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111-483: The company was founded as the Hackensack Water Company in 1869 as a water supply and storage company. Adrian Leiby's monograph, The Hackensack Water Company, 1869-1969 , provides an interesting history of the company's first century, both covering key people and events and their contemporary context. The company originally served the city of Hackensack and the towns of North Hudson . It grew over

222-655: A coordination problem , a situation in which all parties can realize mutual gains, but only by making mutually consistent decisions. Divergent national standards impose costs on consumers and can be a form of non-tariff trade barrier . Standard weights and measures were developed by the Indus Valley civilization . The centralized weight and measure system served the commercial interest of Indus merchants as smaller weight measures were used to measure luxury goods while larger weights were employed for buying bulkier items, such as food grains etc. Weights existed in multiples of

333-471: A 12 mm pipe, plus ball valve, and then supply the house on 22 or 28 mm pipes. Gravity water has a small pressure (say 1 ⁄ 4 bar in the bathroom) so needs wide pipes to allow for higher flows. This is fine for baths and toilets but is frequently inadequate for showers. A booster pump or a hydrophore is installed to increase and maintain pressure. For this reason urban houses are increasingly using mains pressure boilers ("combies") which take

444-622: A 500-year period. The 13.7-g weight seems to be one of the units used in the Indus valley. The notation was based on the binary and decimal systems. 83% of the weights which were excavated from the above three cities were cubic, and 68% were made of chert . The implementation of standards in industry and commerce became highly important with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the need for high-precision machine tools and interchangeable parts . Henry Maudslay developed

555-756: A 55° thread angle and a thread depth of 0.640327 p and a radius of 0.137329 p , where p is the pitch. The thread pitch increased with diameter in steps specified on a chart. An example of the use of the Whitworth thread is the Royal Navy 's Crimean War gunboats. These were the first instance of "mass-production" techniques being applied to marine engineering. With the adoption of BSW by British railway lines, many of which had previously used their own standard both for threads and for bolt head and nut profiles, and improving manufacturing techniques, it came to dominate British manufacturing. American Unified Coarse

666-666: A Ministry of Public Works (such as in Ecuador and Haiti ), a Ministry of Economy (such as in German states) or a Ministry of Energy (such as in Iran ). A few countries, such as Jordan and Bolivia , even have a Ministry of Water. Often several Ministries share responsibilities for water supply. In the European Union, important policy functions have been entrusted to the supranational level. Policy and regulatory functions include

777-714: A brass foundry in Rotherham . The first documented use of sand filters to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a bleachery in Paisley, Scotland , John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted surplus to the public. The first treated public water supply in the world was installed by engineer James Simpson for the Chelsea Waterworks Company in London in 1829. The practice of water treatment soon became mainstream, and

888-566: A component of effective policy for health protection." In 1990, only 76 percent of the global population had access to drinking water. By 2015 that number had increased to 91 percent. In 1990, most countries in Latin America, East and South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa were well below 90%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates are lowest, household access ranges from 40 to 80 percent. Countries that experience violent conflict can have reductions in drinking water access: One study found that

999-611: A conflict with about 2,500 battle deaths deprives 1.8% of the population of potable water. Typically in developed countries , tap water meets drinking water quality standards , even though only a small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Other typical uses for tap water include washing, toilets, and irrigation . Greywater may also be used for toilets or irrigation. Its use for irrigation however may be associated with risks. Throughout history, people have devised systems to make getting and using water more convenient. Living in semi-arid regions, ancient Persians in

1110-493: A consumption level of 15 cubic meters per month. Few utilities do recover all their costs. According to the same World Bank study only 30% of utilities globally, and only 50% of utilities in developed countries, generate sufficient revenue to cover operation, maintenance and partial capital costs. According to another study undertaken in 2006 by NUS Consulting, the average water and sewerage tariff in 14 mainly OECD countries excluding VAT varied between US$ 0.66 per cubic meter in

1221-467: A deep valley, it will have the same nominal pressure, however each consumer will get a bit more or less because of the hydrostatic pressure (about 1 bar/10 m height). So people at the bottom of a 30-metre (100 ft) hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top. The effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance, even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15-mm pipe running from

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1332-701: A few cases such multi-utilities also collect solid waste and provide local telephone services. An example of such an integrated utility can be found in the Colombian city of Medellín . Utilities that provide water, sanitation and electricity can be found in Frankfurt , Germany (Mainova), in Casablanca , Morocco and in Gabon in West Africa. Multi-utilities provide certain benefits such as common billing and

