UNGS-Argentina)

The team, coordinated by Arq. Andrea Catenazzi, is working closely with the other Argentinean teams, especially with the University of Buenos Aires group. In this regard, she is collaborating in the coordination of the "Cross-comparative Report on Demo-geographic Trends and Urban Development" (D17), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Lic Gustavo Kohan has been developing a number of activities of high relevance for some of the analytical dimensions of our research:

Design and coordination of a survey for developing a Public Insurance System for Maternal and Child Health, jointly organized by the Instituto Juan Lazarte, Centro de Estudios Sanitarios y Sociales (CESS) of Rosario, and the Health Ministry of the Province of Buenos Aires (August-September 2003). The project is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Panamerican Health Organization through the Red de Investigación en Sistemas y Servicios de Salud del Cono Sur (Southern Cone Network for Research in Health Systems and Services).

Coordination of the First State of the "Diagnosis of socio-economic vulnerability among the families of the Buenos Aires conurbated area", Programme Acción Contra el Hambre (ACH) (Action agaisnt Hunger), funded by the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (AECI), September-December 2003.

Members of the team have also produced several publications and papers:

Publications

Abramov, A .L., G. Kohan, et. al. (2003), Empresas Sociales y Economía Social, aproximación a sus rasgos fundamentales, Programme for Local Development, Buenos Aires: National University of General Sarmiento and National Labour Ministry.

Papers presented:

Kohan, G., “La situación económica y social del conurbano bonaerense” en Jornadas sobre acceso a la Justicia. Universidad de Palermo, CIPPEC, UNGS, Municipio de Moreno, Setiembre 2003

Ponencia presentada: “Globalización. Trayectoria del proceso y del concepto en América Latina” Federico Fritzsche, Gustavo Kohan y Marcela Vio en Congreso Internacional: América Latina: Identidad, integración y globalización. Centro de Estudios Avanzados de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, 10,11 y 12 de Julio 2003

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News from the National University of Misiones Team (UNAM-Argentina)

The team at UNAM has been collaborating with the team at the University of Buenos Aires in the elaboration of some aspects of the local case studies. They have also produced two additional reports (in Spanish) on the experience of private sector participation in the province of El Chaco and in the city of Corrientes, capital of the province of Corrientes, both in the Argentinean Northeast. The reports are not part of the project deliverables, but they offer useful material for comparative purposes and internal debate.

Dr Jorge Roze is jointly coordinating a Session on "Cities, services, urban networks, citizen demands, actors, and social movements" at the XXIV Latin American Congress of Sociology "Latin America Towards an Alternative Development Model", organized by the Latin American Association of Sociology (ALAS), that will take place in Arequipa, Peru, on 4-7 November 2003.

Members of the team will present two papers at the ALAS congress:

Arq Lorena Cecira Sanchez will talk about "'Agua perdida': una década de privatización. Características del servicio de agua potable en una provincia del nordeste argentino" (Lost water: a decade of privatization. Characteristics of the potable water services in a province of the Argentinean Northeast).

She will also present a paper on "La creciente brecha entre el derecho al agua y el acceso al servicio en Corrientes" (The growing gap between the formal right to water and actual acess to public services in the city of Resistencia), at the XXIII Meeting of Regional Geo-history, Arts Faculty, National University of Misiones and Institute of Geo-history (IIGHI) of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET).

Dr Jorge Próspero Roze will talk about "La resistencia social como desobediencia debida. El caso de la privatización de los servicios públicos en la ciudad de Resistencia" (Social resistance as rightful disobedience. The case of the privatization of public services in the city of Resistencia, Chaco), Oberá, Misiones, 17-18 October 2003.

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News from the University of Nairobi Team (Kenya - Associated Institution)

The team at Nairobi is formally an associated institution in the project, working under the coordination of the team at Tampere University of Technology.

Dr Ezekiel Nyangeri Nyanchaga, the team's coordinator, has completed the draft version of the Kenyan case study (Deliverable #11). The study looks at the cases of the Nyeri Municipal Council and the Tala Town Council, and also provides an overall assessment of the situation of the water and sanitation sector in Kenya.

