Water Security Research Articles

Indicadores de Sustentabilidade para Gestão da Água

Water safety involves the sustainable use and protection of water sources, so that water is available in adequate quantity and quality to health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, in addition to protecting it from the negative effects of extreme weather events. Internationally, the concept of water security began being discussed in the 1990s, and more so since 2009, when the issue became the subject of a greater number of publications. In Brazil Federal Law 9433/97, which establishes the National Water Resources Policy, and corresponding state laws implicitly provide the concept of water security. However, the National Water Safety Plan was only launched in 2019, and has became the fundamental instrument for decision-making on this issue. The objective of the research was to pre-select indicators to analyze the water safety of the municipalities contemplated in the Capibaribe river watershed, within the framework of sustainable water management. To achieve the objective, the following methodology was adopted: pre-selection of indicators; application of a questionnaire to a panel of experts; structure a database. Thus, this work aims to bring subsidies that contribute to water security actions and public policies through the development of an indicator database. Additionally, this research is a proposal for future work, helping to define an equation of the water security index for the municipalities in the watershed.

Urban transformation of lakes and its impacts on a lake series: A case study of the yele mallappa shetty lake series Bengaluru, India.

The interconnected systems of lakes of Bengaluru, India, experience tremendous stress due to unsustainable urbanisation. Traditional lake-centric research approach struggles to capture and address this issue due to the cascaded nature of impacts in interconnected lake systems. Hence, this study assesses the impact of urbanisation on a lake series scale, focusing on the Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake series (YMSLS). Land use land cover change analysis (1993-2023) showed that in 1993, the YMSLS catchment area was dominated by open spaces (53.4%) and agriculture land and vegetation (35%), with built-up areas covering only 7.2%. By 2023, the built-up area has expanded to 34.6% and became the dominant land use. This rapid urbanisation has led to increased water surface area from wastewater influx, causing significant weed growth and water pollution in the lakes. Lake water quality assessment showed that faecal coliform, total coliform, dissolved oxygen, and biochemical oxygen demand levels exceeded standard limits with spatio-temporal variations driven by interconnectivity. Pollutant flushing during monsoon reduced pollution load in upstream lakes, but high wastewater inflow made downstream lakes, particularly the end lake, highly polluted but perennial. Increased water availability expanded the user base of the end lake, but traditional uses have declined and coping strategies of users, such as wastewater lift irrigation from the lake, became unsustainable. The study indicates that spatial interdependence and cascading effects necessitate a lake series approach for assessing the impacts of urbanisation on interconnected lake system, which is crucial for enhancing water security and preparedness for future extreme events.

Enhancing water security through advanced modeling: integrating deep learning and a novel metaheuristic optimization algorithm for accurate pan evaporation prediction

ABSTRACT This study evaluates and enhances machine learning models for predicting pan evaporation under diverse climatic conditions. Five fundamental machine learning models were employed and tested across four different stations. Subsequent comparisons were made with advanced techniques, including long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. An innovative approach was introduced, combining LSTM with Binary Al-Biruni Earth Radius (BER–LSTM). This hybrid method was benchmarked against other optimization techniques. The BER–LSTM model consistently outperformed other models across all stations and time scales, achieving up to a 97.54% improvement in root mean square error (RMSE) compared to standard LSTM on daily time scales. Compared to simpler models like Multilayer Perceptron and Support Vector Regressor, BER–LSTM showed even more substantial improvements, with up to a 99.03% reduction in RMSE. The BER–LSTM model demonstrates superior predictive capabilities for pan evaporation across varied climatic conditions, offering significant improvements over both traditional and advanced machine learning techniques. This approach shows promise for enhancing evaporation forecasting in diverse environmental contexts.

Application of the Standardized Precipitation Index for Forecasting Seasonal Drought in Vietnam

Drought is a natural disaster that causes significant damages to the economy, society and environment. Forecasting droughts is crucial for disaster risk management and water security. This study introduces a new method for forecasting seasonal droughts in Vietnam using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) which is based on a combination of dynamic modeling and statistical methods. The precipitation forecast products from regional climate models (RegCM, clWRF) with inputs from Climate Forecast System (CFSv2) were used to calculate the SPI index after statistical calibration. Results show that calibrating model precipitation with statistical methods such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Multivariate Linear Regression (MLR) significantly improves the precipitation forecast accuracy. Evaluation indices indicate that the SPI calculated with the post-calibration model precipitation has a good reproducibility for drought events, particularly mild droughts. However, there remains some limitations on accurate forecast of the intensity and spatial distribution of moderate drought events in certain regions such as Central Vietnam.

Coping strategies for household water insecurity in rural Gambia, mediating factors in the relationship between weather, water and health.

Rural communities in low- and middle-income countries, such as The Gambia, often experience water insecurity periodically due to climate drivers such as heavy rainfall and reduced rainfall, as well as non-climate drivers such as infrastructural issues and seasonal workloads. When facing these challenges households use a variety of coping mechanisms that could pose a risk to health. We aimed to understand the drivers of water insecurity (climate and non-climate), the behavioural responses to water insecurity and the risks these responses pose to the health of communities in rural Gambia and map these findings onto a conceptual framework. We interviewed 46 participants using multiple qualitative methods. This included in-depth interviews and transect walks. A subset of 27 participants took part in three participatory pile-sorting activities. In these activities participants were asked to rank water-related activities, intrahousehold prioritisation of water, and the coping strategies utilised when facing water insecurity. Multiple strategies were identified that people used to cope with water shortages, including: reductions in hygiene, changes to food consumption, and storing water for long periods. Many of these could inadvertently introduce risks for health. For example, limiting handwashing increases the risk of water-washed diseases. Deprioritising cooking foods such as millet, which is a nutrient-dense staple food, due to the high water requirements during preparation, could impact nutritional status. Additionally, storing water for long periods could erode water quality. Social factors appeared to play an important role in the prioritisation of domestic water-use when faced with water shortages. For example, face-washing was often maintained for social reasons. Health and religion were also key influencing factors. People often tried to protect children from the effects of water insecurity, particularly school-aged children, but given the communal nature of many activities this was not always possible. Many people associated water insecurity with poor health. To reduce the risks to health, interventions need to address the drivers of water insecurity to reduce the need for these risky coping behaviours. In the short term, the promotion of behavioural adaptations that can help buffer health risks, such as water treatment, may be beneficial.

Unlocking the mysteries of drought: integrating snowmelt dynamics into drought analysis at the Narayani River Basin, Nepal

AbstractDrought is among the most impactful natural hazards, undermining water security, agriculture, and livelihoods worldwide. Analysing droughts in large catchments presents several unique challenges, primarily related to the complexity of land surface characteristics and data availability limitations. Conducting drought analysis in the Narayani River Basin, which encompasses a vast area within the Himalayan region of Nepal, is extremely challenging but crucial for maintaining the river basin's social, economic, and environmental balance. In response, this study develops a new combined drought index (CDI), integrating satellite-based reanalysis parameters [i.e., Land Surface Temperature (LST), Snow Cover (SC), and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)] with a meteorological parameter [i.e., Standardised Precipitation (std_prec)]. The novel CDI was applied at the Narayani Basin to assess the droughts over the 2004–2013 period, and the results were independently evaluated using streamflow observations to validate the accuracy of the novel drought index. The principal component analysis (PCA) technique was used to determine the contribution of input parameters to the multivariate drought index. The PCA results show a strong positive correlation (0.78) between the CDI and standardised streamflow, indicating the effectiveness of the novel index in monitoring drought conditions. Accordingly, it can be concluded that surface water availability is interdependent on landscape characteristics, such as LST, SC, and NDVI, in addition to the effects of precipitation. Also, the novel CDI can identify the specific drought-affected areas in the Narayani River Basin, offering insights into its drought characteristics beyond traditional drought assessment techniques.

Advancing Water Security and Agricultural Productivity: A Case Study of Transboundary Cooperation Opportunities in the Kabul River Basin

The Kabul River Basin (KRB) is witnessing frequent flood and drought events that influence food production and distribution. The KRB is one of the world’s poorest regions regarding food security. Food security issues in the KRB include shifts in short-term climate cycles with significant river flow variations that result in inadequate water distribution. Due to the lack of hydro-infrastructure, low irrigation efficiency, and continuing wars, the Afghanistan portion of the KRB has experienced low agricultural land expansion opportunities for food production. This research assesses the relationship between flood mitigation, flow balances, and food production and, cumulatively, assesses the social and economic well-being of the population of the KRB. SWAT modeling and climate change (CCSM4) implications are utilized to assess how these relationships impact the social and economic well-being of the population in the KRB. The intricacies of transboundary exchange and cooperation indicate that the conservation of ~38% of the water volume would nearly double the low flows in the dry season and result in the retention of ~2B m3/y of water for agricultural developmental use. Results show that the peak flood flow routing in reservoirs on the Afghanistan side of the KRB would have a substantial positive impact on agricultural products and, therefore, food security. Water volume conservation has the potential to provide ~44% more arable land with water, allowing a ~51% increase in crop yield, provided that improved irrigation efficiency techniques are utilized.

Navigating Emerging Climate Crises Through Adaptive Polycentric Meta-networks

AbstractWithout urgent, systemic, and collective global interventions to address the emerging climate emergency, we are likely to continue to see a range of increasingly significant adverse impacts globally. Temperatures will continue to increase, ice shelves will melt, seas will rise, crops will fail, water scarcity will increase and spread, wildfires will accelerate, and food and water insecurity, violence, and the largest human migration in history will ensue. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), these climate changes will displace over 1.2 billion people by 2050 at a rate currently exceeding 21.5 million people per year. This mass migration will create incredible burdens on political, legal, economic, agricultural, educational, and health infrastructures in future host countries, and we are globally unprepared. It is well-recognized that the solution to these crises lies in our collective awakening by embracing complexity and employing bold and holistic perspectives. However, theoretical and applied advancements that may meaningfully inform practical approaches to urgently address climate related threats remain scattered and insufficient. The purpose of our proposed paper is to advance the concept of adaptive polycentric meta-networks (APMNs) as a partial solution to collectively address climate crises. We draw upon key insights from works on polycentricity, complexity leadership, and meta-networks, to arrive at our integrative framework. We also discuss ways that the proposed framework aligns with the dynamics of collective mindfulness and practical wisdom, particularly to facilitate cross-sector and global collaborations, across cultures and spiritual practices, to achieve the climate change goals at a macro scale. We believe that our framework offers an important conceptual and practical pathway to tackle the complex dynamics of climate change, and to generate the needed collective sensemaking and awareness to awaken, engage, and align collective leadership where it is needed, at global, national, regional and local levels and across governments, NGOs, and corporate interests.

Atmospheric water harvesting as a sustainable and resilient resource in arid climates: gaining insights from ancient techniques

ABSTRACT Fog and dew, or atmospheric moisture, are valuable complementary resources. Ancient civilisations exploited these resources in harmony with the environment, though information on their techniques is fragmented. This review provides insights into the efficiency, evolution, and relevance of ancient atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) techniques from 5000 B.C. to the 1900s, alongside modern techniques. An analytical framework and assessment are presented to deduce their viability for replication, revival, restoration, or redevelopment. Modern fog collectors yield an average value of 3–10 L/m2/day and dew collectors 0.3–0.6 L/m2/day. Ancient fog collectors from Mexico and Chile resembled modern collectors, while fog drip from trees offers a natural alternative, collecting 70 L/m2/day. The stone drip method shows potential in urban areas with extensive concrete surfaces. Ancient dew collection techniques include alchemists' dew collectors, lithic mulching for soil water conservation, dew ponds for water retention, and stone-pile condensers, which collected up to 360 L/day. Air wells, however, were less effective. Ancient AWH techniques offer valuable insights and can effectively supplement modern collectors, enhancing resilience and water security, especially in arid regions. Implementing AWH techniques provides sustainable, decentralised, nature-based strategies on a micro and macro scale for mitigating contemporary water shortages amidst increasing climate challenges.

Israel as India’s Pivot in the IMEC

India’s policy on the Middle East has broadly been bilateral and in the process, it had to strike a fine balance in furthering relations with countries that are rivals. Its “Look West” policy, introduced in 2005, made some inroads in the Middle East, enlarging its economic and strategic footprints. In recent years, it has stepped up its engagements through minilateral and multilateral frameworks by joining India, Israel, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (I2U2) grouping and jointly launching the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). The I2U2 was launched in 2020 for expansive economic cooperation in vital areas of water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security. It was catalyzed in the backdrop of the Abraham Accords. In September 2023, during the G20 summit in New Delhi, seven countries, namely, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, the United States, and the European Union (EU), signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the IMEC. The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and its attendant consequences have threatened to derail this multilateral cooperation, but India and other signatories have remained steadfast in their commitment to IMEC, raising hope for its future.

Holding Stakes in Water Management and Irrigation in Morocco : PIM policy Effects

The main policy reforms concerning irrigation management in Morocco over the last thirty years have been the introduction of mechanisms aimed at achieving financial autonomy of the Administration in charge of irrigation systems managemement -Offices Régionaux de Mise en Valeur Agricoles (ORMVA)- by applying appropriate water pricing and involvement of water users in the operation and maintenance of their irrigation systems, by transferring some responsibilities to water users' associations (AUEA). These policy reforms were presented by the World Bank projects (PAGI1 and PAGI 2) as crucial steps that Morocco should take to improve the productivity and sustainability of its irrigation sector. After more than thirty years, implementation of these reforms has been fraught with difficulties and many delays. Results and impacts are very timid and vague. The Moroccan GPI experience shows that an “ingredient” was missing to drive change. In fact, setting up new local organizations to participate in irrigation management and calls for new institutional arrangements to tackle the huge problems of moroccan large scale irrigation sector is not sufficient to drive change. A profound realistic thinking on irrigation governance and large concertation between water users are needed to meet the challenges of water scarcity, climate change and water security in the country. This article assesses the participation of Water Users' Associations (AUEA) established in Tadla irrigated scheme in Morocco. It reviews the contxt of adoption of the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) policy in Morocco and re-examines the process of initiating and developing AUEAs in large irrigated perimeters, analyzing the specific case of the Beni Amir irrigation project. The questions of participatory planning and joint management are at the heart of our analysis.

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene insecurity and infectious disease outbreaks among internally displaced populations in Gaza: implications of conflict-driven displacement on public health

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene insecurity and infectious disease outbreaks among internally displaced populations in Gaza: implications of conflict-driven displacement on public health

Innovative Approaches in Water Decontamination: A Critical Analysis of Biomaterials, Nanocomposites, and Stimuli-Responsive Polymers for Effective Solutions

In recent years, smart materials have emerged as a groundbreaking innovation in the field of water filtration, offering sustainable, efficient, and environmentally friendly solutions to address the growing global water crisis. This review explores the latest advancements in the application of smart materials—including biomaterials, nanocomposites, and stimuli-responsive polymers—specifically for water treatment. It examines their effectiveness in detecting and removing various types of pollutants, including organic contaminants, heavy metals, and microbial infections, while adapting to dynamic environmental conditions such as fluctuations in temperature, pH, and pressure. The review highlights the remarkable versatility of these materials, emphasizing their multifunctionality, which allows them to address a wide range of water quality issues with high efficiency and low environmental impact. Moreover, it explores the potential of smart materials to overcome significant challenges in water purification, such as the need for real-time pollutant detection and targeted removal processes. The research also discusses the scalability and future development of these materials, considering their cost-effectiveness and potential for large-scale application. By aligning with the principles of sustainable development, smart materials represent a promising direction for ensuring global water security, offering both innovative solutions for current water pollution issues and long-term benefits for the environment and public health.

“Water is life … the problem is there’s only one tap”: A culture-centered and necrocapitalist inquiry to communicating health and water

ABSTRACT This paper records knowledge from below around the overlaps between health, water, and health interventions emerging from rural communities located in North 24 Parganas and Purulia in West Bengal. Using the culture-centered approach and necrocapitalism, this essay documents the localocentric stories from the subaltern communities disproportionately impacted by water insecurity. Based on data collected during a seven-week field study, a critical thematic analysis of the data reveals how research participants with minoritized caste and low-income backgrounds routinely challenge, disrupt, and re-organize the dominant frames of health, water, and health interventions as articulated by local–global organizational actors. Additionally, research participant narratives make visible how they navigate social, cultural, institutional, and capitalist structures that adversely affect water security and their health.

Stereo bathymetry to monitor small seasonal agriculture water ponds in ungauged areas

Abstract. Small reservoirs represent a critical water supply to farmers across semi-arid regions, but their hydrological modelling suffers from data scarcity and highly variable and localised rainfall intensities. Over 200,000 ancient rainwater harvesting reservoirs (“tanks”) exist across South India, but with their complex history, considerable size variation, and widespread distribution, understanding the hydrological role of these tanks has been difficult. Fortunately, the last decade has seen improvements in sensors and technologies that enhance our ability to assess the hydrological role of these tanks. In particular, high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEMs), now much easier to produce, can be used to improve the characterization of tanks and their surrounding watersheds. Here, a high-resolution DEM is created during the lowest reservoir conditions using Pléiades stereoscopy, and along with two global DEMs, compared with volume estimates from a field-derived UAV reference DEM for a set of tanks in South India. This study demonstrates that a Pléiades-derived DEM can capture accurate reservoir geometry and, when simulating water volume, achieves volumetric differences of 2–8% compared to our UAV reference data. The Pléiades-derived-DEM produced an equivalent height bias less than the expected bias for the recently launched Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. Deriving high-resolution tank bathymetry from space during low-water conditions provides an opportunity to systematically and repeatably measure tank volume. These results are encouraging in efforts to utilize very high resolution DEMs chosen at an appropriate hydrological time, particularly in regions where water management and security is paramount.

Risk assessment and sources associated with potentially toxic elements in suspended particulate matter: A karst river perspective in active mining area

Study regionDaiyang River Basin, a typical karst river basin impacted by mining activities in Guizhou, Southwest China. Study focusRivers are fundamental components of regional water security, but they are facing potentially toxic elements (PTEs) pollution caused by mining activities. This study investigated the concentration, behavior, risks and sources of nine PTEs in suspended particulate matter (SPM) from mining-impacted karst rivers, which are essential for the safety and management of karst water environments. New hydrological insights for the regionThe contents of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sb and Hg exceeded the corresponding local soil background values, with Zn and Cu being the most important pollutants. These elements caused a very high potential toxicity risk to the basin and unacceptable carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks to the local residents. Correlation analysis and the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model indicated that Ni, Cd, Zn and Cu were mainly derived from mixed sources of geological background and anthropogenic activities (30.95 %), Hg, Sb, and As were related to coal mining and combustion sources (28.91 %), while Pb, As, Cr and Sb were mainly contributed by natural sources (40.15 %). Furthermore, mixed sources, mining-related sources and As were identified as priority control factors in the study area. These insights can provide powerful support for decision-makers to develop control policies and reduce PTEs pollution in karst areas.

Spatiotemporal variation in grain production performance and efficiency of the cultivated landscapes in Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia: the impact of residual moisture-based farming on water and food security

