Abstract
Water scarcity is one of the leading challenges for sustainable development in the context of climate change, particularly for agriculturally reliant countries. Inadequate water supplies tend to generate environmental and health issues. Improvements in water supply systems should give priority to the region with the most severe mismatch between water supply and demand. To set priorities for the improvement of water supply systems, this study proposed a water supply-demand balance model to quantify the water supply-demand gap in the Koshi River basin and compared it with the traditional water vulnerability model. The results suggested that (1) the water supply-demand balance model had good applicability to the Koshi River basin and was superior to traditional models in identifying the region with the most severe mismatch; (2) the shortage of agricultural water was much more serious than that of domestic water in the basin; (3) the largest supply-demand gap of domestic water was in Tarai and that of agricultural water was in the hill areas; and (4) Four districts, including Lalitpur, Mahottari, Makwanpur, and Solukhumbu, were found to be the most water-stressed regions and priority should be given to them. Based on these findings, the priority setting in the improvement of water supply systems and adaptation strategies for mitigating water stress from the perspectives of the government, communities, and households were presented. It helps design water supply systems that match heterogeneous demands and optimize systems operation. Targeted improvements in water supply systems can make limited funds available to benefit more residents.
Highlights
Water scarcity is becoming a fundamental challenge globally [1,2,3,4]
The aims of this paper were threefold: first, to construct a water supplydemand balance model for areas with poor water supply facilities and compare the merits and demerits of the vulnerability and supply-demand approaches; second, to identify the region with the most severe mismatch between water supply and demand; and third, to present the priority setting in the improvement of water supply systems and adaptation strategies for mitigating water stress from the perspectives of the government, communities, and households
The results suggested that the main water issues in the Koshi River basin (KRB) were the lack of ability to exploit water resources and the low capacity to cope with water shortages rather than a shortage of water resources or the ability to conserve headwater
Summary
Water scarcity is becoming a fundamental challenge globally [1,2,3,4]. Water supply crises were identified as one of the greatest impacts and most likely challenges facing the planet, and these crises have greatly restricted economic development and worsened poverty [5,6]. There are multiple lines of evidence that most parts of the world, especially agricultural-dominant areas, have perceived the negative impacts of climate change on water supply, and the supply-demand contradiction will lead to more severe water shortages in the future [7]. Many residents in developing countries are disadvantaged concerning access to adequate domestic and agricultural water because of the severe mismatch between water supply and demand resulting from the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, the low performance of existing.
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