1443-514: A great degree of autonomy. In the United States regulatory agencies for utilities have existed for almost a century at the level of states, and in Canada at the level of provinces. In both countries they cover several infrastructure sectors. In many U.S. states they are called Public Utility Commissions . For England and Wales, a regulatory agency for water ( OFWAT ) was created as part of

1554-429: A huge amount of capital investment in infrastructure such as pipe networks, pumping stations and water treatment works . It is estimated that in developing countries investments of at least US$ 200 billion have to be made per year to replace aging water infrastructure to guarantee supply, reduce leakage rates and protect water quality. International attention has focused upon the needs of developing countries . To meet

1665-404: A larger network and attracting more consumers to use the new technology, further enhancing network effects. Other benefits of standardization to consumers are reduced uncertainty, because consumers can be more certain that they are not choosing the wrong product, and reduced lock-in, because the standard makes it more likely that there will be competing products in the space. Consumers may also get

1776-424: A long time to fill a bath but suit the high back pressure of a shower. A great variety of institutions have responsibilities in water supply. A basic distinction is between institutions responsible for policy and regulation on the one hand; and institutions in charge of providing services on the other hand. Water supply policies and regulation are usually defined by one or several Ministries, in consultation with

1887-410: A mandate to settle complaints by consumers that have not been dealt with satisfactorily by service providers. These specialized entities are expected to be more competent and objective in regulating service providers than departments of government Ministries. Regulatory agencies are supposed to be autonomous from the executive branch of government, but in many countries have often not been able to exercise

1998-441: A measuring instrument or procedure is similar to every subjects or patients. For example, educational psychologist may adopt structured interview to systematically interview the people in concern. By delivering the same procedures, all subjects is evaluated using same criteria and minimising any confounding variable that reduce the validity . Some other example includes mental status examination and personality test . In

2109-504: A merger of two predecessor organizations (Bern and Paris treaties) that had similar objectives, but in more limited territories. With the advent of radiocommunication soon after the creation, the work of the ITU quickly expanded from the standardization of Telegraph communications, to developing standards for telecommunications in general. By the mid to late 19th century, efforts were being made to standardize electrical measurement. Lord Kelvin

2220-448: A metal fastening on the other side were usually fastened in non-threaded ways (such as clinching or upsetting against a washer). Maudslay standardized the screw threads used in his workshop and produced sets of taps and dies that would make nuts and bolts consistently to those standards, so that any bolt of the appropriate size would fit any nut of the same size. This was a major advance in workshop technology. Maudslay's work, as well as

2331-496: A poor or very poor quality of service. Continuity of water supply is taken for granted in most developed countries but is a severe problem in many developing countries, where sometimes water is only provided for a few hours every day or a few days a week; that is, it is intermittent . This is especially problematic for informal settlements , which are often poorly connected to the water supply network and have no means of procuring alternative sources such as private boreholes . It

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2442-1028: A regional level (e.g. Europa, the Americas, Africa, etc) or at subregional level (e.g. Mercosur, Andean Community, South East Asia, South East Africa, etc), several Regional Standardization Organizations exist (see also Standards Organization ). The three regional standards organizations in Europe – European Standardization Organizations (ESOs), recognised by the EU Regulation on Standardization (Regulation (EU) 1025/2012) – are CEN , CENELEC and ETSI . CEN develops standards for numerous kinds of products, materials, services and processes. Some sectors covered by CEN include transport equipment and services, chemicals, construction, consumer products, defence and security, energy, food and feed, health and safety, healthcare, digital sector, machinery or services. The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)

2553-507: A scientific basis, the robustness and applicability of a scientific basis, whether adoption of the certifications is voluntary, and the socioeconomic context (systems of governance and the economy ), with possibly most certifications being so far mostly largely ineffective. Moreover, standardized scientific frameworks can enable evaluation of levels of environmental protection, such as of marine protected areas , and serve as, potentially evolving, guides for improving, planning and monitoring

2664-466: A single city, town or municipality . However, in many countries municipalities have associated in regional or inter-municipal or multi-jurisdictional utilities to benefit from economies of scale . In the United States these can take the form of special-purpose districts which may have independent taxing authority. An example of a multi-jurisdictional water utility in the United States is WASA ,

2775-407: A small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. Water supply is a separate topic from irrigation , the practice and systems of water supply on a larger scale, for a wider variety of purposes, primarily agriculture . Water supply systems get water from

2886-472: A standard weight and in categories. Technical standardisation enabled gauging devices to be effectively used in angular measurement and measurement for construction. Uniform units of length were used in the planning of towns such as Lothal , Surkotada , Kalibangan , Dolavira , Harappa , and Mohenjo-daro . The weights and measures of the Indus civilization also reached Persia and Central Asia , where they were further modified. Shigeo Iwata describes

