Assessing Water Poverty of Livelihood Groups in Peri-Urban Areas around Dhaka under a Changing Environment

Lamiya Sharmeen Jaren,M Shahjahan Mondal

doi:10.3390/w13192674

Abstract

Water poverty, measured by the Water Poverty Index (WPI), is traditionally applied at country and community levels. This study presents a livelihood-inclusive approach for measuring WPI at the livelihood group level. The specific objectives are to evaluate present and future WPIs for different livelihood groups, such as large and small male farmers, female farmers, male and female industrial workers and economically inactive women. Primary data are collected from three peri-urban areas around Dhaka using a mixed approach, including a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 260 respondents. The WPIs are calculated by using a weighted multiplicative function, and the component weights are assigned by principal component analysis. The results show that the economically inactive women are presently the most water-poor group, with a WPI value of 41, whereas the small male farmers would be the most water-poor group in the future, with a WPI value of 34. Environmental changes, such as high temperature, variability in rainfall and surface water, lowering of groundwater level, rapid population growth and unplanned urbanization, are found to be responsible for the dynamism in WPIs for different livelihood groups. The Resource and Environment components should be paid immediate attention in order to protect peri-urban livelihood groups from future water poverty.

Highlights

Modern water management has emerged from a background of engineering, rather than social discourse, and it is time for “soft water paths” [1]
The climatic and environmental drivers in peri-urban areas around Dhaka would deteriorate in the future
The future Water Poverty Index (WPI) values for different livelihood groups could decrease in physical components (Resource and Environment)

Summary

Introduction

Modern water management has emerged from a background of engineering, rather than social discourse, and it is time for “soft water paths” [1]. The concept of water poverty is introduced, which is an essential part of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). IWRM embraces economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and social equity—the three E’s—and is considered as one of the main policy paradigms in water resources management [2]. Water management issues are related to drinking water access, cooking and sanitation through policy failure, lack of infrastructure and low capacity [4]. These factors lead to the development of indicator approaches in water resource research. The links between poverty, social deprivation, environmental integrity, water availability and health become clear through the underlying framework of the WPI [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion