Water Security Situation Research Articles

Integrated assessment of water security in D-8 countries

In terms of evaluating the water security situation of communities, it is necessary to use appropriate indicators. To do this, composite indicators are especially useful for policy-making on water resources, aiming to enhance water security, implementation, and monitoring of policy actions. The composite indicators of water security at the national level reflect the country's status in terms of water resource sustainability, human well-being, and water environment. In this study, the composite indicators of water security for D-8 countries were investigated in various dimensions using the data envelopment analysis model. Moreover, the status of selected countries was examined with regard to indicators related to the dimension of water security sustainability. The results provided by the proposed model showed that Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey have better positions regarding the sustainability dimension compared to other countries. The water exploitation intensity in these countries was less than 40 %. Furthermore, the level of water availability in Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Indonesia was higher than 7000 cubic meters per person. It is worth noting that Low exploitation intensity and high availability of water in a country increased its water security in terms of sustainability dimension. The low water availability and very high water exploitation in Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt exacerbate their insecurity in the sustainability dimension. Due to the importance of the sustainability dimension in determining the water security status of countries, it is recommended to take this dimension into account.

Enhancing water security: Statistical measurement and spatiotemporal analysis

Water security is essential for ensuring energy security, sustainable development, and human survival. However, due to a series of challenges, including rising water demand, environmental pollution, and water resource shortages, the global water security situation remains concerning and poses a threat to global sustainable development. To assess water security in China, this study uses data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021. A comprehensive evaluation method was applied to determine the level of water resource security in China. The Dagum Gini coefficient, Moran index, and spatial model were used to clarify regional differentiation characteristics and the driving factors. The results indicate that while China's water resource security is relatively low, it has shown steady improvement in recent years. Significant regional disparities exist in water resource security across China, with notable spatial characteristics, and socio-economic factors are the primary causes of these differences. Based on the above research, we put forward policy recommendations from the aspects of water resources management, public participation and inter-regional water resources cooperation, to provide reference for water resources security in developing countries.

The food security risks in the Yangtze River Delta of China associated with water scarcity, grain production, and grain trade

Grain production consumes a large amount of water and is affected by the degree of water scarcity and participation in the grain trade in various regions. The grain trade has changed the food security risks in regions where grain exports and imports. Therefore, it is crucial to consider regional water scarcity to understand food security risks from the grain trade network. Here, we construct a new framework for measuring regional food security risks associated with water scarcity, grain production, and grain trade based on a cross-city grain trade network combined with virtual water flows to evaluate the regional food security risks in the Yangtze River Delta region (YRD) of China in 2017. The results show that under the current domestic grain trade pattern in China, the YRD and its four provincial-level administrative regions are in a net grain import state. The grain trade within the YRD is concentrated in exports from the two major grain-producing areas of Anhui and Jiangsu to Zhejiang and Shanghai, especially from northern Jiangsu to southeastern Zhejiang. The net import results of virtual blue water in most cities indicate that the YRD has shifted its water resource pressure to other grain exporting regions in China, with Shanghai and Zhejiang being the greatest beneficiaries. Extreme risk only exists in Shanghai, and severe and moderate risks are concentrated in Jiangsu. The current grain trade has reduced the overall food security risk in the YRD by 1.3 % but increased the risks in Shanghai and Zhejiang by 2.1 % and 0.8 % respectively. This study highlights the potential risks that excessive production of food in water-scarce areas in the grain trade system may bring to a stable food supply, providing useful information for a comprehensive understanding of the food and water security situation and for future trade-offs.

Evaluation and prediction of water security levels in Northwest China based on the DPSIR model

Since the the dawn of the 21st century, water security has occupied a pivotal position in fostering sustainable development. However, frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change and higher intensity of anthropogenic events, water security problems in Northwest China are becoming increasingly prominent. This paper elucidates water security levels and predicts future trends of Northwest China. Firstly, the Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) conceptual framework served as the foundation for the establishment of the water security evaluation index system. Then used the entropy weight method to calculate the weight of indicators and the five-element connection degree method was used to assess the water security levels. The period for the data used in the study was from 2010 to 2019. Finally, a grey prediction model was employed to forecast the water security levels from 2023 to 2030. The findings showed that: (1) From 2010 to 2019, the water security situation gradually developed to a very high level in Northwest China: Shaanxi Province mostly attained a high level, and the water security grades of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were mostly at a very low level. (2) Generally, from 2023 to 2030, the water security level will continue to improve. The water security grades of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai will mostly be at the medium level, while that of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will be at the low level. (3) The five dimensions of water security in Northwest China demonstrated a fluctuating yet consistently upward trend. (4) Based on the results, suggestions were put forward regarding water security and sustainable development in Northwest China.

