Securing Water Availability Research Articles

Policy coherence assessment of water, energy, and food resources policies in the Tana River Basin, Kenya

Water, energy, and food resources are closely related in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, a tightly connected system in which impacts in one sector leads to changes in the other sectors. The WEF nexus approach studies these interactions to better understand their connections and implications across sectors, and is focused on making research practicable for policy. There is a clear lack of policy coherence studies to provide practical recommendations to achieve integrated resources management. This is true in the Tana River Basin (TRB), which provides abundant water, energy and food resources to the national economy and development of Kenya. This work carried out a WEF policy coherence assessment of the Tana River Basin. Results show that there are synergies and trade-offs across all resources sectors and their policy objectives. Water policies (e.g. to secure water availability) are generally evaluated as win-win, thus being supportive of attainment of goals in other policy sectors. Food policies (e.g. to develop the agricultural sector) show the highest number of trade-offs, suggesting these policies could be redesigned to minimise the trade-offs with other resource policies. This work highlights specifically which policies are relatively more or less supportive for holistic resources management in the TRB. In particular, the only TRB-level policy analysed (which is cross-resource in its ambition) shows synergies with national policy, offering opportunity for leveraging benefits and increasing implementation efficiency across resources. Strengthened cross-sectoral collaboration, joint workshops, and the establishment of a national cross-sectoral taskforce to develop aligned policies are recommended. This work provides a basis for similar studies across Africa, and promotes research that is of practical relevance.

Solar-Energy Innovative and Sustainable Solution for Freshwater and Food Production for Lake Titicaca Islands

Drought and scarcity of water resources require innovative and sustainable solutions to secure water availability for poor people. Choice of solar energy for desalination is a promising and sustainable cost-effective alternative for improving high quality water supply. Today, almost all Latin American countries use different desalination technologies except for Bolivia. Bolivia has an arid to semiarid climate and suffers from salinity problems especially the Altiplano area. Thus, there is a need to introduce innovative solution using latest technologies such solar desalination at locations with scarcity of freshwater. This study suggests implementing a small desalination plant of about 10 m3/day as a demonstration plant and then successively extending the capacity. As well, it is suggested to build a solar energy system with bigger capacity to cater not only for the desalination plant, but also the excess energy to be benefit for homes, roads lighting, and other important purposes for the local community to improve life standard of the people.

Solar-Energy Innovative and Sustainable Solution for Freshwater and Food Production for Lake Titicaca Islands

Drought and scarcity of water resources require innovative and sustainable solutions to secure water availability for poor people. Choice of solar energy for desalination is a promising and sustainable cost-effective alternative for improving high quality water supply. Today, almost all Latin American countries use different desalination technologies except for Bolivia. Bolivia has an arid to semiarid climate and suffers from salinity problems especially the Altiplano area. Thus, there is a need to introduce innovative solution using latest technologies such solar desalination at locations with scarcity of freshwater. This study suggests implementing a small desalination plant of about 10 m3/day as a demonstration plant and then successively extending the capacity. As well, it is suggested to build a solar energy system with bigger capacity to cater not only for the desalination plant, but also the excess energy to be benefit for homes, roads lighting, and other important purposes for the local community to improve life standard of the people.

A Humboldtian Approach to Mountain Conservation and Freshwater Ecosystem Services

Complex environmental issues require solutions that cannot be achieved without integrating scientific disciplines and communicating science to people, decision-makers and stakeholders. Nevertheless, although Alexander von Humboldt gifted us with an approach to integrate knowledge across disciplines aiming to broadly understand environmental issues, our current scientific practice largely ignores that holistic approach. Here, we develop a conceptual framework for sustaining mountain integrity and securing their ecosystem services based on cross-disciplinary ideas. We used headwater systems located in tropical old mountains as an example of a meta-ecosystem because they are home to disproportional high levels of algae, invertebrate and microorganism species diversity and endemism as well as securing water availability and quality to nearly half of mankind. We also argue that the interplay between academia and other sectors of society should facilitate the permeability of scientific knowledge into policy- and decision-makers, which is a pivotal issue for improving natural resources management. We argue that the prioritization of tropical montane headwater systems is a feasible, desirable and strategic issue to be included in the global sustainability agenda. Failure to implement sustainable development goals in global mountains is likely to result in catastrophic events with harsh consequences for both humans and biodiversity.

