IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i10p4210-d360972.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reducing Groundwater Contamination from On-Site Sanitation in Peri-Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: Reviewing Transition Management Attributes towards Implementation of Water Safety Plans

Author

Listed:
  • Felix R. B. Twinomucunguzi

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

  • Philip M. Nyenje

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

  • Robinah N. Kulabako

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

  • Swaib Semiyaga

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

  • Jan Willem Foppen

    (Department of Water Science and Engineering, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, P.O. Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Frank Kansiime

    (Department of Environmental Management, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

Abstract

High urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has resulted in increased peri-urban groundwater contamination by on-site sanitation. The World Health Organization introduced Water Safety Plans (WSP) towards the elimination of contamination risks to water supply systems; however, their application to peri-urban groundwater sources has been limited. Focusing on Uganda, Ghana, and Tanzania, this paper reviews limitations of the existing water regime in addressing peri-urban groundwater contamination through WSPs and normative attributes of Transition Management (TM) towards a sustainable solution. Microbial and nutrient contamination remain prevalent hazards in peri-urban SSA, arising from on-site sanitation within a water regime following Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles. Limitations to implementation of WSPs for peri-urban groundwater protection include policy diversity, with low focus on groundwater; institutional incoherence; highly techno-centric management tools; and limited regard for socio-cultural and urban-poor aspects. In contrast, TM postulates a prescriptive approach promoted by community-led frontrunners, with flexible and multi-domain actors, experimenting through socio-technical tools towards a shared vision. Thus, a unified risk-based management framework, harnessing attributes of TM and IWRM, is proposed towards improved WSP implementation. The framework could assist peri-urban communities and policymakers in formulating sustainable strategies to reduce groundwater contamination, thereby contributing to improved access to safe water.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix R. B. Twinomucunguzi & Philip M. Nyenje & Robinah N. Kulabako & Swaib Semiyaga & Jan Willem Foppen & Frank Kansiime, 2020. "Reducing Groundwater Contamination from On-Site Sanitation in Peri-Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: Reviewing Transition Management Attributes towards Implementation of Water Safety Plans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4210-:d:360972
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4210/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4210/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fjalar J. De Haan & Briony C. Rogers, 2019. "The Multi-Pattern Approach for Systematic Analysis of Transition Pathways," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-30, January.
    2. Raya Marina Stephan, 2017. "Climate change considerations under international groundwater law," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 757-772, August.
    3. Roeger, Alexandra & Tavares, António F., 2018. "Water safety plans by utilities: A review of research on implementation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 15-24.
    4. Brodnik, Christoph & Brown, Rebekah, 2018. "Strategies for developing transformative capacity in urban water management sectors: The case of Melbourne, Australia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 147-159.
    5. Geels, Frank W. & Schot, Johan, 2007. "Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 399-417, April.
    6. Mark Giordano & Tushaar Shah, 2014. "From IWRM back to integrated water resources management," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 364-376, September.
    7. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Lyla Mehta & Rossella Alba & Alex Bolding & Kristi Denby & Bill Derman & Takunda Hove & Emmanuel Manzungu & Synne Movik & Preetha Prabhakaran & Barbara van Koppen, 2014. "The politics of IWRM in Southern Africa," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 528-542, September.
    9. Olivier Petit, 2016. "Paradise lost? The difficulties in defining and monitoring Integrated Water Resources Management indicators," Post-Print halshs-01610661, HAL.
    10. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    11. Jan Rotmans & Derk Loorbach, 2009. "Complexity and Transition Management," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(2), pages 184-196, April.
    12. Kirstin I. Conti & Joyeeta Gupta, 2016. "Global governance principles for the sustainable development of groundwater resources," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 849-871, December.
    13. Rutger Brugge & Jan Rotmans, 2007. "Towards transition management of European water resources," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 249-267, January.