2997-557: A sustained improvement track, but many others keep falling further behind best practice. Benchmarking the performance of utilities allows the stimulation of competition, establish realistic targets for improvement and create pressure to catch up with better utilities. Information on benchmarks for water and sanitation utilities is provided by the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities. The cost of supplying water consists, to

3108-576: A trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures and waste of water. Pressure in an urban water system is typically maintained either by a pressurised water tank serving an urban area, by pumping the water up into a water tower and relying on gravity to maintain a constant pressure in the system or solely by pumps at the water treatment plant and repeater pumping stations. Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar (60–70 PSI ) for an urban supply. However, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross

3219-485: A typical consumption of 15 cubic meters per month vary between less than US$ 1 and US$ 12 per month. Water and sanitation tariffs, which are almost always billed together, can take many different forms. Where meters are installed, tariffs are typically volumetric (per usage), sometimes combined with a small monthly fixed charge. In the absence of meters, flat or fixed rates—which are independent of actual consumption—are being charged. In developed countries, tariffs are usually

3330-759: A utility serving Washington, D.C. and various localities in the state of Maryland . Multi-jurisdictional utilities are also common in Germany, where they are known as "Zweckverbaende", in France and in Italy. In some federal countries, there are water service providers covering most or all cities and towns in an entire state, such as in all states of Brazil and some states in Mexico (see Water supply and sanitation in Mexico ). In England and Wales , water supply and sewerage

3441-516: A utility to better locate distribution losses (technical objective). Fourth, it allows suppliers to charge for water based on use, which is perceived by many as the fairest way to allocate the costs of water supply to users. Metering is considered good practice in water supply and is widespread in developed countries, except for the United Kingdom . In developing countries it is estimated that half of all urban water supply systems are metered and

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3552-520: A variety of benefits and drawbacks for firms and consumers participating in the market, and on technology and innovation. The primary effect of standardization on firms is that the basis of competition is shifted from integrated systems to individual components within the system. Prior to standardization a company's product must span the entire system because individual components from different competitors are incompatible, but after standardization each company can focus on providing an individual component of

3663-423: A variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater ( aquifers ), surface water ( lakes and rivers ), and the sea through desalination . The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification , disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation . Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs , which can be elevated such as water towers or on

3774-418: A very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). The full cost of supplying water in urban areas in developed countries is about US$ 1–2 per cubic meter depending on local costs and local water consumption levels. The cost of sanitation (sewerage and wastewater treatment )

3885-434: A viable solution including Rainwater harvesting and Stormwater harvesting where policies are eventually tending towards a more rational use and sourcing of water incorporation concepts such as "Fit for Purpose". Water supply service quality has many dimensions: continuity; water quality ; pressure; and the degree of responsiveness of service providers to customer complaints. Many people in developing countries receive

3996-497: Is a Canadian Crown Corporation , DGN is a governmental agency within the Mexican Ministry of Economy, and ANSI and AENOR are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with members from both the private and public sectors. The determinants of whether an NSB for a particular economy is a public or private sector body may include the historical and traditional roles that the private sector fills in public affairs in that economy or

4107-622: Is also a risk that staff are appointed mainly on political grounds rather than based on their professional credentials. International standards for water supply system are covered by International Classification of Standards (ICS) 91.140.60. Comparing the performance of water and sanitation service providers ( utilities ) is needed, because the sector offers limited scope for direct competition ( natural monopoly ). Firms operating in competitive markets are under constant pressure to out perform each other. Water utilities are often sheltered from this pressure, and it frequently shows: some utilities are on

4218-559: Is an essential governance reform in order to reduce the high levels of Unaccounted-for Water (UAW) and to provide the finance needed to extend the network to those poorest households who remain unconnected. Partnership arrangements between the public and private sector can play an important role in order to achieve this objective. An estimated 10 percent of urban water supply is provided by private or mixed public-private companies, usually under concessions , leases or management contracts . Under these water service contract arrangements

4329-454: Is another US$ 1–2 per cubic meter. These costs are somewhat lower in developing countries. Throughout the world, only part of these costs is usually billed to consumers, the remainder being financed through direct or indirect subsidies from local, regional or national governments (see section on tariffs). Besides subsidies water supply investments are financed through internally generated revenues as well as through debt. Debt financing can take

4440-455: Is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis. Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension. There are thousands of parameters of water quality. In public water supply systems water should, at a minimum, be disinfected—most commonly through the use of chlorination or the use of ultraviolet light—or it may need to undergo treatment, especially in