Assessing Water Security and Coupling Coordination in the Lancang–Mekong River Basin for Sustainable Development

Water security is crucial for the sustainable development of regional water resources. Here, we utilize the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to construct an indicator system for assessing water security in the Lancang–Mekong River Basin (LMRB). This study also delves into the level of development in the coupling coordination between the economic and social systems and the water resources systems in the basin. The findings reveal that the overall water security situation in the LMRB is satisfactory, with three countries (China, Laos, and Vietnam) surpassing the “safe” threshold and three countries (Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar) “Basically safe”. However, water security issues persist, particularly in relation to water pollution and scarcity. Seasonal water shortages and water-related disasters arise due to uneven rainfall distribution throughout the year and inadequate regulating facilities such as wetlands and reservoirs. In addition, the overall coupling coordination level in the LMRB is low, ranging between 0.3 and 0.4, corresponding to a moderate imbalance level in the assessment criteria system. Specifically, Laos and China exhibit the highest coupling coordination level, with a degree of 0.36, whereas Thailand and Myanmar demonstrate the lowest level, with degrees of 0.33 and 0.31, respectively. Overall, our results offer a scientific foundation for the sustainable development of countries within the LMRB.

State of Urban Household Drinking Water Security Situation in Bamenda North West Region, Cameroon

Urban water governance is a rising challenge across the third world countries where the population is increasingly combating water crisis. The situation in the city of Bamenda has obliged the population to resort to doubtful sources and is exposed to water borne diseases despite the multiple water supply systems in the city. The study aimed to assess the state of urban household drinking water in the city of Bamenda. In order to meet the objective, a total of 420 questionnaires were administered to households in the three Sub-Divisions of the city accompanied by interviews. Data was analysed by use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25, Microsoft excel and Microsoft word 2016. Findings reveal that, multiple water supply sources prevail in the city (pipe borne water 65%, boreholes 18.6%, wells 8.3%, and spring/stream 8.1%) with three major pipe borne water suppliers. Approximately 25% of the study population obtained water from sources located off their premises and an average of 79.9% of the 25% spend over 30 minutes trekking for over a kilometre to fetch water. There is high financial cost in acquiring home water connection with an average rate of 200,000 FCFA (333.26 U.S Dollar). Since 2005 the city population has not met the minimum water of 50 l/p/d. In order to solve the water insecurity within the city, the study proposed that all water providers should ensure transparency, accountability, participation, the development of new water infrastructures and improvement on existing ones and financial support from the state.

How to measure urban water security? An introduction to the Water Security Assessment Tool (WATSAT)

The objective of the project was to develop a web-based digital tool called the Water Security Assessment Tool (WATSAT) to help city authorities and decision-makers make an objective evaluation of the water security situation in the city. It uses an indicator-based methodology that measures five distinct dimensions (broad elements) of water security: “Water supply and sanitation”, “Water productivity”, “Water-related disasters”, “Water environment”, and “Water governance”, which together culminate into a Water Security Index (WSI). The tool is developed based on the water security assessment framework developed by Babel, Dang, Sharma, and Shinde (2015). WATSAT results in a quantitative assessment of water security in a city, wherein the WSI provides an overall picture of the water security situation in a city, while the evaluation of the various dimensions helps identify areas of concern. WATSAT aids city authorities in having a holistic understanding of water security and interconnections of various factors affecting it and assists them in informed decision-making to arrive at system-based interventions to tackle water security threats in the cities.

Water security challenges of Ankara City in Turkey: Lessons from climate change impact and the COVID‐19 pandemic

AbstractClimate change and the COVID‐19 pandemic posed significant challenges for Ankara city in Turkey. The city authorities have taken a number of strategic and operational measures to improve water security. This paper explores the linkages of regular forces such as climate change and disasters, as well as disruptive forces like pandemics, sudden shocks, and actions needed to overcome the resulting challenges. Based on 13 key informant interviews with a semi‐structured questionnaire and literature review, the existing water security situation is explored in relation to climate change and the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Ankara is still behind in terms of climate‐related adaptation practices and management. Financial resources are inadequate, so policy measures like neighborhood‐level responsibility‐sharing frameworks, resilience integration into existing policies and involving local people in policymaking, and developing capacity building for local government can help to ensure Ankara's water security.

