Financing Integration of Urban Water Systems: From Service Provision to Resource Management

Cities seeking to reform water management practices that degrade sustainability are challenged by limited resources, financial needs of legacy infrastructures, institutional barriers, and rigid regulatory environments. Stakeholders in urban water programs report that financial aspects of One Water top their list of concerns. As shown by local initiatives, integrated water management strategies based on the One Water concept can help to mitigate these problems and provide additional benefits and co-benefits. Experiences reported by cities identify practices that facilitate financial solutions to ongoing concerns. Drawing from three sets of One Water cases, 36 examples were shown to include significant financial innovation. Analysis of them pointed to strategies that involve organizational approaches, regional shared governance, partnerships, resource conservation, and corporate social responsibility. Financial innovation in each category requires further study to identify new opportunities and to validate feasibility, along with benefits and co-benefits.