Analysis of grain production performance can provide reference information to explore multiple cropping options and further improve the resource use efficiency of farming methods. This study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of grain production performance and efficiency of major crop production systems (CPS) in the Ethiopia’s Blue Nile Basin. The results show that only 39% of the basin is currently cultivated, although a significant cropland expansion (10%) was recorded between 1985 and 2020. The study identified 11 major CPS, mostly practiced in the basin. Of these, single cropping based on the main rainy season (Meher-Only) covers the largest area (26%), followed by Meher-Residual-Intermittent (12%) and Meher-Belg-Dependable (11%). Extended-Meher, Meher-Residual-Dependable, Meher-Residual-Intermittent, and Meher-Belg-Dependable are the four more powerful CPS with higher efficiency. Comparatively, CPS practiced in Wet-Woyna-Dega and Wet-Dega have better overall performance. Findings confirm that agricultural space management (land) and green-water (rainfall) utilization are the most influential factors, followed by land use planning and land use systems (CPS) invention. As landscape suitability for grain production governs future performance, in the low elevation and flood plains parts of the basin, the possibility of creating additional space into the food system is very high. In mountainous and high-altitude regions, the efficiency of grain production will decrease because incorporating additional arable land into the food system is trivial. In the last three decades, in BNB, only 10% of arable land (equivalent to 30 million quintals of food) has been added to the good system, which can support approximately 6 million people. Compared to the population growth of the basin (12 million 1985–2020), its contribution to the food system was less than 50%. This confirms that multiple cropping systems, such as Residual moisture-based CPS, have played a significant role in boosting the food system in the basin. Therefore, improving grain production performance/efficiency requires targeted investments, including the invention of more adaptable crop varieties, efficient cropping practices, and the introduction of advanced agricultural space and water management technologies. The results of the study will help identify important policy gaps and suggest possible options to enhance residual farming and other multiple cropping systems.

Decoding nationalistic biases in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam research

ABSTRACT The Nile Basin, supporting 40% of Africa's population, faces a critical challenge in aligning developmental goals with water security needs. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) illustrates this dilemma: it promises substantial energy benefits for Ethiopia but raises downstream water scarcity concerns, particularly in Egypt. This study examines GERD-related research to understand how academic perspectives may influence regional tensions or foster collaboration. Through systematic analysis of 79 articles published between 2011 and 2023, we utilized quantitative sentiment analysis to explore potential biases linked to researcher nationality, methodology, and co-authorship diversity. Findings reveal a statistically significant nationalistic bias, with Egyptian and Ethiopian researchers showing negative and positive sentiments, respectively, suggesting research can inadvertently shape polarized public and political stances on GERD. Importantly, studies with diverse co-authorship displayed reduced bias, underscoring the value of multi-national collaboration in mitigating partiality. Contrary to expectations, qualitative methods did not necessarily correlate with extreme positions, while quantitative methods appeared vulnerable to unintended bias. These insights highlight the need for critically assessing academic objectivity in transboundary resource issues, advocating for interdisciplinary and collaborative research to build mutual trust, which could potentially inform and improve regional diplomatic efforts.

Water security assessment and prediction for coastal Urban Agglomeration: a case study in the Pearl River Delta, east China

Water security assessment and prediction for coastal Urban Agglomeration: a case study in the Pearl River Delta, east China

Advancing water security in Africa with new high-resolution discharge data

VegDischarge v1, which covers over 64,000 river segments in Africa, is a natural river discharge dataset produced by coupled modeling; the agro-hydrologic VegET model and the mizuRoute routing model for the period 2001-2021. Using remote sensing data and hydrological modeling system, the 1-km runoff field simulated by VegET, was routed with mizuRoute. Performance metrics show strong model reliability, with R² of 0.5–0.9, NSE of 0.6–0.9, and KGE of 0.5–0.8 at the continental scale. The total average annual discharge for Africa is quantified at 3271.4 km³·year−1, with contributions to oceanic basins: 1000.0 km³·year−1 to the North Atlantic, primarily from the Senegal, Gambia, Volta, and Niger Rivers; 1327.2 km³·year−1 to the South Atlantic, largely from the Congo River; 214.7 km³·year−1 to the Mediterranean Sea, predominantly from the Nile River; and 729.4 km³·year−1 to the Indian Ocean, with inputs from rivers such as the Zambezi. The dataset is valuable for stakeholders and researchers to understand water availability, its temporal and spatial variations that affect water-related infrastructure planning, sustainable resource allocation, and the development of climate resilience strategies.