Aerial river management by smart cross-border reforestation

In the face of increasing socio-economic and climatic pressures in growing cities, it is rational for managers to consider multiple approaches for securing water availability. One often disregarded option is the promotion of reforestation in source regions supplying important quantities of atmospheric moisture transported over long distances through aerial rivers, affecting water resources of a city via precipitation and runoff (‘smart reforestation’). Here we present a case demonstrating smart reforestation’s potential as a water management option. Using numerical moisture back-tracking models, we identify important upwind regions contributing to the aerial river of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia). Simulating the effect of reforestation in the identified regions, annual precipitation and runoff reception in the city was found to increase by 1.25% and 2.30% respectively, while runoff gain during the dry season reached 26.93%. Given the city’s population growth scenarios, the increase of the renewable water resource by smart reforestation could cover 22–59% of the additional demand by 2030. Building on the findings, we argue for a more systematic consideration of aerial river connections between regions in reforestation and land planning for future challenges.

Future Scenarios of Surface Water Resources Availability in North African Dams

Climate change may have strong impacts on water resources in developing countries. In North Africa, many dams and reservoirs have been built to secure water availability in the context of a strong inter-annual variability of precipitation. The goal of this study is to evaluate climate change impacts on surface water resources for the largest dams in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia using high-resolution (12 km) regional climate models (RCM) simulations. To evaluate the atmospheric demand (evapotranspiration), two approaches are compared: The direct use of actual evaporation simulated by the RCMs, or estimation of reference evapotranspiration computed with the Hargreaves-Samani (HAR) equation, relying on air temperature only, and the FAO-Penman Monteith (PM) equation, computed with temperature, wind, radiation and relative humidity. Results showed a strong convergence of the RCM simulations towards increased temperature and a decrease in precipitation, in particular during spring and the western part of North Africa. A decrease in actual evapotranspiration, highly correlated to the decrease in precipitations, is observed throughout the study area. On the opposite, an increase in reference evapotranspiration is observed, with similar changes between HAR and PM equations, indicating that the main driver of change is the temperature increase. Since the catchments are rather water-limited than energy-limited, despite opposite projections for actual and reference evapotranspiration a decrease of water availability is projected for all basins under all scenarios, with a strong east-to-west gradient. The projected decrease is stronger when considering reference evapotranspiration rather than actual evaporation. These pessimistic future projections are an incentive to adapt the current management of surface water resources to future climatic conditions.

Diversity of inland valleys and opportunities for agricultural development in Sierra Leone.

Inland valleys are becoming increasingly important agricultural production areas for rural households in sub-Saharan Africa due to their relative high and secure water availability and soil fertility. In addition, inland valleys are important as water buffer and biodiversity hot spots and they provide local communities with forest, forage, and fishing resources. As different inland-valley ecosystem functions may conflict with agricultural objectives, indiscriminate development should be avoided. This study aims to analyze the diversity of inland valleys in Sierra Leone and to develop guidelines for more precise interventions. Land use, biophysical and socio-economic data were analyzed on 257 inland valleys using spatial and multivariate techniques. Five cluster groups of inland valleys were identified: (i) semi-permanently flooded with high soil organic carbon (4.2%) and moderate available phosphorus (10.2 ppm), mostly under natural vegetation; (ii) semi-permanently flooded with low soil organic carbon (1.5%) and very low available phosphorus (3.1 ppm), abandoned by farmers; (iii) seasonally flooded with moderate soil organic carbon (3.1%) and low available phosphorus (8.3 ppm), used for rainfed rice and off-season vegetables produced without fertilizer application for household consumption and market; (iv) well drained with moderate soil organic carbon (3.8%) and moderate available phosphorus (10.0 ppm), used for rainfed rice and off-season vegetables produced with fertilizer application for household consumption and market; and (v) well drained with moderate soil organic carbon (3.6%) and moderate available phosphorus (11 ppm), used for household consumption without fertilizer application. Soil organic carbon, available phosphorus, hydrological regime, physical accessibility and market opportunity were the major factors affecting agricultural intensification of inland valleys. Opening up the areas in which inland valleys occur through improved roads and markets, and better water control through drainage infrastructures along with an integrated nutrient management would promote the sustainable agricultural use of inland valleys.