4551-448: Is insulated from arbitrary political intervention; and whether there is an explicit mandate and political will to allow the service provider to recover all or at least most of its costs through tariffs and retain these revenues. If water supply is the responsibility of a department that is integrated in the administration of a city, town or municipality, there is a risk that tariff revenues are diverted for other purposes. In some cases, there

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4662-674: Is likely the sole member from that economy in ISO. NSBs may be either public or private sector organizations, or combinations of the two. For example, the three NSBs of Canada, Mexico and the United States are respectively the Standards Council of Canada ( SCC ), the General Bureau of Standards ( Dirección General de Normas , DGN), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). SCC

4773-578: Is not limited to the domain of electronic devices like smartphones and phone chargers but could also be applied to e.g. the energy infrastructure. Policy-makers could develop policies "fostering standard design and interfaces, and promoting the re-use of modules and components across plants to develop more sustainable energy infrastructure ". Computers and the Internet are some of the tools that could be used to increase practicability and reduce suboptimal results, detrimental standards and bureaucracy , which

4884-666: Is often associated with traditional processes and results of standardization. Taxes and subsidies, and funding of research and development could be used complementarily. Standardized measurement is used in monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks of environmental impacts, usually of companies, for example to prevent underreporting of greenhouse gas emissions by firms. In routine product testing and product analysis results can be reported using official or informal standards. It can be done to increase consumer protection , to ensure safety or healthiness or efficiency or performance or sustainability of products. It can be carried out by

4995-582: Is supplied almost entirely through ten regional companies. Some smaller countries, especially developed countries, have established service providers that cover the entire country or at least most of its cities and major towns. Such national service providers are especially prevalent in West Africa and Central America, but also exist, for example, in Tunisia , Jordan and Uruguay (see also water supply and sanitation in Uruguay ). In rural areas, where about half

5106-707: Is the European Standardization organization developing standards in the electrotechnical area and corresponding to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Europe. The first modern International Organization ( Intergovernmental Organization ) the International Telegraph Union (now International Telecommunication Union ) was created in 1865 to set international standards in order to connect national telegraph networks, as

5217-748: The Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of US$ 10 to US$ 15 billion would need to be roughly doubled. This does not include investments required for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. Once infrastructure is in place, operating water supply and sanitation systems entails significant ongoing costs to cover personnel, energy, chemicals, maintenance and other expenses. The sources of money to meet these capital and operational costs are essentially either user fees, public funds or some combination of

5328-543: The standard unit of electric current . R. E. B. Crompton became concerned by the large range of different standards and systems used by electrical engineering companies and scientists in the early 20th century. Many companies had entered the market in the 1890s and all chose their own settings for voltage , frequency , current and even the symbols used on circuit diagrams. Adjacent buildings would have totally incompatible electrical systems simply because they had been fitted out by different companies. Crompton could see

5439-527: The 1st millennium BC used qanat system to gain access to water in the mountains. Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use. Until the Enlightenment era , little progress was made in water supply and sanitation and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. It

5550-572: The 2012 meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, United Water made a commitment to engage private investors and work with municipalities to establish agreements wherein the company would take over operations, maintenance, and capital improvement of water utilities in municipalities across the country, starting with Nassau County, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey . This model won the Partnership Performance of

5661-809: The CEO of Suez North America. In 2014, Engineering News-Record ranked Suez North America the third largest provider of water treatment and supply services in the United States. In April 2014, United Water was given a $ 5.5 million state tax break from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to prevent the company from moving its headquarters out of New Jersey and into New York. The company still planned to move out of Harrington Park, considering two New Jersey locations. In June 2015, Suez Environnement opened their new North American Corporate Headquarters in Paramus, New Jersey. At

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5772-654: The National Standardizing Associations (ISA) was founded in 1926 with a broader remit to enhance international cooperation for all technical standards and specifications. The body was suspended in 1942 during World War II . After the war, ISA was approached by the recently formed United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) with a proposal to form a new global standards body. In October 1946, ISA and UNSCC delegates from 25 countries met in London and agreed to join forces to create

5883-681: The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards ( OASIS ). There are many specifications that govern the operation and interaction of devices and software on the Internet , which do not use the term "standard" in their names. The W3C , for example, publishes "Recommendations", and the IETF publishes " Requests for Comments " (RFCs). Nevertheless, these publications are often referred to as "standards", because they are

5994-682: The United States and the equivalent of US$ 2.25 per cubic meter in Denmark. However, water consumption is much higher in the US than in Europe. Therefore, residential water bills may be very similar, even if the tariff per unit of consumption tends to be higher in Europe than in the US. A typical family on the US East Coast paid between US$ 30 and US$ 70 per month for water and sewer services in 2005. In developing countries, tariffs are usually much further from covering costs. Residential water bills for

