Institutional constraints to integration of urban sector in river basin management in the context of urbanization : a case study of Bang Pakong River Basin, Thailand | |
| Author | Rutmanee Ongsakul |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.UE-12-01 |
| Subject(s) | Watershed management--Thailand--Bang Pakong River Basin Municipal water supply--Management--Thailand--Bang Pakong River Basin |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Environmental Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Rapid urbanization and industrialization in most transition and developing countries have posed major challenges to traditional water allocation and wastewater management in these formerly agriculture-dominated societies. Wastewater from industries and municipalities has increasingly degraded quality of natural water bodies while, simultaneously, there is rising water demand to supply growing urban population and needs of economic activities. Rise of non-agricultural water users thus creates pressures to existing allocation and use that have been traditionally dominated by farming sector. Moreover, in period of development transition, intrusiveness of the urban sector has become more and more incompatible with the traditional water management institutions, which have been exclusively focused on and dominated by agriculture and natural resource management sectors. This dissertation addresses therefore a research gap in water governance scoping key issues in agriculture-and urban-based development transition, particularly focusing on a study of river basin management in the context of the urbanizing developing country of Thailand. The empirical case examined is the Bang Pakong River Basin, a basin that has been experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization in the past three decades. The findings underscore the growing importance in the past decades of urban sector in the basin’s ecosystem dynamics, in terms of its role in water quality maintenance and quantity allocation. There are substantial impacts of the urban sector in the particular basin examined, especially in the form of water degradation. Yet, analysis of official documents scoped at the national level and also at river basin level, reveals a very limited concern and scoping of urban users, and their connectivity with other users and stakeholders in the basin area. The urban users however are institutionally and implicitly privileged in terms of water allocation and exemption from liability of urban wastewater. The current situation characterized by the emerging dominant, but largely implicit, role of the urban water uses therefore poses tensions especially in initiatives on integrated water resources management. These tensions arise not only from constraints within water institutions but from influences of broader political institutions with characteristics of public institutions pervasive in many developing countries. Specifically, the study identifies the followings: ill-developed water rights that condition urban advantages in water acquisition and uses; administrative fragmentation that reinforces separatism in resources management among different sectors and undermine effective regulation of urban water pollution; legacy of state centralism that weakens accountability of municipalities in local wastewater management; and top-down institutional culture that hinders stakeholder’ participation. To address these, two-prong policy thrusts are discussed and recommended: one set are interventions to alter broader political and water institutions in order to enable participation and make explicit the accountability of urban sector at national and basin levels. The study further argues for integration mechanisms through interdependencies and negotiation efforts among existing parties and agencies linked in modalities of institutional interplay. The other set are interventions targeting urban players, i.e. urban users, authorities and water suppliers. Initiatives particularly ones that demonstrate direct benefits to urban stakeholders should be made, through the use of regulatory and market-based instruments or cooperative options where possible, to encourage the involvement of urban actors, generate their environmental accountability and enhance their communication and collaboration with other stakeholders in the shared basin’s ecosystem. |
| Year | 2011 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Sajor, Edsel E.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Perera, L. A. S. Ranjith;Perret, Sylvain;Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2011 |