MODEL OF CLIMATE AND LAND-USE CHANGES IMPACT ON WATER SECURITY IN AMBON CITY, INDONESIA

Ambon City is the center of national activities in Maluku province, established under Presidential Decree 77 issued in 2014 about spatial planning of Maluku Islands. Ambon is a strategic region in terms of development in agriculture and fisheries sectors. Development of the region caused this area to be extremely vulnerable to the issues on water security. Seven watersheds which are Air Manis, Hutumury, Passo, Tulehu, Wae Batu Merah, Wae Lela and Wae Sikula affect the water system in Ambon City. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the impact of climate and land use change on water availability in seven watersheds in Ambon City. The analysis was performed using a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Model in order to analyze climate changes on the period of 1987-1996 (past), of 2004-2013 (present) and climate projection on the period 2035s (future) and equally to analyze land use data in 1996 and 2014. The results of the research indicated that land use in the study area has changed since 1996 to 2014. Forest area decreased around 32.45%, while residential areas and agriculture land increased 56.01% and 19.80%, respectively. The results of SWAT model presented the water availability amount to 1127.01 million m3/year on the period of 1987-1996. During the period of 2004-2013, it has been reduced to 1,076.55 million m3/year (around 4.48% decrease). The results of the prediction of future water availability in the period of 2035s estimated a decrease of water availability around 4.69% (1,026.09 million m3/year). Land use and climate change have greatly contributed to the water availability in seven watersheds of Ambon City. Ambon City is in need of land use planning especially the application of spatial plan. The maintenance of forest area is indispensable. In built-up areas, it is essential to implement green space and water harvesting in order to secure water availability in the future.

Assessing the relationship between youth capabilities and food security: a case study of a rainwater harvesting project in South Africa

Rainwater harvesting presents a viable option for securing water availability in order to increase food production. The study focuses on rural youth in Luphisi and Dwaleni villages in the Mpumalanga Province and considers the relationship between youth capabilities and food security. The study uses qualitative data collected from focus group discussions and quantitative data from a baseline survey within the context of an integrated rainwater harvesting project. The indicators tapped into attributes related to trust, social cohesion, inclusion and sociability, and examined these within the context of the 'capability approach', to consider whether and in what ways these attributes can be linked to food security. Results show that youth have high levels of certain capabilities such as trust, social cohesion and inclusion, co-operation, self-esteem, and meaning. However, in other dimensions there are fewer opportunities, like access to networks, access to knowledge and information and sociability, which are lacking among youth and restrict opportunities for them to engage with issues around food and water security. The Chi-square test was used to investigate the relationship between youth capabilities and food security and at p<0.05 results showed that there was no relationship between youth capabilities and food security in Dwaleni. There were however three capabilities showing significant statistical relationships between youth capabilities and food security in Luphisi: collective action and co-operation, social cohesion and self-esteem. We argue that there are opportunities to build on existing capabilities and that, overall, the potential of youth for engaging in water resources management is not being tapped into.

Evaluating options for balancing the water–electricity nexus in California: Part 2—Greenhouse gas and renewable energy utilization impacts

A study was conducted to compare the technical potential and effectiveness of different water supply options for securing water availability in a large-scale, interconnected water supply system under historical and climate-change augmented inflow and demand conditions. Part 2 of the study focused on determining the greenhouse gas and renewable energy utilization impacts of different pathways to stabilize major surface reservoir levels. Using a detailed electric grid model and taking into account impacts on the operation of the water supply infrastructure, the greenhouse gas emissions and effect on overall grid renewable penetration level was calculated for each water supply option portfolio that successfully secured water availability from Part 1. The effects on the energy signature of water supply infrastructure were found to be just as important as that of the fundamental processes for each option. Under historical (baseline) conditions, many option portfolios were capable of securing surface reservoir levels with a net neutral or negative effect on emissions and a benefit for renewable energy utilization. Under climate change augmented conditions, however, careful selection of the water supply option portfolio was required to prevent imposing major emissions increases for the system. Overall, this analysis provided quantitative insight into the tradeoffs associated with choosing different pathways for securing California's water supply.