6105-527: The World Bank the average ( mean ) global water tariff is US$ 0.53 per cubic meter. In developed countries the average tariff is US$ 1.04, while it is only U$ 0.11 in the poorest developing countries. The lowest tariffs in developing countries are found in South Asia (mean of US$ 0.09/m3), while the highest are found in Latin America (US$ 0.41/m3). Data for 132 cities were assessed. The tariff is estimate for

6216-815: The Year award at the 2012 American Water Summit. In December 2012, United Water and KKR , together forming the Bayonne Water Joint Venture (BWJV), entered into a concession agreement with the Municipal Utilities Authority of Bayonne, New Jersey . The 40-year agreement is a public-private partnership between the BWJV and the city in which the private partners pay off the Bayonne Municipal Utility Authority's (BMUA) $ 130 million debt and take over

6327-475: The beginning of the 21st Century, especially in areas of urban and suburban population centers, traditional centralized infrastructure have not been able to supply sufficient quantities of water to keep up with growing demand. Among several options that have been managed are the extensive use of desalination technology, this is especially prevalent in coastal areas and in "dry" countries like Australia . Decentralization of water infrastructure has grown extensively as

6438-441: The best forms of public management. As Ryutaro Hashimoto , former Japanese Prime Minister, notes: "Public water services currently provide more than 90 percent of water supply in the world. Modest improvement in public water operators will have immense impact on global provision of services." Governance arrangements for both public and private utilities can take many forms (Kurian and McCarney, 2010). Governance arrangements define

6549-427: The case of surface water . Water quality is also dependent of the quality and level of pollution of the water source. Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system. Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to result only in

6660-409: The consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization can help maximize compatibility , interoperability , safety , repeatability , or quality . It can also facilitate a normalization of formerly custom processes. In social sciences , including economics , the idea of standardization is close to the solution for

6771-491: The context of customer service , standardization refers to the process of developing an international standard that enables organizations to focus on customer service, while at the same time providing recognition of success through a third party organization, such as the British Standards Institution . An international standard has been developed by The International Customer Service Institute . In

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6882-635: The context of supply chain management and materials management , standardization covers the process of specification and use of any item the company must buy in or make, allowable substitutions, and build or buy decisions. The process of standardization can itself be standardized. There are at least four levels of standardization: compatibility, interchangeability , commonality and reference . These standardization processes create compatibility, similarity, measurement, and symbol standards. There are typically four different techniques for standardization Types of standardization process: Standardization has

6993-683: The context of information exchange, standardization refers to the process of developing standards for specific business processes using specific formal languages . These standards are usually developed in voluntary consensus standards bodies such as the United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business ( UN/CEFACT ), the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C ), the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and

7104-550: The context of social criticism and social science , standardization often means the process of establishing standards of various kinds and improving efficiency to handle people, their interactions, cases, and so forth. Examples include formalization of judicial procedure in court, and establishing uniform criteria for diagnosing mental disease. Standardization in this sense is often discussed along with (or synonymously to) such large-scale social changes as modernization, bureaucratization, homogenization, and centralization of society. In

7215-526: The contributions of other engineers, accomplished a modest amount of industry standardization; some companies' in-house standards spread a bit within their industries. Joseph Whitworth 's screw thread measurements were adopted as the first (unofficial) national standard by companies around the country in 1841. It came to be known as the British Standard Whitworth , and was widely adopted in other countries. This new standard specified

7326-672: The country, and enabled the markets to act more rationally and efficiently, with an increased level of cooperation. After the First World War , similar national bodies were established in other countries. The Deutsches Institut für Normung was set up in Germany in 1917, followed by its counterparts, the American National Standard Institute and the French Commission Permanente de Standardisation , both in 1918. At

7437-833: The decades, extending its service to other towns of northern New Jersey and building several reservoirs , including Oradell Reservoir and, in partnership with the Spring Valley Water Company just across the New York state line, Lake DeForest . For a time in the early 20th century, it supplied Hoboken , although Hoboken later switched its water supply to the Jersey City water system. In 1983 Hackensack Water reorganized into United Water Resources, Inc., and in 1994 it acquired General Waterworks Corporation for $ 200 million. In 2000, Suez Environnement acquired United Water. In November 2008, Bertrand Camus became

7548-420: The development stage of that economy. Standards can be: The existence of a published standard does not necessarily imply that it is useful or correct. Just because an item is stamped with a standard number does not, by itself, indicate that the item is fit for any particular use. The people who use the item or service (engineers, trade unions, etc.) or specify it (building codes, government, industry, etc.) have