    14. Flor Avelino, 2009. "Empowerment and the challenge of applying transition management to ongoing projects," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(4), pages 369-390, November.
    15. Geels, Frank W., 2004. "From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6-7), pages 897-920, September.
    16. Luca Rondi & Sabrina Sorlini & Maria Cristina Collivignarelli, 2015. "Sustainability of Water Safety Plans Developed in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-21, August.
    17. Poustie, Michael S. & Frantzeskaki, Niki & Brown, Rebekah R., 2016. "A transition scenario for leapfrogging to a sustainable urban water future in Port Vila, Vanuatu," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 129-139.
    18. Fuenfschilling, Lea & Binz, Christian, 2018. "Global socio-technical regimes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 735-749.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, Bing & Nguyen, Mai & Sarm Siri, Nang & Malik, Ashish, 2022. "Towards a transformative model of circular economy for SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 545-555.
    2. Katherine Daniell & Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Noel Wai Wah Chan & Céline Nauges & Quentin Grafton, 2015. "Understanding and Managing Urban Water in Transition," Post-Print hal-01290502, HAL.
    3. Attila Havas & Doris Schartinger & K. Matthias Weber, 2022. "Innovation Studies, Social Innovation, and Sustainability Transitions Research: From mutual ignorance towards an integrative perspective?," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2227, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    4. van Geenhuizen, Marina & Ye, Qing, 2014. "Responsible innovators: open networks on the way to sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 28-40.
    5. Wesseling, Joeri H. & Bidmon, Christina & Bohnsack, René, 2020. "Business model design spaces in socio-technical transitions: The case of electric driving in the Netherlands," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Kejia Yang & Johan Schot & Bernhard Truffer, 2020. "Shaping the Directionality of Sustainability Transitions: The Diverging Development Patterns of Solar PV in Two Chinese Provinces," SPRU Working Paper Series 2020-14, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    7. Bettini, Yvette & Brown, Rebekah R. & de Haan, Fjalar J. & Farrelly, Megan, 2015. "Understanding institutional capacity for urban water transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 65-79.
    8. Jonas Heiberg & Christian Binz & Bernhard Truffer, 2020. "Assessing transitions through socio-technical network analysis – a methodological framework and a case study from the water sector," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2035, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2020.
    9. Magda M. Smink & Marko P. Hekkert & Simona O. Negro, 2015. "Keeping sustainable innovation on a leash? Exploring incumbents’ institutional strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 86-101, February.
    10. Kivimaa, Paula & Rogge, Karoline S., 2022. "Interplay of policy experimentation and institutional change in sustainability transitions: The case of mobility as a service in Finland," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    11. Heiberg, Jonas & Truffer, Bernhard & Binz, Christian, 2022. "Assessing transitions through socio-technical configuration analysis – a methodological framework and a case study in the water sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    12. Ionara Costa & Sibylle Bui & Olivier de Schutter & Tom Dedeurwaerdere, 2022. "A network perspective to niche-regime interactions and learning at the regime level," Post-Print halshs-03615417, HAL.
    13. Zhao, Zhen-Yu & Chang, Rui-Dong & Chen, Yu-Long, 2016. "What hinder the further development of wind power in China?—A socio-technical barrier study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 465-476.
    14. Suleiman, Lina, 2021. "Blue green infrastructure, from niche to mainstream: Challenges and opportunities for planning in Stockholm," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    15. Contesse, Maria & Duncan, Jessica & Legun, Katharine & Klerkx, Laurens, 2021. "Unravelling non-human agency in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    16. Haddad, Carolina R. & Bergek, Anna, 2023. "Towards an integrated framework for evaluating transformative innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    17. Helgegren, Ida & McConville, Jennifer & Landaeta, Graciela & Rauch, Sebastien, 2021. "A multiple regime analysis of the water and sanitation sectors in the Kanata metropolitan region, Bolivia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    18. Lara Werbeloff & Rebekah R. Brown, 2016. "Using Policy and Regulatory Frameworks to Facilitate Water Transitions," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(11), pages 3653-3669, September.
    19. Katherine A. Daniell & Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Noel Chan & Céline Nauges & Quentin Grafton, 2015. "Understanding and Managing Urban Water in Transition," Post-Print hal-01183846, HAL.
    20. Massaro, Sebastiano & Lorenzoni, Gianni, 2021. "Nanomedicine: a socio-technical system," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4210-:d:360972. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.