Abstract
Water security, the access to adequate amounts of water of adequate quality, is and will remain a hugely important issue over the next decades as climate change and related hazards, food insecurity, and social instability will exacerbate insecurities. Despite attempts made by researchers and water professionals to study different dimensions of water security in urban areas, there is still an absence of comprehensive water security measurement tools. This study aims to untangle the interrelationship between biophysical and socio-economic dimensions that shape water security in a megacity in the Global South—Kolkata, India. It provides an interdisciplinary understanding of urban water security by extracting and integrating relevant empirical knowledge on urban water issues in the city from physical, environmental, and social sciences approaches. To do so we use intersectional perspectives to analyze urban water security at a micro (respondent) level and associated challenges across and between areas within the city. The study concludes with the recommendation that future studies should make use of comprehensive and inclusive approaches so we can ensure that we leave no one behind.
Highlights
Water security is defined as “the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems, and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments, and economies” (Grey and Sadoff, 2007, p. 548), which embodies a complex, multi-dimensional, and interdependent set of issues (Wheater, 2015)
While water scarcity has historically been more severe in rural areas, emerging research has shown a worsening availability and quality of water in urban areas and urban areas are the focus of this study (Maiti and Agrawal, 2005; Mohan et al, 2011; Cook and Bakker, 2012; Mukherjee et al, 2020, 2021)
The Urban Water Security Index (UWSI) aggregates the components of water security into a single index which represents the set of information collected through survey, and we argue, that this index improves assessment of the multidimensional issues affecting water security
Summary
Water security is defined as “the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems, and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments, and economies” (Grey and Sadoff, 2007, p. 548), which embodies a complex, multi-dimensional, and interdependent set of issues (Wheater, 2015). Water Security represents multiple challenges to twenty first century water management and crucial to achieve Sustainable Development (Cook and Bakker, 2012; UN, 2015). As a Sustainable Development Goal, water security has three primary dimensions: environmental, economic, and social (Giddings et al, 2002). To achieve “sustainability and security” within water security, each of these three dimensions should be addressed. From the rapidly changing urban perspective, the dimension of water security includes a focus ons the need for organizational and institutional flexibility and capabilities to address increasing uncertainty and change, a need for social capital and adaptive governance, and the need for engagement with stakeholders in knowledge exchange (Wheater, 2015). The interface between the scholars, practitioners and stakeholder communities has
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