He also organized a workshop on “Visionary Management for Water Services Sector Reforms in Kenya” on 9 May 2003. The workshop was chaired by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. G.C. Mulaku, and was attended by 33 participants, including invited experts from various water sector stakeholders in Kenya, and graduate and postgraduate students from the university. Guest speakers were Eng. D.K. Barasa, Coordinator of the Water Sector Reforms Secretariat, and Dr Jarmo Hukka and Eng Osmo Seppälä from Tampere University of Technology. The workshop provided useful information for PRINWASS, both for the local case study and also for the products to be delivered in the final stage of the project, as the workshop helped to develop preliminary scenarios for future Water Sector Reforms.

Dr Nyangeri Nyanchaga is also supervising two students at the MSc programme in Environmental Health Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering. The supervision involves Part II of the course, and PRINWASS materials are used as core references for the students:

Eng. Daniel Barasa Kidwoli is carrying out his MSc work on "Private Sector Participation in the Water Sector in Kenya: Is it the way forward? A case study of Malindi Water Supply". He is starting the field data collection in early October 2003.

Mr Brian Shikoli Steve Akhonya is focusing his MSc on "Performance evaluation of Nyeri Water and Sewerage Company", and he is in the process of finalising the preparation of the research proposal.

Dr Nyangeri has also completed the following publications and papers:

Jointly elaborated with O. Seppälä, I Rodiqi, and J J Hukka on "Visionary and knowledge management in strategic development of water services", poster presented by O Seppälä at the Sixth Water Information Summit (WIS 6), International Water and Sanitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands, 9-12 September 2003.

Seppälä, O.T., I Rodiqi, E N Nyangeri, and J J Hukka (2003) (forthcoming), "Visionary leadership and knowledge management in water services", Journal of Infrastructure Systems, ASCE.

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News from the Tampere University of Technology Team (Finland)

Eng. Osmo Seppälä has completed the draft report of the case study allocated to the Finnish team (Deliverable #9), which covers the cases of LV Lahti Water Ltd, Kangasala Municipality Water and Sewerage Utility, and Lappavesi Ltd & Lapua Sewerage Ltd. Eng. Seppälä also produced a draft version of the report on "International and national policies that facilitate or hinder private participation especially in developing countries" (Deliverable #2). Currently, Eng. Seppälä and Dr Jarmo Hukka, jointly with Dr Marcelo Coutinho Vargas (University of São Carlos Team), are coordinating the Cross-comparative Report on Legal and Institutional Aspects and Water Sector Trends" (Deliverable #19).

TUT/IIEB is also a partner in the European Commission-funded project WATERTIME. Tapio Katko, Pekka Pietilä and Jarmo Hukka participated in the Second Watertime Steering Committee Meeting and Stakeholder Workshop in Cordoba, Spain, 1-3 October 2003.

Pekka Pietilä has continued to work on a short-time basis in Namibia in a project aimed at strengthening the administration of newly created municipalities. As part of the ongoing decentralization process in the country, responsibility for water distribution has been shifted to the municipalities, and this is the main focus of Mr Pietilä's work there. The project is very much in line with his overall research interests on the role played by municipalities in the management of water services.

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Members of the Team have also completed several publications and presented papers in different events:

Papers

Tapio Katko presented the paper "Priorities of fresh water use purposes in selected countries with policy implications", written jointly with R Rajala, at the 11th World Water Congress "Water Resources Management in the 21st Century",Madrid, Spain, 5-9 October 2003.

He also participated in a two-day seminar on Municipal Research in Tuusula, Finland, 3-4 of June, 2003.

Jarmo Hukka has presented a paper on "www.Waterservicesmanager.fi - Cyborg or Homo Humanus?" (Original in Finnish), at the 47th National Water Supply Symposium, 4-5 June 2003, Jyväskylä, Finland.

He also spoke about "Water services in post-modern society – about the scope of the public and private sectors" (original In Finnish), at the Rakennusinsinööripäivät 2003, Association of Finnish Civil Engineers, Helsinki, 9 October 2003.

Osmo Seppälä presented a poster, jointly elaborated with I Rodiqi, E N Nyangeri, and J J Hukka on "Visionary and knowledge management in strategic development of water services", at the Sixth Water Information Summit (WIS 6), International Water and Sanitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands, 9-12 September 2003.

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Publications

Hukka, J. J. and T S Katko, “Water privatisation revisited – panacea or pancake?”, has now been published as the Occasional Paper no. 33 of the International Water and Sanitation Centre and is available for downloading.

Hukka J and T Katko T (2003), "Vesihuollon yksityistäminen ei ole ihmelääke" (Water services privatization is not a panacea), Suomen Kuvalehti, Vol. 87, no. 35.

Juuti P., K Äikäs and T Katko (2003), Water naturally. Kangasala water utility 1952-2002 (In Finnish).

Juuti P., R Rajala, and T Katko (2003) (in print), Aqua Borgoensis. Porvoo water and sewage works 1913-2003 (In Finnish and Swedish, Summary in English).

Juuti P. S. and T Katko (2003) (under review), "Water and city: History of water and sanitation services in Tampere, Finland, submitted to Urban History (U.K).

Kaivo-oja J., T S Katko and O T Seppälä O.T. (under review), "Seeking for Convergence between History and Futures Research, submitted to Futures (U.K.).

Katko T. (2003), Book review of Blue Gold. The Battle against Corporate Theft of the World´s Water, London, Earthscan Publications Ltd. 278 p. (M. Barlow & T. Clarke 2002), in Natural Resources Forum, Vol. 27, no. 3. pp. 250-251.

Katko T. (2003), "Libraries and Fahrenheit 451: does knowledge cumulate or become outdated?", in Tiedepolitiikka, No. 1/2003. pp. 56-58. (In Finnish).

Katko T. S., A O Luonsi, and P S Juuti (under review) "Water Pollution Control and Strategies in Finnish Forest industries in the 20th century", Scandinavian Economic History Review (SEHR).

Muukkonen, E., P Pietilä, and T Katko (2003), "Organisational changes of water utilities in the 1990s" (in Finnish), Tekniikka ja Kunta, 4-5/2003, pp. 64-67.
Rajala R. and T Katko (2003) (in print) "Household water consumption and demand management in Finland", in Urban Water, Elsevier.

Salonen, L., O Seppälä, and T Katko (2003), "Regional development of water services in Northern Satakunta. Organisational study" (original in Finnish), South-West Regional Environment Centre, Lounais-Suomen ympäristökeskuksen moniste 7/2003 Available for downloading.

Seppälä, O.T., I Rodiqi, E N Nyangeri, and J J Hukka (2003) (forthcoming), "Visionary leadership and knowledge management in water services", Journal of Infrastructure Systems, ASCE.

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News from the University of the Aegean Team (Greece)

Dr Giorgos Kallis from the University of the Aegean Team has completed the draft report on the Greek case study focusing on the case of Athens (Deliverable #10). He is also co-ordinating the "Cross-comparative Report on Environmental Sustainability" (Deliverable #15).

Dr Kallis also participated in the preparation of a special issue of the Green Pepper magazine on water privatisation. Green Pepper is a collective magazine publishing special issues on aspects of development, globalisation and the environment from a radical viewpoint. The special issue on water privatisation criticised recent trends towards privatisation and the take-up of water services around the world by multi-national companies. The issue also addressed the advantages of local, communitarian control and organisation of water systems. Dr Kallis assisted the editorial team of the Green Pepper in the preparation of the issue and the editing of the articles, as well as in the preparation of its Spanish language version which is distributed widely in Spain and Latin America. Dr Erik Swyngedouw, from the Oxford University team, and Dr Karen Bakker from the University of British Columbia (a PRINWASS associated institution), contributed articles on "The water multi-nationals" and on the question if water is "a public or a private good", respectively.

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News from the Newcastle-CESU Team (UK-Bolivia)

Dr Nina Laurie and Dr Carlos Crespo from the Newcastle-CESU Team have completed their part of the draft version of the Bolivian case study, which focuses on the case of Cochabamba (Deliverable #6), and is jointly developed with Dr Carmen Ledo (UMSS-CESU team) and Lic. Ramiro Molina (FDCMA team). Dr Laurie and Dr Crespo are also coordinating, jointly with Dr José Esteban Castro from the Oxford University Team, the "Cross-comparative Report on Social, Political, and Cultural Aspects" (Deliverable #21).

Members of the Team have also produced several publications, papers, and events for dissemination and interaction with key actors:

Events:

Dr Crespo, jointly with fellow researchers at the Higher University of San Simón in Cochabamba, organized a workshop on "Fortalecimiento de Capacidades en la Identificación y Manejo de Conflictos desde una Perspectiva Comunitaria. Taller con los Campesinos Regantes de Bolivia" (Capacity Building for the Identification and Management of Conflicts from a Community Perspective. A Workshop with the Peasant Irrigators of Bolivia), funded by Oxfam Bolivia. The most pressing problem identified by the irrigators is the government's plan for the privatization and commodification of water resources through the passing of a new Water Law and the project to export water from the Potosí region towards Northern Chile. The irrigators presented a strategy for action, which includes lobbying and negotiation to stop the government's policy as well as strenghtening the National Irrigators Organization. The event was attended by male and female representatives of over 60 organizations of irrigators from across the country. Electronic copies of the workshop's proceedings can be requested to Dr Crespo.

