1. Wet and dry. Urban water management issues in the Western United States and Canada Frédéric Lasserre Laval University

2. Drinking water: what costs, with what resources? Producing drinking water, distribute it, collect and treat used water: major municipal responsibility. Social stakes are enormous: 1 billion people have no access to safe water Water increasingly polluted Infrastructure to build or renovate : major investment Regulations on drinking water are more and more severe (at least in developed countries)  Resource management issue (quantity, quality)  Public finance issue

3. www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater

4. 1. Access to the resource Domestic use are usually small compared to industrial or agricultural use (withdrawal and consumptive use) City = major concentration of people Total demand may thus be significant and spatially very concentrated => Problem of security of supply

5. Source : archeolyon.com Even in Antiquity, the issue of urban water supply was significant, with for instance the construction of aqueducts

6. Issues of resource protection and resource sharing www.grida.no/graphic.aspx?f=series/vg-water2/0231-competionurb-rur-EN.jpg

8. 2. Access : the case of Western American cities Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix : coping with dry climates. Las Vegas : 12 cm of rain/yr Domestic use of the water : less than 15% of total water use in the West (agriculture: 75%)

9. Often blamed for water problems : fountains and hotels in Las Vegas Pictures: F. Lasserre

10. 197019801990200020092012 Nevada0,490,81,222,62,76 New Mexico 1,021,31,521,8222,09 Utah1,061,461,722,232,82,86 Arizona1,772,723,675,136,66,56 Colorado2,212,893,34,355,19 Florida6,799,7512,941618,519,3 California19,9523,6729,7633,936,938 Evolution of population of selected American States (million) Lasserre and Descroix 2012 -> a very fast expanding population; now stopped or much slower -> concentration of large demand in specific places

11. … with a peculiar urban model Las Vegas, 1984 and 2011 Landsat images

12. Albuquerque, NM Lasserre Urban sprawl and individual house-based urbanism -> cost of infrastructure -> lot of outdoor use of water Las Vegas, NV http://wrldtvler.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/img_5249.jpg

13. Irrigation (mainly golf courses) 7,6 Industry 1 Retail trade 13,4 Public Institutions (government, schools, hospitals) 5 Hotels 6,3 Residential 59 Others 7,7 Water use in Southern Nevada, 2007, % Southern Nevada Water Authority, 2009 Water Resource Plan, Las Vegas, 2009, p.16 In urban water use, hotels, retail and industry are often marginal users. Hotels : tight regulations. Recycled water. Main user : residential. Idea: specifically target this segment

14. 3. Policies : how did cities secure access to the resource? Need to secure reliable access. Groundwater. Massive water schemes: Las Vegas: Lake Mead Phoenix : Lake Havasu, Salt River San Francisco : Hetch Hetchy Canal Los Angeles : Los Angeles Aqueduct San Diego : Colorado River Aqueduct Central Arizona Project (CAP), Phoenix. Lasserre Hoover Dam on the Colorado, creating Lake Mead Lasserre

15. Los Angeles Aqueduct, 1913 (prolonged to Lake Mono, 1940) State Water Project: California Aqueduct, 1960s Colorado River Aqueduct, 1941 Massive water diversions, California Local project State project Federal project All American Canal, 1940 Central Valley Project, 1950s www.aquafornia.com/where-does-southern-californias- water-come-from/

16. Colorado : a river now completely transfered, dammed and harnessed But tough competition with agriculture -> Legal system of prior appropriation Groundwater decline Resource not infinite -> Need to control demand

17. Several tools designed to encourage conservation by residents Education and communication Fiscal : -Rebates on water bill for xeriscaping and drip irrigation -Rebates on dual flush/low flush toilets -Rebates on low-water use appliances -Rebates on special car wash Regulation : -Regular washing garage alley or car forbidden -Daytime watering prohibited -Summertime watering regulation -Emergency regulation during drought -Water police Tarification : -Incremental and progressive tarification. Cheap basic service : for 50 l/pers/day, family of 4 : 5 $/month Bill increases and can reach up to 300 $/month Despite this, water supply very tight ; drought since 2010… Xeriscaping (SNWA)

18. 3. Urban Water management in Canada : the land of plenty ? Environment Canada 2005 Consumptive use (2006) : Agriculture 57% Industrial 20% Thermoelectric 14% Residential 9% 3.1. Water use structure

19. Again, residential use often represents bulk of municipal use But what’s the problem in Canada ?

20. Average value masks diversity of local situations

21. 3.2. Scarce water in Canada? Water is overall abundant in Canada, however : Dryer regions, like the Prairies Recurrence of dry summers lately (climate change) Vulnerability of the domestic segment, main user of urban water in Canada Cost of producing and treating a lot of water Demand increase forces the construction of new and costly plants for drinking water production and used water treatment – Peaks : pool fill-up in April; summer watering (again, outdoor use…) – impacts of climate change on sewers (unitary -> need for dual system; urban planning to be reviewed, at a cost)

22. Increasing investments because of the pollution of the resource – agriculture, industrial, municipal Production of drinking water: in Québec, no political will to apply principle of polluter-payer … about to change? Law on water 2009  Production of drinking water: in Québec, no political will to apply principle of polluter-payer … about to change? Law on water 2009 Legislation introduces tighter regulations and norms on drinking water  Financial responsibility rests on municipal governments…

23. Occasional scarcity of water, going to happen more often in summer with climate change: real problem, but over short periods. Depends also on use habits. The fundamental problem for cities is: fiscal  fiscal (principle of consumer-payer), and of  public finances : who pays for the production, treatment and distribution systems  much more than increase of volume  Idea of water tarification to finance production and manage demand expansion

24. 3.3. In Canada, what tarification ? 100 % of Canadians pay for their water 55% pay with a non-incentive tarification : – 43% : fixed tariff included in municipal taxes – 12% : decreasing volumetric tarification 45% pay with an incentive tarification : – 36% : flat volumetric rate – 9% : progressive tariff In 1999, consumption was 70 % higher when there were flat monthly rates than where tariffs were based on used volume.

25. 1998. Environment Canada, 2012

26. Pricing water : a difficult policy to implement Cost of installing meters (± 300 M $ only in Québec) Door opened to privatization ? Issue of minimal basic water use. Necessity to have a price structure high enough to be incentive. How is it possible to legitimize it… – If the problem is about public spending in nature, and not resource management – And if the production of drinking water not very costly (between 23 and 55¢/m³ with infrastructure depreciation)?