Summary of the Main Points

The responses in Section 2 of the interviews demonstrate areas of strength and weakness in the institutional capacity. The strongest themes based on the number of respondents are human resources, policy and legal environment, political environment and practical considerations. The themes of information resources, financial resources, community awareness and involvement have some minor gaps, while the theme of technological solution has major gaps. This means, overall, Abu Dhabi has a sufficient foundation and the essential capacities needed to implement the soft-path approach, yet some changes and improvements are still needed in order to achieve better outcomes. The ‘essentials’ mentioned in the Table 5.5 are listed based on the previous classification obtained from Table 2.3 ‘indicators’ in accordance with Path (2010). These were used to formulate questions regarding institutional capacity as listed in Appendix D. The findings are summarized below in Table 5.5.

128 Table 5.5: Implementation of the Soft-Path Approach in AD: Analyzing Institutional

Capacity

Theme Essentials Implementation Gaps

Human resources - Knowledge and skills necessary to manage water resources effectively.

- Strategic goals include the development of professional and skilled personnel in water management.

- Provision of new training opportunities.

- There is limited access to training as two

Interviewees stated that access to training is not always available in the governmental entities. Information resources - Ability to access and share data on water supply and demand. - The majority of organizations have regular access to essential information resources. - Information sharing is observed to reinforce partnership and collaboration.

- Poor monitoring of data.

- Staff is not effective in accessing and

implementation of recent research evidence.

- Less efforts towards observing water

consumption pattern and advancement of

technology.

- Less efforts for observing impact of future climate change.

Financial resources

- Funding.

- Cost

management.

- The government invests in water conservation and protection programs.

- Water rates reflect the full cost of services.

- Recent budget cuts indicate that the budget in the water sector is not always constant and predictable across the sector.

- The cost-effective measures are not taken into account.

- Systematic monitoring of water rates for different services is not provisioned. Policy and legal environment - Formulation of clear sustainability goals and alignment of water conservation initiatives with other planning activities. - Water Resources Management Strategy that prioritizes water conservation and the integration of efficient water use practices.

- Water conservation efforts are integrated with economic and land-use planning.

- Sustainability is an explicit goal of Abu Dhabi’s water policy.

- Sizing of water

infrastructure to meet the demand.

129 Table 5.5: Implementation of the Soft-Path Approach in AD: Analyzing Institutional

Capacity (Continued)

Theme Essentials Implementation Gaps

Political environment

- Cooperation among sectors and leaders.

- The activities of the local governmental bodies are coordinated with federal ones.

- The water sector actively advocates for water conservation.

- The water sector collaborates with private and community organizations.

- Different agencies in the water sector collaborate well.

- No significant gaps were identified. Community awareness and involvement - Ability of the public to influence decision making. - Community education.

- The government aims to promote community awareness regarding sustainable practices and their significance.

- The level of community involvement remains relatively low. Technological solutions - Advanced water management and information management technologies. - Promotion of widespread implementation of automatic irrigation systems for outdoor water conservation, as well as leakage monitoring among households. - Limited adherence to leak-repair schedules.

- There is currently no law regulating the utilisation of automatic irrigation systems in Abu Dhabi.

Practical considerations - Consideration of social tendencies in strategic planning. - Provision of implementation feasibility.

- Policies and strategies are feasible to

implement.

- The water sector pays attention to social science’s contribution to water conservation.

- No significant gaps are identified.

Source: Column 1 and 2 are based on Patch (2010); Column 3 and 4 are based on the interviews, as discussed in the text.

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5.4 Conclusion

The analysis of results from both Sections 1 and 2 reveals that there are both strengths and limitations in organizational performance in relation to the soft-path implementation. Four principles of the soft-path approach are covered to varying degrees by various programs, laws, policies and government actions in Abu Dhabi’s water sector. The major strengths related to the applicability of the soft-path approach included increase in investment in wastewater treatment, laws for water use control and water protection (e.g. Law No. 2 of 1998, Law No. 17 of 2005, et cetera) provide guidelines for sustainable water use, the abstraction of groundwater is monitored under Law No. 5 of 2016, water recycling and waste water treatment, and formulation of future goals for sustainable water management in Abu Dhabi. The major strengths related to the implementability of the soft-path approach are the availability of skilled human resources and opportunities for their development, supportive legal and political environments, and the feasibility of the realization of distinct water conservation policies and programs.

As for the weaknesses, the water sector has barriers to a more successful application of soft path principles, such as the lack of sufficient cascading water systems due to infrastructural inefficiencies, poor monitoring of demand patterns, less efforts in observing the water consumption patterns, less concerned with climatic change impact in future, and increased use of treated wastewater for irrigation, district cooling, and landscaping. Major strengths include: provision of new training opportunities, majority of organizations have regular access to essential information, information sharing, government investments in conservation and protection programs, and cooperation of active local government.

131 The major weaknesses associated with the institutional capacity to implement soft path are the lack of predictable budgets, low levels of community involvement in decision-making, the lack of laws regulating the utilization of automatic irrigation systems in Abu Dhabi, and the limited adherence to water leakage schedules. The identified gaps and weaknesses indicate that some improvements are required in certain areas of performance. Potential solutions that may improve the situation will be discussed in the following chapter.

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