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A watery form of sustainability
Author(s) -
Cashman A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2005.00020.x
Subject(s) - sustainability , sustainability organizations , citizen journalism , resource use , resource (disambiguation) , business , environmental economics , social sustainability , resource efficiency , term (time) , environmental resource management , natural resource economics , economics , political science , computer science , ecology , law , computer network , biology , physics , quantum mechanics
Regulation has been the most important driver in encouraging the water industry to move towards sustainability, but increasingly the appropriateness and effectiveness of regulation are being questioned. It is argued that, in its present form, sustainability as presented and supported through regulation equates to a form of weak sustainability that privileges the economic and subordinates the environment and societal spheres of sustainability. To overcome this, requires more long‐term perspectives, participatory mechanisms and moves beyond efficiency to intensity of resource use.