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This background paper is part of the supporting material for the report "From Waste to Resource: Shifting Paradigms for Smarter Wastewater Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean," a product of the "Wastewater: from waste to resource," an initiative of the World Bank Water Global Practice.

Food Security --- Public Health --- Wastewater Treatment --- Water Security --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

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This discussion paper supplements the 2018 World Bank Global Study on Aligning Institutions and Incentives for Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS), which promotes holistic approaches in shaping policies, institutions, and regulation. The paper examines how lower-, lower-middle-, and middle-income countries (LMICs) could implement more effective regulation to deliver sustainable WSS outcomes by considering political, legal, and institutional realities. Rather than importing "best practice" models, experience has emphasized the importance of developing "best fit" regulatory frameworks aligned with policy and institutional frameworks of LMICs. To this end, this discussion paper provides an overview of three regulatory aspects-objectives, forms, and functions-to support practitioners as they consider their own regulatory reform options. It discusses the objectives of water sector regulation in LMICs, types of regulatory arrangements and structures that are being used in LMICs, and instruments and methods that regulators in LMICs use to implement their mandated functions and ends with suggestions on where the WSS community goes from here to better understand the preconditions for effective regulation. This paper does not offer definitive conclusions but rather provides suggestions on the way forward through a phased approach to regulatory reform. Importantly, it sheds light on issues that warrant further investigation to determine the future of WSS regulation in LMICs.

Incentives --- Sanitation and sewerage --- Water supply --- Water supply and sanitation --- Water supply and sanitation economics --- Water supply and sanitation governance and institutions

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Water has always been at the heart of Bangladesh's remarkable development story. Avoiding flood-induced famines and attaining food security were the defining motives in Bangladesh's water management since the pre-independent days.1 These helped expand flood-control and modernize irrigation, strengthening its agro-based economy. Later in the century, catastrophic cholera epidemics and the growing irrigation demand pushed extensive investments in shallow tube wells, which remain the primary water source across the country. Today, water-intensive industries such as ready-made garments and textiles make up more than 85 percent of its exports, steering the nation's job market and rapid economic growth. These structural changes, combined with the pressures from high population growth and climate change uncertainties, have now become key factors shaping Bangladesh's approach to water management. With the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP), the country has begun an ambitious and holistic water management strategy. The plan puts water at its center for economic development and poverty reduction, and offers an adaptive approach for devising investment plans under climate uncertainties.2 Its implementation is not without challenges, because it would require strong interagency coordination, capacity building, and vast financial resources. This report documents the role of water in Bangladesh's economy and the major water-related challenges. It aims to help develop a common approach in the sector among the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), the World Bank Group, and development partners in alignment with the BDP goals, the GoB's Eighth Five-Year Plan (8FYP), and the World Bank Country Partnership Framework. The diagnostic assesses evidence from data, literature, and official documents to produce a synthesis of water-related challenges, and concludes with a set of priorities for enabling growth and tackling poverty for the next decade. Each challenge or priority area may be cross-cutting or relevant to one or several BDP areas (hotspots).

Flood Control --- Groundwater --- Hygiene --- River Basin Management --- Water Policy and Governance --- Water Resource Management --- Water Resources --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

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This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group's effectiveness in supporting improved access to adequate, reliable, and sustained water and sanitation services in client countries. It also examines how well the Bank Group is equipped to support the countries in moving toward sustained water and sanitation services for all, with a focus on the poor, in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 6. The World Bank Group provided USD 30.3 billion for WSS to client countries during FY2007-16. The World Bank accounted for the largest share with USD 28.4 billion (93 percent), followed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with USD 1.5 billion (5 percent), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) with USD 0.4 billion (2 percent). Lack of financial viability and accountability of service providers are at the core of gaps and disparities in global water and sanitation services, and the World Bank Group's response has been inadequate. Securing financial viability and institutional accountability is also crucial to attract much needed investments into the water and sanitation service sector, including private sector finance. The water and sanitation services sector faces cross-sectoral challenges that are approaching crisis proportions in many areas, but the World Bank Group has not developed yet a systematic response to address such challenges. Without tackling financial viability and cross-sectoral impacts head-on, credible progress towards SDG 6 is unlikely. IEG's evaluation also highlights pioneering and successful initiatives by the Bank in the WSS sector in several countries. The challenge is to replicate these positive experiences elsewhere.

Accountability --- Governance --- International Governmental Organizations --- Rural Water --- Water Resources --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Finance --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

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This case study examines the container-based sanitation (CBS) service provided by x-runner in the low-income formal/informal settlements in peri-urban Lima. x-runner provides a safe sanitation chain in poor nonsewered neighborhoods in the hills of the outskirts of southwest Lima for a population that does not have (and probably will not have for some years) any safe or hygienic alternative. x-runner operates in difficult-to-access areas, sometimes relying on lockers for users to drop off their sealed full containers. The company is leveraging the capacities of its suppliers to reduce the complexity of its business to a manageable level and the number of customers has been growing steadily, with an average of around 24 new households per month. Although some customers expressed the view that the price for the service is high, they appear to be willing to pay it and the level of satisfaction with the service for x-runner customers is high. Going forward, an explicit recognition of CBS-or a category into which CBS clearly falls-as a viable sanitation system for the urban poor, would be an important factor for enabling public sector support.

Waste Disposal and Utilization --- Waste Management --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Economics --- Water Supply and Sanitation Finance --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions