Disambiguating Concepts of Fairness in Stormwater Management: A Review of Economic Efficiency and Equity

• Published in: Water resources research Vol. 60; no. 5
• Main Author: Arik, Aida D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.05.2024; American Geophysical Union; Wiley
• Subjects: Climate change; Convergence; economic efficiency; Economics; Efficiency; Environmental degradation; Environmental Sciences; Equity; fairness; Financing; Humanities and Social Sciences; Infrastructure; Literature reviews; Municipalities; Public service utilities; Stormwater; Stormwater management; stormwater utility; Water management; Water quality; Water utilities; stormwater utility; Economic efficiency; equity; Fairness; Stormwater management
• ISSN: 0043-1397; 1944-7973
• DOI: 10.1029/2023WR035743

To confront the converging challenges of failing infrastructure, climate change, degraded water quality, and fewer undeveloped lands, many municipalities are establishing stormwater utilities (SWUs) to allocate a dedicated funding source to stormwater management (SWM) services. As a public service, creating a “fair” SWU by defining collective values that reflect community and municipal needs is crucial. However, the prevalent professional discourse surrounding SWUs often conflates “equity” with “economic efficiency” when they are two theoretically separate concepts, which obscure concerns raised by service beneficiaries. This paper unpacks ideas of fairness based on a systematic literature review that frames SWM financing in terms of economic efficiency and SWM services in terms of distributional, procedural, and structural equity. The distinction of which is important to set appropriate expectations between SWUs and beneficiaries. Plain Language Summary Many municipalities are creating stormwater utilities to fund stormwater management (SWM) services in the face of infrastructure challenges, climate change, and degraded water quality. Creating a “fair” public service utility requires defining collective values that reflect community needs. However, current professional discourse tends to overuse and misuse the term “equity,” which can muddle concerns about “fairness” raised by service beneficiaries. This review paper unpacks SWM financing and services in terms of economic efficiency and distributional, procedural, and structural equity. Key Points The term “equity” is often misused in professional stormwater financing discourse to describe concepts of “economic efficiency” Appropriately defining economic efficiency and equity in stormwater management is crucial to setting public service expectations Defining fairness in stormwater financing (economic efficiency) and services (equity) for a municipality largely depends on its context