On the Prevention and Control of Public Security and the Modernization Construction of Police Organizational form in the Pearl River Delta

With the deepening development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the water security situation is becoming increasingly tense and causing frequent illegal and criminal incidents on the water, which has brought great harm to the economy and people's lives in the Bay Area. On the surface of the public security analysis, the public security organs to the importance of the water police is the direct reason of the deterioration of the water security situation. The deep factors include the existing problems in the form of police organization form in the Pearl River Delta, the lack of police talents in foreign-related waters, the formation of mass prevention and mass governance network by unrelated people, the urgent need of water-related laws, and the fuzzy police organization form in water waters. The prevention and control of public security in waters should start from strengthening the legal standardization and unity construction of water area public security law enforcement, developing the academic education of water area police officers, cultivating professional water area police talents and strengthening the joint prevention and cooperation mechanism of public security in the Pearl River Delta region.

Comprehensive Evaluation on Urban Water Security Based on the Novel DPEBLR Concept Model and the Cloud Matter-Element Model: A Case Study of Chongqing, China

Urban water security problems such as water scarcity, water pollution, and flood disasters have restricted the sustainable development of cities. In order to scientifically evaluate the urban water security situation, this study combined the DPSIR (driver, pressure, state, impact, response) model and HEVD (the hazard of disaster-causing factors, the vulnerability of disaster-affected bodies, the instability of the disaster-pregnant environment, and population loss) model to propose a new conceptual framework for DPEBLR (driver, pressure, environment, insecurity-affected body, loss, response). Based on this conceptual framework, 35 indicators were selected to establish an urban water security evaluation index system. In order to solve the problem of randomness and fuzziness of the boundary values of urban water security classification levels, the cloud matter element model was applied. Chongqing was used as an example for verification, and the results showed that the water security status of Chongqing City improved from 2011 (Ⅴ) to 2019 (Ⅱ). This indicates that the water ecology restoration project, centralized water source protection project, centralized water supply project, water-saving society transformation, and flood and drought prevention system construction project implemented in Chongqing has achieved significant results. However, Chongqing still faces the problem that the construction of an urban flood control system cannot meet the speed of urban development. The government should slow down the urbanization and allow the urban flood control system to be ready before the area is occupied. In addition, the awareness of water conservation for industrial use in Chongqing has been formed, and citizens’ awareness of water conservation for domestic use should be enhanced in the future.

The growing water crisis in Central Asia and the driving forces behind it

Central Asia (CA) is one of the most severe water crisis areas on earth, which has seriously limited the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the region. However, a multi-perspective analysis on the process and driving factors of the water crisis in CA has not been conducted. Therefore, we assess the water crisis from multiple perspectives using the water stress index (WSI), safe drinking water and water pollution indicators, and quantitatively analyze the impact of climate change, population growth, poverty, urbanization and transboundary river management on the water crisis. Results show that the water crisis in CA is intensifying. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan belong to the “severe water stress” category, and the WSIs are increasing in both countries. Tajikistan is classified as “high water stress”. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan both exhibit “moderate water stress”. Moreover, the proportion of the rural population with access to safe drinking water is significantly lower than that of the urban population in all the CA countries. The impact of human activities on water crisis in CA is more significant than that of climatic factors. Both cultivated land area and population are significant factors affecting the water crisis in CA (p < 0.05), with the regression coefficients of 0.62 and 1.62, respectively. Our research provides an essential reference for the sustainable management of water resources and warns that the water security situation in CA will worsen if no effective action is taken.

Water and Emotion: Testing a New Approach for Monitoring Water Security Among Afar Pastoralists in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has over 12 million pastoralists that raise livestock and move their herds in search of fresh pasture and water. This way of life is especially vulnerable to climate change as drought and shifts in seasonal rainfall patterns are changing the distribution and availability of these resources in pastoralist regions. The dynamic use of water within these settings is also not well-understood or captured by conventional water sector monitoring systems, which prevents appropriate supportive interventions and policies to be delivered. This paper presents results from a study into a new approach to measuring water security that focuses on assessing the emotional response of pastoralist populations to their water security situation. Formative research involving focus groups and interviews was followed by a survey of 148 pastoralists to assess their emotional response to different water security dimensions. The results indicate that emotional response can be used to elicit valuable insights into water security and provide a powerful complement to conventional water security monitoring techniques. Using the approach, we show a strong relationship between variation in seasonal water access and reported emotional response. Negative emotions also strongly associate with the most laborious methods of collecting water such as scoop holes and hand dug wells, whereas positive emotions were associated with access to higher quantities of water. Access to equines for carrying water was associated with more positive emotional well-being indicating a route to water security improvement in this context could be through the provision of donkeys and mules for water carrying. The paper discusses the value of using an emotion-based approach to capture experiences of water security alongside more conventional objective measures, especially among populations with water use patterns that continue to be poorly understood.

Water Security Needs What Ought to Be Done to Increase the Future Water Security as a Fundamental Base for Social, Economic and Political Stability—The Case of Jordan

This study discusses the present water security situation in Jordan and delineates the required policies and programs to reach at a more robust and resilient water security situation. Although Jordan has achieved much in securing the different components of its water sector system, some components have still to be adequately addressed and others strengthened. Increasing the available water resources, which is practically only possible by desalinating sea water at Aqaba under sole Jordanian sovereignty, is found to be the most important and vital issue in improving the country’s water security situation. It improves the security issues of providing dearly needed additional water, releases the overexploited aquifers and saves them from depletion and quality deterioration, allows introducing new industries to Jordan, de-sharpens the conflict on the shared water resources with Jordan’s neighboring countries and is expected to render these conflicts to a problem of royalty on water resources and not as it is at present a social, economic, human, environmental and political conflict. Desalination will also make Jordan more resilient to climate change. Infrastructure security must be strengthened in Jordan both against natural hazards and against intended sabotage and damage. Water quality protection from pollution and deterioration has still to be adequately addressed requiring strengthening of laws and regulations and their application. The already delineated surface and groundwater protection zones have to be strictly adhered when licensing human activities in addition to implementing cybersecurity best practices. In addition, technology-dependent management tools have to be strongly advanced using integrated water resources management to ensure sustainable resource management, detection and repair of physical water losses and illegal water tapings, pricing water at its opportunity cost, irrigation modernization, strict environmental impacts assessment and application wherever water resources and water infrastructures are involved, and strengthening of training and management programs.

Water Management and Conservation

Abstract: Everybody knows about the importance of water. Water is the only source which distinguish our planet compare to all the others. The demand of water increasing day by day due to population growth and economic development. While the global supply of available of fresh water is more than adequate to meet all the current and fore see able water demands, its spatial and temporal distribution are not. The severity of water have direct impact in future. All of us must find ways to remove these constraints. Both central and state governments has various programmes for water conservation and management. Water conservation programs increase irrigation potential and try to improve the water and food security situation in country. In India due to rapidly growing population increase the drinking water consumption and decrease rain fall. Due to poor management, ignorance, lacking of technologies and in the absence of responsibilities by the people the water problem arise in India. Here is the major focus on factors responsible for water pollution and waste water treatment, so that focusing the remedy for major water pollution and waste water treatment will help to conserve water and will be helpful for effective management of our precious water. There are numerous methods to reduce water losses and improve water conservation and management like harvesting rain water, fog and dew, mulching, contour farming, and some technologies like nitration, ion-exchange and chlorination method.

Climate change impacts on water security elements of Kafr El-Sheikh governorate, Egypt