He is also participating in the Foro de las Americas "La Concertación, Instrumento para la Gestión Sostenible del Agua Dulce en el Siglo XXI" (Forum of the Americas "Consensus Politics, Instrument for Sustainable Fresh Water Management in the XXI Century), to be held on 21-24 October 2003 in La Paz, Bolivia. The Forum is organized by Bolivian government institutions, universities, and international cooperation agencies to provide an opportunity for analysis and exchange of experiences in relation to consensus-based water management practices. Dr Crespo will present a paper on the concession granted in La Paz to the private consortium "Aguas del Illimani", headed by the French company Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux.

Teaching:

Dr Laurie taught a module on community development in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois (Urban-Champaign).

She also taught three sessions on issues of gender and water privatisation as well as ethno-development at the Postgraduate Unit of the Faculty of Social Sciences, National Higher University of San Marcos, Lima, Peru.

Mr Rory Padfield, a new doctoral student working on water privatization in Zambia and issues of mine water pollution has joined Geography at Newcastle. His studies are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The materials elaborated by the PRINWASS project are providing theoretical and empirical resources for two students of the Master Programme in Environment and Sustainable Development at the CESU-UMSS in Cochabamba. One thesis focuses on the environmental history of water resources management in the Valley of Cochabamba, while the other addresses the movement of social resistence against the Bolivian government's policy for water exports from the Potosí southern region to Northern Chile.

Publications:

Dr Laurie is the editor of a special issue of the journal Geoforum, focusing on "Constructing water orthodoxies: the ‘pro poor’ agenda and privatization under scrutiny", which is planned for next year. The issue will include papers by José Esteban Castro (Oxford team) and Carlos Crespo (Newcastle-CESU team).

She is also working on a book on Género y Cultura en Bolivia (Gender and Culture in Bolivia), co-edited with María Ester Pozo, which will include a chapter by Dr Pamela Calla on the Cochabamba water situation from a gender perspective.

Academic exchange activities:

Dr Laurie spent several weeks in Bolivia during the Summer, co-ordinating the work for the local PRINWASS case study with her colleagues at CESU.

She also returned from a year’s fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the USA in September. In Illinois she worked closely with Dr Michael Goldman, from the Department of Sociology, who is preparing a a book on The Birth of a Discipline: The New Politics and Science of the World Bank, based on ethnographic and participant research inside World Bank Headquarters and in select borrowing countries. Much of Dr Goldman's work focuses on the construction of water discourses in the bank.

Institutional development:

Nina has been awarded university funding to establish a Developing Areas Research Network (DARN) in Newcastle to bring together social scientists, medics and engineers working on development issues. Water will be a key theme of this group. Newcastle was short listed for funding for an ESRC centre on Water and Governance earlier in the year however was unsuccessful in the final round. It is hoped the interdisciplinary focus on water established through this process will continue through DARN.

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News from the University of Oxford Team

The Oxford Team continued with its own research and teaching tasks. This included the preparation of several project reports by Dr J E Castro:

The draft report of the local case study focusing on the case of London-Thames Valley (United Kingdom)” (Deliverable #8).

The draft report on “Arguments underlying current programmes promoting private participation in water and sanitation services” (Deliverable #1).

He is also completing the draft report on “Socio-political and Cultural Factors Affecting Private Participation Projects in Water and Sanitation Services” (Deliverable #3).

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Dr Castro presented several papers based on the ongoing research at the following events:

“La participación de la iniciativa privada en el sector de agua y saneamiento en América Latina”, Special Session at the VI Curso de Regulação Econômica dos Serviços de Abastecimento de Água e de Esgotamento Sanitário, Ministry of the Cities, National Secretary of Environmental Sanitation (SNSA) Programme for the Modernization of the Water and Sanitation Sector (PMSS), Brasilia, Brazil, 2-3 October 2003. The paper was presented three times to different audiences. Dr Castro was also invited to join a round table on the proposal presented by the SNSA for a National Policy for Environmental Sanitation (in Portuguese).