7659-400: The excavated weights unearthed from the Indus civilization: A total of 558 weights were excavated from Mohenjodaro, Harappa, and Chanhu-daro , not including defective weights. They did not find statistically significant differences between weights that were excavated from five different layers, each measuring about 1.5 m in depth. This was evidence that strong control existed for at least

7770-535: The first industrially practical screw-cutting lathe in 1800. This allowed for the standardization of screw thread sizes for the first time and paved the way for the practical application of interchangeability (an idea that was already taking hold) to nuts and bolts . Before this, screw threads were usually made by chipping and filing (that is, with skilled freehand use of chisels and files ). Nuts were rare; metal screws, when made at all, were usually for use in wood. Metal bolts passing through wood framing to

7881-437: The following: In the United States , the typical single family home uses about 520 L (138 US gal) of water per day (2016 estimate) or 222 L (58.6 US gal) per capita per day. This includes several common residential end use purposes (in decreasing order) like toilet use, showers , tap (faucet) use, washing machine use, leaks , other (unidentified), baths , and dishwasher use. During

7992-457: The form of credits from commercial Banks, credits from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks (in the case of developing countries), and bonds (in the case of some developed countries and some upper middle-income countries). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. According to estimates by

8103-465: The globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions (urban versus rural). It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization . The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to

8214-515: The ground (for indicators related to the efficiency of drinking water distribution see non-revenue water ). Once water is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake, or the sea or reused for landscaping or irrigation . A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes

8325-471: The international level . Standardization is also used to ensure safe design and operation of laboratories and similar potentially dangerous workplaces, e.g. to ensure biosafety levels . There is research into microbiology safety standards used in clinical and research laboratories. In the context of defense, standardization has been defined by NATO as The development and implementation of concepts, doctrines, procedures and designs to achieve and maintain

8436-497: The iron main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22-mm iron pipe, so their kitchen tap flow will be small. For this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally (prior to 1989) employed a "cistern feed" system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic . Water can dribble into this tank through

8547-630: The lack of efficiency in this system and began to consider proposals for an international standard for electric engineering. In 1904, Crompton represented Britain at the International Electrical Congress , held in connection with Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis as part of a delegation by the Institute of Electrical Engineers . He presented a paper on standardisation, which was so well received that he

8658-669: The legislative branch. In the United States the United States Environmental Protection Agency , whose administrator reports directly to the President, is responsible for water and sanitation policy and standard setting within the executive branch. In other countries responsibility for sector policy is entrusted to a Ministry of Environment (such as in Mexico and Colombia ), to a Ministry of Health (such as in Panama , Honduras and Uruguay ),

8769-584: The main losers from this institutional arrangement are the urban poor in these countries. Because they are not connected to the water supply network , they end up paying far more per liter of water than do more well-off households connected to the network who benefit from the implicit subsidies that they receive from loss-making utilities. The fact that we are still so far from achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation shows that public water authorities, in their current state, are not working well enough. Yet some are being very successful and are modelling

8880-645: The manufacturer, an independent laboratory, a government agency, a magazine or others on a voluntary or commissioned/mandated basis. Estimating the environmental impacts of food products in a standardized way – as has been done with a dataset of >57,000 food products in supermarkets – could e.g. be used to inform consumers or in policy . For example, such may be useful for approaches using personal carbon allowances (or similar quota) or for targeted alteration of (ultimate overall) costs . Public information symbols (e.g. hazard symbols ), especially when related to safety, are often standardized, sometimes on

8991-463: The national government. This is, for example, the case in the countries of continental Europe, in China and India. Water supply service providers, which are often utilities , differ from each other in terms of their geographical coverage relative to administrative boundaries; their sectoral coverage; their ownership structure; and their governance arrangements. Many water utilities provide services in

9102-484: The new International Organization for Standardization (ISO); the new organization officially began operations in February ;1947. In general, each country or economy has a single recognized National Standards Body (NSB). Examples include ABNT , AENOR (now called UNE, Spanish Association for Standardization ) , AFNOR , ANSI , BSI , DGN , DIN , IRAM , JISC , KATS , SABS , SAC , SCC , SIS . An NSB

9213-452: The operations, maintenance, and capital improvement of Bayonne's water and wastewater utilities in exchange for a regulated share of the revenue. United Water is managing the operations for the partnership, while KKR is providing 90% of the funding. In June 2014, Nassau County announced that it had partnered with United Water to operate its three wastewater treatment plants and sewage collection system for 20 years. In exchange for operating

9324-545: The option to cross-subsidize water services with revenues from electricity sales, if permitted by law. Water supply providers can be either public, private, mixed or cooperative. Most urban water supply services around the world are provided by public entities. As Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (2002) stated, "The water crisis that is affecting so many people is mainly a crisis of governance—not of water scarcity ." The introduction of cost-reflective tariffs together with cross-subsidization between richer and poorer consumers