Egypt faces great challenges to manage its limited freshwater resources. Shortage in freshwater, due to expected stresses of climatic changes and upper Nile projects, will have major impacts on Egypt's water and food security. About 85% of the annual total freshwater resource is consumed by agriculture. The objective of this work is to assess the future water security situation of Kafr El-Sheikh governorate, Nile Delta, Egypt, under climate change and urbanization stresses, compared to the current situation. Main investigated water security elements for this study were the irrigation water requirements and agricultural land areas. Two different reference evapotranspiration equations were used to calculate the future irrigation water requirements under three different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) (2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios) for the period 2010–2100, based on the intergovernmental panel on climate change’s 5th assessment report. Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to generate a land use classification map, which was used to estimate the losses in each land use category of the study area under 0.5 and 1.0 m relative sea level rise (SLR) estimates. Combined scenarios of future changes in irrigation water consumption and agricultural land area were analysed. The results show that the future water security situation of the governorate is highly sensitive to projected climatic changes. Moreover, most future scenarios revealed that the agricultural land area would decrease, which will cause serious food security problems. The maximum decrease by about 55.9% of the agricultural land area for year 2095 compared to year 2016 is estimated, due to the current annual decreasing rate of 0.4% and 1.0 m SLR, whatever the applied RCP scenario. While the maximum increase in the required irrigation water would be about 6% due to the RCP85 scenario, assuming no change in the irrigation land area, with a mixing ratio of 1.34 (freshwater): 1 (drainage water) which would affect the crop yield productivity. A regular assessment of water security elements for each of the Egyptian governorates should be managed and an urgent integrated plan for food security to adapt with the future climate change impacts is essential.

Spatiotemporal assessment of water security in China: An integrated supply-demand coupling model

Water security is especially important for China who owns a huge population and has uneven temporal and spatial water resources distribution. Previous studies towards a comprehensive evaluation of water security issues at national or provincial level are still limited. In this study, a new supply-demand coupling model was proposed to evaluate water security situation more directly and comprehensively over China. The integrated supply-demand coupling model combines analytic hierarchy process, entropy weight method and fuzzy evaluation method and is particularly advantageous in handling complexity and uncertainty of water security measurement. The study result indicated that, from temporal dimension, China's overall water security situation has continuously improved, mainly because of the remarkable improvement of flood control capacity and water supply capacity. This is important to ensure China's own sustainable development goal. However, the ecological protection capacity was still highly insufficient, staying at an unsafe level for a long time; the security level of water resources and water ecology was still not optimistic and that of hydrological cycle was getting worse under the influence of human activities. From spatial distribution, the water security situation in the south part of China was generally better than that in the north. This study also highlighted the prominent water security problems in various regions, which provided a valuable reference for relevant authorities in their long-term water resources planning and management.

The occurrence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in Malaysian urban domestic wastewater

The water stream has been reported to contain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), released from households and premises through discharge from Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). This research identifies commonly consumed NSAIDs namely ibuprofen (IBU), diclofenac (DIC), ketoprofen (KET) and naproxen (NAP) in the influent wastewater from two urban catchments (i.e. 2 STPs). We expand our focus to assess the efficiency of monomer (C18) and dimer (HLB) types of sorbents in the solid phase extraction method followed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis and optimize model prediction of NSAIDs in the influent wastewater using I-Optimal design. The ecological risk assessment of the NSAIDs was evaluated. The HLB produced reliable analysis for all NSAIDs under study (STP1: 6.7 × 10−3 mg L−1 to 2.21 × 10−1 mg L−1, STP2: 1.40 × 10−4 mg L−1 to 9.72 × 10−2 mg L−1). The C18 however, selective to NAP. Based on the Pearson proximity matrices, the DICHLB can be a good indicator for IBUHLB (0.565), NAPC18 (0.721), NAPHLB (0.566), and KETHLB (0.747). The optimized model prediction for KET and NAP based on DIC are successfully validated. The risk quotients (RQ) values of NSAIDs were classified as high (RQ > 1), medium (RQ, 0.1–1) and low (RQ, 0.01–0.1) risks. The optimized models are beneficial for major NSAIDs (KET and NAP) monitoring in the influent wastewater of urban domestic area. An upgrade on the existing wastewater treatment infrastructure is recommended to counteract current water security situation.

Decision Support Tool for Water Reclamation Beyond Technical Considerations-Egyptian, Moroccan, and Tunisian Case Studies.

