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This paper presents employee perspectives from two German water and wastewater utilities regarding their involvement in providing water and wastewater services for displaced persons in urban emergency accommodations. In 2015, 28 European countries received over two million applications for asylum, almost three times more than the previous year. According to the UNHCR, this rapid increase in population has reached the highest recorded displacement in the world’s history, even greater than that proceeding the Second World War. The German utilities are meeting these new demands; however, we lack knowledge regarding the impacts on the utilities as they provide water and wastewater services to the suddenly increased population. As a result of this gap, this study looks at how water and wastewater utilities perceive their involvement in this process and in what ways they legitimize their provision of water and wastewater services to displaced persons. Understanding this legitimation equips both utilities and other stakeholders to better understand how utilities regard their role in urban emergency response. Results show that individuals use their past experience (comprehensibility legitimacy) and understanding of socially acceptable technical processes (procedural legitimacy) to legitimize their role in the crisis organization. Comprehensibility legitimacy is used to express certainty in managing the technical challenges of providing water and wastewater services, while procedural legitimacy is used to justify improvisation to navigate gaps in design and construction guidelines for water and wastewater connections. Implications of this study suggest that although employees are confident in their ability to handle the situation, there are also opportunities for improving response in the future, such as creating more technical guidance for design water and wastewater connections for displaced persons in renovated buildings and new developments.
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PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS TOWARD THE IMPACT OF DISPLACED PERSONS IN GERMANY ON WATER AND WASTEWATER SYSTEMS
In 2015, approximately 12.4 million people were forcibly displaced due to conflict or persecution. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees this forced migration, caused by instability in the Middle East, continued into 2016 and continues in 2017. Many of those displaced persons have been hosted in developed countries. In 2015 alone, Germany accepted approximately 750,000 refugees and asylum seekers. This study evaluates how these German hosting communities perceive the impact of displaced persons on their water and wastewater systems. Data was collected in August 2016 via a survey deployed to the general public in Germany. The survey queried whether the additional population was temporary or permanent and whether their impact on water and wastewater systems was thought to be short or long term. Statistical modeling is used to estimate demographic (e.g., income, education) and geographic parameters (i.e., specific states) that affect the perceptions of the hosting communities. Decision makers in charge of trying to integrate displaced persons into their communities may minimize potential opposition by drawing on the implications of the findings of this study.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1624417
- PAR ID:
- 10050236
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Leadership in Sustainable Infrastructure
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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