9435-428: The overall low level of water tariffs in developing countries even at higher levels of consumption, most consumption subsidies benefit the wealthier segments of society. Also, high industrial and commercial tariffs can provide an incentive for these users to supply water from other sources than the utility (own wells, water tankers) and thus actually erode the utility's revenue base. Water supply and sanitation require

9546-541: The privatization of the water industry in 1989. In many developing countries, water regulatory agencies were created during the 1990s in parallel with efforts at increasing private sector participation. (for more details on regulatory agencies in Latin America, for example, please see Water and sanitation in Latin America and the regional association of water regulatory agencies ADERASA. ) Many countries do not have regulatory agencies for water. In these countries service providers are regulated directly by local government, or

9657-497: The products of regular standardization processes. Standardized product certifications such as of organic food , buildings or possibly sustainable seafood as well as standardized product safety evaluation and dis/approval procedures (e.g. regulation of chemicals , cosmetics and food safety ) can protect the environment. This effect may depend on associated modified consumer choices , strategic product support/obstruction, requirements and bans as well as their accordance with

9768-457: The protection-quality, -scopes and -extents. Moreover, technical standards could decrease electronic waste and reduce resource-needs such as by thereby requiring (or enabling) products to be interoperable , compatible (with other products, infrastructures, environments, etc), durable , energy-efficient , modular , upgradeable / repairable and recyclable and conform to versatile, optimal standards and protocols. Such standardization

9879-731: The public entity that is legally responsible for service provision delegates certain or all aspects of service provision to the private service provider for a period typically ranging from 4 to 30 years. The public entity continues to own the assets. These arrangements are common in France and in Spain . Only in few parts of the world water supply systems have been completely sold to the private sector ( privatization ), such as in England and Wales as well as in Chile . The largest private water companies in

9990-451: The public sector. They are owned by the state or local authorities, or also by collectives or cooperatives. They run without an aim for profit but are based on the ethos of providing a common good considered to be of public interest. In most middle and low-income countries, these publicly owned and managed water providers can be inefficient as a result of political interference, leading to over-staffing and low labor productivity. Ironically,

10101-412: The relationship between the service provider, its owners, its customers and regulatory entities. They determine the financial autonomy of the service provider and thus its ability to maintain its assets, expand services, attract and retain qualified staff, and ultimately to provide high-quality services. Key aspects of governance arrangements are the extent to which the entity in charge of providing services

10212-627: The required levels of compatibility , interchangeability or commonality in the operational, procedural, material, technical and administrative fields to attain interoperability. In some cases, standards are being used in the design and operation of workplaces and products that can impact consumers' health. Some of such standards seek to ensure occupational safety and health and ergonomics . For example, chairs (see e.g. active sitting and steps of research ) could be potentially be designed and chosen using standards that may or may not be based on adequate scientific data. Standards could reduce

10323-591: The responsibility to consider the available standards, specify the correct one, enforce compliance, and use the item correctly: validation and verification . To avoid the proliferation of industry standards, also referred to as private standards , regulators in the United States are instructed by their government offices to adopt "voluntary consensus standards" before relying upon "industry standards" or developing "government standards". Regulatory authorities can reference voluntary consensus standards to translate internationally accepted criteria into public policy . In

10434-594: The same for different categories of users and for different levels of consumption. In developing countries, the situation is often characterized by cross-subsidies with the intent to make water more affordable for residential low-volume users that are assumed to be poor. For example, industrial and commercial users are often charged higher tariffs than public or residential users. Also, metered users are often charged higher tariffs for higher levels of consumption (increasing-block tariffs). However, cross-subsidies between residential users do not always reach their objective. Given

10545-565: The setting of tariff rules and the approval of tariff increases; setting, monitoring and enforcing norms for quality of service and environmental protection; benchmarking the performance of service providers; and reforms in the structure of institutions responsible for service provision. The distinction between policy functions and regulatory functions is not always clear-cut. In some countries they are both entrusted to Ministries, but in others regulatory functions are entrusted to agencies that are separate from Ministries. Dozens of countries around

10656-554: The size and weight of a girder to employ for given work." The Engineering Standards Committee was established in London in 1901 as the world's first national standards body. It subsequently extended its standardization work and became the British Engineering Standards Association in 1918, adopting the name British Standards Institution in 1931 after receiving its Royal Charter in 1929. The national standards were adopted universally throughout

10767-465: The system. When the shift toward competition based on individual components takes place, firms selling tightly integrated systems must quickly shift to a modular approach, supplying other companies with subsystems or components. Standardization has a variety of benefits for consumers, but one of the greatest benefits is enhanced network effects. Standards increase compatibility and interoperability between products, allowing information to be shared within

10878-493: The tendency is increasing. Water meters are read by one of several methods: Most cities are increasingly installing automatic meter reading (AMR) systems to prevent fraud, to lower ever-increasing labor and liability costs and to improve customer service and satisfaction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "access to safe drinking-water is essential to health, a basic human right and

10989-410: The two. It is also important to consider is the flexibility of the water supply system. Metering of water supply is usually motivated by one or several of four objectives. First, it provides an incentive to conserve water which protects water resources (environmental objective). Second, it can postpone costly system expansion and saves energy and chemical costs (economic objective). Third, it allows

11100-411: The variety of products and lead to convergence on fewer broad designs – which can often be efficiently mass-produced via common shared automated procedures and instruments – or formulations deemed to be the most healthy, most efficient or best compromise between healthiness and other factors. Standardization is sometimes or could also be used to ensure or increase or enable consumer health protection beyond

11211-416: The virtues of the system were made starkly apparent after the investigations of the physician John Snow during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak demonstrated the role of the water supply in spreading the cholera epidemic. Standardization Standardization ( American English ) or standardisation ( British English ) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on

11322-435: The wastewater system and jurisdiction over its utility rates, which are not expected to rise. Water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities , commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes . Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around

11433-522: The wastewater system and providing at least $ 10 million in savings each year, Nassau County will pay United Water $ 57.4 million annually (adjusted for inflation). The county's financial consultant on the agreement, the PFM Group, estimated savings over the term of the contract at $ 233.1 million, and up to $ 378.9 million when synergy savings, including reduced overtime and personnel reassignments, are taken into account. Nassau County will maintain ownership of

11544-420: The workplace and ergonomics such as standards in food, food production, hygiene products, tab water, cosmetics, drugs/medicine, drink and dietary supplements, especially in cases where there is robust scientific data that suggests detrimental impacts on health (e.g. of ingredients) despite being substitutable and not necessarily of consumer interest. In the context of assessment, standardization may define how

11655-400: The world are Suez and Veolia Environnement from France; Aguas de Barcelona from Spain; and Thames Water from the UK, all of which are engaged internationally (see links to website of these companies below). In recent years, a number of cities have reverted to the public sector in a process called " remunicipalization ". 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services are currently in

11766-423: The world have established regulatory agencies for infrastructure services, including often water supply and sanitation, in order to better protect consumers and to improve efficiency. Regulatory agencies can be entrusted with a variety of responsibilities, including in particular the approval of tariff increases and the management of sector information systems, including benchmarking systems. Sometimes they also have

11877-504: The world population lives, water services are often not provided by utilities, but by community-based organizations which usually cover one or sometimes several villages. Some water utilities provide only water supply services, while sewerage is under the responsibility of a different entity. This is for example the case in Tunisia . However, in most cases water utilities also provide sewer and sewage treatment services. In some cities or countries utilities also distribute electricity. In

11988-464: Was an important figure in this process, introducing accurate methods and apparatus for measuring electricity. In 1857, he introduced a series of effective instruments, including the quadrant electrometer, which cover the entire field of electrostatic measurement. He invented the current balance , also known as the Kelvin balance or Ampere balance ( SiC ), for the precise specification of the ampere ,

12099-545: Was asked to look into the formation of a commission to oversee the process. By 1906 his work was complete and he drew up a permanent constitution for the International Electrotechnical Commission . The body held its first meeting that year in London, with representatives from 14 countries. In honour of his contribution to electrical standardisation, Lord Kelvin was elected as the body's first President. The International Federation of

12210-433: Was in the 18th century that a rapidly growing population fueled a boom in the establishment of private water supply networks in London . London water supply infrastructure developed over many centuries from early mediaeval conduits, through major 19th-century treatment works built in response to cholera threats, to modern, large-scale reservoirs. The first screw-down water tap was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes,

12321-938: Was originally based on almost the same imperial fractions. The Unified thread angle is 60° and has flattened crests (Whitworth crests are rounded). Thread pitch is the same in both systems except that the thread pitch for the 1 ⁄ 2  in. (inch) bolt is 12 threads per inch (tpi) in BSW versus 13 tpi in the UNC. By the end of the 19th century, differences in standards between companies were making trade increasingly difficult and strained. For instance, an iron and steel dealer recorded his displeasure in The Times : "Architects and engineers generally specify such unnecessarily diverse types of sectional material or given work that anything like economical and continuous manufacture becomes impossible. In this country no two professional men are agreed upon

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