Urban water governance today – Setting the scene

Intensifying water competition across users (e.g. households, farmers, urban dwellers and industry) renewing ageing infrastructure, restoring the ecological status of water bodies preserving ecosystems and maintaining adequate access to, and quality of, drinking water and sanitation services, all require a dynamic analysis of who does what, at which level, how and with whom, to assess whether governance structures are wellequipped to deliver intended water policy outcomes. This chapter sets the scene and argues that some characteristics exogenous to the water sector, namely size, spatial patterns, demographic dynamics and metropolitan governance arrangements, can affect water management in cities.