The International Water Resources Association (IWRA), Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), and Asia Water Council (AWC) announced a call for applications for pilot cities for the “Smart Water Cities Project.”
The Call for Pilot Cities was directed to cities that wish to evaluate and improve the sustainability of their local water services provision and urban water resources management. By participating in the pilot test for the Smart Water Cities project, the selected cities will get a complimentary assessment report, which includes a full diagnosis of the functioning of their urban water systems and a comprehensive proposal on how to improve them, both in terms of the technologies to employ and the measures needed to enhance their local financial, human, and regulatory capacities.
The pilot involves a team of water experts from IWRA and K-water – the Smart Water Cities Technical Assessment Team – reviewing urban water management structures, data, and information systems in the selected cities. With the help and contributions from the local water stakeholders, the assessment team will examine the cities’ water sector performance according to a comprehensive set of indicators, which will offer a complete overview and representation of the strengths and weaknesses of the cities’ urban water resources management and urban water service provision. The pilot assessments will be confidential; results will not be made public without the explicit consent from the cities’ authorities.
Interested Organisations
Application and Criteria for Selection
Organisations involved in the management and/or regulation of water resources and water services at the local level are invited to submit their candidacies, either individually or as part of a consortium. This includes entities directly responsible for these tasks, such as local and metropolitan authorities, public bodies, water regulators, water operators, etc.
We encouraged research centres, universities, and non-profit organisations with knowledge and experience in the functioning of water services provision and water resources management in cities to submit a proposal.
In all cases, participant organisations need to ensure that they have access to, and are entitled to share, data and information concerning the urban water system for the technical assessment team.
Cities willing to participate in this call had to submit a completed application form – See Appendix 1.
Following a review of all the applications, the Steering Committee of the Smart Water Cities Project will select Pilot Cities according to according to a comprehensive set of indicators as referred to in the terms and conditions document and the main criteria as follows:
1. City relevance: The selected cities will be as different as possible to allow for the pilot tests to consider different urban contexts. Questions asked include:
- Is the city’s description comprehensive and complete?
- Are the urban water challenges clearly presented?
- Is water management and water services provision a relevant point in the local agenda?
2. Local commitment: During the Pilot City assessment, the applicant organisations need to facilitate an examination of the city’s water systems.
- Are the applicant organisations directly responsible for water services provision or water management in city?
- Are the members of the consortium able to provide support to the technical team undertaking the evaluation
3. Feasibility of the case study:
- Does the city collect and facilitate access to water data and sources of data and information, including contacts with policymakers and implementers, water users, data records, etc.?
Thank you for your applications!
