Governance Arrangements for Water Reuse: Assessing Emerging Trends for Inter-Municipal Cooperation through a Literature Review

Abstract

The transition towards a Water Circular Economy (WCE), in the sense of water reuse, demands cooperative governance and territorial rescaling to overcome fragmentations in sectors and water policies. While the transition is challenging for local governments and crosses economic sectors and spatial scales, Inter-Municipal Cooperation IMC is gaining popularity due to its ability to contribute additional human, financial, and technological resources. However, cooperative governance arrangements require studying its benefits and impacts in its context. This study explores how IMC is being considered as a governance arrangement for the transitions towards WCE by conducting a review of the literature. The findings indicate that IMC appears as a promising government arrangement for WCE because it incorporates several significant potentials, such as facilitating the conciliation of interests between agencies, stakeholder engagement, and effective land use for water management. The literature reflects that the success of IMC for the adoption of WCE requires the simultaneous consideration of a set of governance practices, the assurance of cost efficiency and financial balance, and the assessment of social and environmental consequences. Nevertheless, these dimensions are not equally addressed by the literature. While governance and efficiency are often referred to, the assessment of IMC experiences in the context of WCE is still poorly explored, deserving further research.