The role of business models and transitional pressures in attaining sustainable urban water management

Abstract

Many scholarly articles have argued that there is a need for a transition towards sustainable urban water management (SUWM). As businesses, water service providers (WSPs) must modify their business models to align with this goal. Explicit consideration of business models is, however, often missing from the literature relating to SUWM. More specifically, the economic level is often not given due consideration. To help address this gap, this paper reviews the potential role business models can play in attaining SUWM. Elements of a sustainability-based business model are presented, along with a case study of transitional pressures in Melbourne, Australia. The case study highlights factors that have a significant impact on the business models of WSPs, and it is concluded that customer willingness to pay and politicization of decisions must be addressed if transitions to sustainability-based business models are to be maintained over the long term.

Keywords:

• Integrated urban water management
• infrastructure
• socio-technical systems

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to CSIRO’s Water for a Healthy Country Flagship that funded this program of work. We would also like to thank the utility practitioners who provided input into the pilot studies, as well as the reviewers who provided comments on earlier drafts of the paper.