Assessing sectoral heterogeneity and leadership in urban water management networks

Many urban systems worldwide face increasing complexity and uncertainty in water governance. As a result, integrated urban water management (IUWM) has become increasingly common. The IUWM paradigm conceptualizes water supply, conveyance, and treatment as an integrated system to improve water management efficiency and sustainability. This approach often presents new responsibilities that require coordinated efforts and leadership, but factors such as professional protocols, limited time, legal mandates, and budgetary constraints may limit joint implementation. To understand how policy stakeholders translate goals into action, we ask: How do sectoral affiliation of governance stakeholder organizations and leadership influence patterns of joint implementation of programs and policies over time? Using inferential social network analysis, this paper examines how coordination and leadership play a role in the implementation of IUWM. We find that the presence of leaders has a significant effect on joint implementation of integrated programs and policies over time. Counter to our expectations, however, organizations from the same sector (e.g., local government, non-profit, private, etc.) tend to implement IUWM policies and programs together.