Evaluating options for Balancing the Water-Electricity Nexus in California: Part 1 – Securing Water Availability

The technical potential and effectiveness of different water supply options for securing water availability in a large-scale, interconnected water supply system under historical and climate-change augmented inflow and demand conditions were compared. Part 1 of the study focused on determining the scale of the options required to secure water availability and compared the effectiveness of different options. A spatially and temporally resolved model of California's major surface reservoirs was developed, and its sensitivity to urban water conservation, desalination, and water reuse was examined. Potential capacities of the different options were determined. Under historical (baseline) hydrology conditions, many individual options were found to be capable of securing water availability alone. Under climate change augment conditions, a portfolio approach was necessary. The water savings from many individual options other than desalination were insufficient in the latter, however, relying on seawater desalination alone requires extreme capacity installations which have energy, brine disposal, management, and cost implications. The importance of identifying and utilizing points of leverage in the system for choosing where to deploy different options is also demonstrated.

Cross-sectoral Approaches Help Build Water Resilience – Reflections

Future challenges for the planet includes e.g. population growth, climate change and urbanisation. The combined pressure from these and other processes on water, energy and ecosystem services call for cross-sectoral approaches to increase the resilience of society, with particular aim to reduce hydro-climatic hazards and secure water availability of sufficient quantity and quality. In the global strife to achieve this water resilience, we pinpoint four strategies of pivotal importance. These are: 1) to ensure sustainable utilisation of ecosystems and their services; 2) to ensure that interventions for increased resilience are tailor-made to local conditions; 3) to broaden livelihood opportunities in order to make income-generating activities less dependent on only one sector or resource; and 4) to facilitate interactions between rural and urban areas and processes. Although the challenges mentioned are largely human induced, the power to address these are also within human reach. It is only if we properly facilitate work building on the linkages between humans and the environment that we can enhance water resilience.

Decentralized water resources management in Mozambique: Challenges of implementation at the river basin level

In the context of integrated water resources management implementation, the decentralization of water resources management (DWRM) at the river basin level is a crucial aspect for its success. However, decentralization requires the creation of new institutions on the ground, to stimulate an environment enabling stakeholder participation and integration into the water management decision-making process. In 1991, Mozambique began restructuring its water sector toward operational decentralized water resources management. Within this context of decentralization, new legal and institutional frameworks have been created, e.g., Regional Water Administrations (RWAs) and River Basin Committees. This paper identifies and analyzes the key institutional challenges and opportunities of DWRM implementation in Mozambique. The paper uses a critical social science research methodology for in-depth analysis of the roots of the constraining factors for the implementation of DWRM. The results obtained suggest that RWAs should be designed considering the specific geographic and infrastructural conditions of their jurisdictional areas and that priorities should be selected in their institutional capacity building strategies that match local realities. Furthermore, the results also indicate that RWAs have enjoyed limited support from basin stakeholders, mainly in basins with less hydraulic infrastructure, in securing water availability for their users and minimizing the effect of climate variability.

Water and economic development: The role of variability and a framework for resilience

Abstract The article advances the hypothesis that the seasonal and inter‐annual variability of rainfall is a significant and measurable factor in the economic development of nations. An analysis of global datasets reveals a statistically significant relationship between greater rainfall variability and lower per capita GDP. Having established this correlation, we construct a water resources development index that highlights areas that have the greatest need for storage infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of rainfall variability on water availability for food and basic livelihood. The countries with the most critical infrastructure needs according to this metric are among the poorest in the world, and the majority of them are located in Africa. The importance of securing water availability in these nations increases every day in light of current population growth, economic development, and climate change projections.