“Privatización y transnacionalización de servicios públicos esenciales de agua en Africa, América Latina y Europa”, at the session Privatización e Internacionalización de las Empresas Públicas en la Unión Europea, XIX Summer Course, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain, 1 August 2003.

“An insight into our research project ‘Barriers to and conditions for the involvement of private capital and enterprise in water supply and sanitation in Latin America and Africa: seeking economic, social and environmental sustainability (PRINWASS)’”, at the Workshop Clean Water, Safe Sanitation Debating the Research Agenda, RWE-Thames Water and School of Geography and the Environment with the Environment Change Institute, University of Oxford, 3 July 2003.

“The long-term development of a socio-ecological regime: the case of water control in the Basin of Mexico”, at the session "Political Ecology in History", 6th Nordic Conference on Environmental Social Sciences (NESS), Turku/Abo, Finland, 12-14 June 2003.

“An insight into our research project 'Barriers to and conditions for the involvement of private capital and enterprise in water supply and sanitation in Latin America and Africa: seeking economic, social and environmental sustainability (PRINWASS)'”, at the Session European Contribution and Experience in International Scientific Co-operation for Meeting the Water Initiative Objectives in Developing Countries, European Commission's Green Week, Brussels, 5 June 2003.

“Issues of governance and citizenship in the provision of water supply and sanitation”, at the Research Workshop Service Provision Governance in the Peri-urban Interface of Metropolitan Areas: Towards an Analytical Framework, 30 May 2003, Development Planning Unit, University College London.

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Dr Castro has also completed the following publications:

Castro, J. E., K. Kloster, I. Studer, and M. L. Torregrosa, “Ciudadanía y gobernabilidad en la cuenca del Río Bravo-Grande” (Citizenship and governance in the Rio Bravo-Grande basin), chapter in Análisis de la Disponibilidad, Calidad y Futuro del Agua en México (Analysis of Water Availability, Quality, and Prospects in Mexico), México DF: Academia Mexicana de Ciencias-Red del Agua (forthcoming 2003).

Castro, J. E., Entries on “Argentina”, “commodification”, “Karl Marx”, “Rio de la Plata River”, “Socialism and Communism”, and “Southern Cone”, in Shepard Krech III, John R. McNeill , and Carolyn Merchant (eds.), Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (3 vols.), London: Routledge (forthcoming, 2003).

Castro, J. E. (2003), “Incertezas manufacturadas, tecnociência e as políticas da desigualdade: o caso da gestão dos recursos hidráulicos” (Manufactured uncertainties, technoscience, and the politics of inequality: the case of water resources management), in H. Martins and J. L. García (eds.), Dilemas da Civilização Tecnologica, Lisbon: Imprensa de Ciencias Sociais.

Castro, J. E., E. Swyngedouw, and M. Kaika (2003), “London: structural continuities and institutional change in water management”, European Planning Studies, Special issue on "Water for the city: trends, policy issues and the challenge of sustainability”, Vol. 11, 3, pp. 283-98.

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Dr Castro has been also invited to the Editorial Board of the Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, journal of the Red Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica (REDIBEC), based at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Quito, Ecuador.

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PRINWASS has now become a central piece in the teaching and research activities of the Oxford Centre for Water Research (OCWR). The Oxford team has also succeeded in developing and inter-department network, with a very close association with the Centre for Development Studies (QEH), the Centre for Mexican Studies, and the Centre for Brazilian Studies. The team has promoted an increasing number of research and teaching activities centred on a social science perspective but with a truly interdisciplinary approach, establishing a meaningful dialogue between, in particular, social and water scientists.

Within this inter-department framework, Dr Castro is spearheading a research and teaching programme on "Water in Mexico", which includes a research proposal on "Conflicts over water in Mexico", as well as a programme for the exchange of students and visiting academics between Mexican institutions and Oxford. As part of these activities, he organized a seminar on “Groundwater in Mexico - users response and responsibilities”, given by Dr Joel Carrillo Rivera, at the Centre for Mexican Studies on 2 June 2003. Dr Carrillo Rivera is a Geologist from the Institute of Geography at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), with expertise in groundwater flow theory. He is the Editor (Associated) of the Hydrogeology Journal, and the Vice-President of the Latin American Association for Groundwater Hydrology. He was visiting the Oxford Centre for Water Research as part of a exchange programme funded by the Royal Geographical Society and the Mexican Academy of Sciences and organized by Prof Mike Edmunds, Research Director at the OCWR.