While the Middle East and North African (MENA) region is facing challenges to sustain water security, water reclamation has received increasing consideration as a favorable mitigating solution. Despite the availability of adequate technologies, economic, political, legal, social, and environmental constraints often hamper stakeholders, and especially decision makers, from exploiting the existing potential into solution implementation. In the present paper, a comprehensive assessment for water reclamation and reuse was developed. This assessment consisted of 4 objectives: 1) apply a decision-support tool (DST) for water reclamation potential for municipal wastewater, 2) apply a DST for simulating and estimating the lifecycle costs of project-related technologies for water reclamation (municipal and industrial wastewater, as well as drainage canal water), 3) assess the national-level conditions for water reuse with a multicriteria decision analysis (MCA), and 4) establish exemplary strategies, barriers, and measures for water reuse. The present MCA considered 6 thematic subjects: policy and institution, economy, society, water management, legislation, and environment. The assessment was applied to food and nonfood crop irrigation in Egyptian, Moroccan, and Tunisian case studies. For all defined case studies, adapted treatment trains that could treat wastewater to the desired quality at reasonable costs were identified and are presented in the present paper. Results showed that technological options are available for water reuse, but the concept is not widely implemented in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. The present paper identifies key barriers and drivers for the implementation of water reclamation for irrigation. In particular, the considered countries showed different characteristics regarding efficient water management, water pricing, subsidies and wastewater tariffs, implementation of monitoring and reporting systems, or legal aspects regarding the use of reclaimed water for food crop irrigation. Further exploration of case studies on high potential water reuse and financially affordable wastewater reclamation, particularly case studies that explore the impacts of policies and practices across countries, would be useful for helping the MENA region improve their water security situation. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;16:885-897. © 2020 SETAC.

Projected changes in extreme precipitation indices from CORDEX simulations over Ethiopia, East Africa

The projection of precipitation extremes is of significant importance for the reliable management of regional water resources. Thus, this study explores the potential response of the popularly used precipitation extreme indices to the global warming for near future (2011–2040), middle future (2041–2070) and far future (2071–2100) periods, based on the COordinated Regional climate Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX) Africa experiment outputs over Ethiopia. The results show that the wet (dry) spells were projected to significantly decrease (increase) over most parts of Ethiopia, with relatively longer (shorter) dry (wet) spells projected over the northern parts of Ethiopia. Conversely, the projected changes in extreme precipitation amount above the 95th percentile showed a substantial increase over most parts of Ethiopia, with higher values projected to be in the southern region. The result implies that extreme and heavy precipitation events are likely to be more intense, and could amplify the probability of flood risks, particularly over the southern region. The total and extreme precipitations generally show a strong positive correlation, indicating the increase in extreme precipitation is responsible for the increase in total wet-day precipitation amount in Ethiopia. In general, climate change will have high negative impacts on the dynamics of precipitation patterns over Ethiopia, which could result in more long dry seasons and shorter rainy seasons over most parts of Ethiopia. Thus, the food and water security situation in the region is highly vulnerable due to the projected changes in the intensity and frequency of climate extremes (droughts and floods). However, the increase in precipitation extremes could have the potential to enhance the dry season agricultural productivity of most of the regions in Ethiopia using efficient irrigation systems through excess water harvesting in the rainy season. This can also reduce flood occurrences and hence economic damages. In general, it is of great importance to discuss the socio-economic impacts that could result if increasing precipitation extremes, as well as the increasing (decreasing) trend of maximum length of the dry (wet) spells, continue in the future.

Measuring water security: A vital step for climate change adaptation

Climate change and water are intricately linked. Water is the primary medium through which the impacts of climate change will be felt. Securing the water sector and enhancing water security is, therefore, imperative for any adaptive response to climate change. A precursor in improving water security is to first establish a mechanism to measure it. Only then can incremental and progressive actions be evaluated. This study has developed such a mechanism in the form of a water security assessment framework using an indictor-based methodology. The framework is developed for city-scale analysis because analyses at this scale is more useful in operationalizing water security enhancement. The framework has a three-layered structure comprising five dimensions (broad elements of water security), twelve indicators (areas of interest within the dimensions), and a set of potential variables that can be used to quantify the indicators. The framework has been developed to foster practical interventions for water security enhancement and not as a comparative tool for benchmarking. Hence, while the dimensions and indicators of the framework are fixed, the choice of variables is up to the city depending upon its context. This aspect of the framework, therefore, is meant to help cities introspect internally and move up the water security ladder. The framework culminates into a Water Security Index (WSI), measured on a scale from one to five. The scale is linear and hierarchical in its grade value. The framework was successfully used to assess the water security situation of Bangkok. The study also makes a case for scaling up this intervention for other major cities in Thailand, which can then help implement some of Thailand's key climate change adaptation initiatives such as the Nationally Determined Contributions and the National Climate Change Master Plan.