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Among other teaching activities relevant to the project, Dr Castro has chaired an 8-week course (March-June) on "Water management: an interdisciplinary approach", as part of the MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy (MScNSEP), at the School of Geography and the Environment in Oxford. The course provided an introduction to mainstream debates and key problems around issues of water management and development policy, water-related environmental protection policies, cultural meanings of water, water science underpinnings of policy decisions, and the political ecology of water, including the interweaving between water, power, and issues of governance and citizenship.

Dr Castro also teaches at the MSc in Environmental Change and Management, run by the Environment Change Institute at the School of Geography and the Environment. He is also actively participating in the preparation of the new MsC in Water Science, Policy, and Management, that will start in October 2004. This master course will provide an understanding of both water science, and the political, cultural and organizational frameworks within which management decisions are made. It is designed to reach students from Government and Non-Government water and environmental agencies, statutory bodies, public and private water providers as well as those interested in pursuing scientific research on water-related topics.

He has also supervised a number of water-related post-graduate dissertations in this period:

Ms Sandrine Brisset (co-supervision during a one-year stay in Oxford), PhD in Health Geography, Université de Rouen, France, and Maison Française, Oxford. Thesis on the relationship between water supply and sanitation, the urban environment, and public health in the city of Chennai, India. The thesis is being developed and will be submitted at the Université de Rouen, France (main supervisor, Dr. Alain Vaguet).

Mr Gareth Morgan, MSc in Environmental Change and Management, thesis on “The prescriptive potential of virtual water theory: a case study of South Africa”, Environment Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University (completed September 2003).

Ms Hanna Day-Woodruff (co-supervised with Prof. Mike Edmunds), MSc in Environmental Change and Management, thesis on “Water and oil, Texas”, Environment Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University (completed September 2003).

Mr Étienne von Bertrab, MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, thesis on “The development of river basin institutions in Mexico”, Faculty of the Built Environment, Development Planning Unit, University College London (completed September 2003).

Mr Evaristo San Miguel Navarro, MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, thesis on “Water Management in Spain”, Faculty of the Built Environment, Development Planning Unit, University College London. (completed September 2003).

Ms Laurence Salmon, MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, thesis on “The right to water”, Faculty of the Built Environment, Development Planning Unit, University College London. (completed September 2003).

Mr Mukuki Hante, MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, thesis on “Social and environmental outcomes of the inadequate delivery of road and drainage services in Dar es Salaam City. A policy perspective”, Faculty of the Built Environment, Development Planning Unit, University College London (completed September 2003).

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Forthcoming Water Events

Foro de las Americas "La Concertación, Instrumento para la Gestión Sostenible del Agua Dulce en el Siglo XXI" (Forum of the Americas "Consensus Politics, Instrument for Sustainable Fresh Water Management in the XXI Century"), 21-24 October 2003, La Paz, Bolivia.

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XXIV Latin American Congress of Sociology "Latin America Towards an Alternative Development Model", organized by the Latin American Association of Sociology (ALAS), Arequipa, Peru, 4-7 November 2003. Among other thematic areas to be covered are: : Urban networks and Services; Local government, urban management and planning; New urban spaces and heritage; Citizen demands and urban social movements; The Latin American city and the new urban trends; urban transformations and the construction of subjectivity.

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First Meeting of the Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ambiente e Sociedade (ANPPAS) (National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research on Environment and Society), to be held on 9-11 December 2003, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo. The topic of the meeting will be Water: social, political-institutional and territorial issues. A second session will address "The UNICAM and water".

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3rd Conference of the International Water History Association (IWHA), 11-14 December 2003, El Cairo, Egypt.

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Joint Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and the Latin-American Association of Underground Hydrology for Development (ALHSUD), 11-15 October 2004, Zacatecas, Mexico.

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Suggested Publications

Privatisation in the European Union: Public Enterprises and Integration, by Judith Clifton (Universidad de Oviedo, Spain, Open University and University of Leeds, UK), Francisco Comín Comín (Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain), and Daniel Díaz Fuentes (Universidad de Cantabria, Spain).

O saneamento no Brasil: Políticas e Interfaces (Sanitation in Brazil: Policies and Interfaces), by Sonaly Cristina Rezende and Léo Heller (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil).

Tapping the Market. The Challenge of Institutional Reform in the Urban Water Sector, by Andrew Nickson (University of Birmingham) and Richard Franceys (Cranfield University), Palgrave-Macmillan.

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Last updated: December 2008