The myth of abundance: water resources in humid regions

Water Policy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1065-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Praskievicz
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
Riparian System ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
Effective Water

Abstract Water resources in humid regions are perceived as abundant, and water-governance systems are based on the expectation of consistent availability of water to meet all needs. In arid regions, in contrast, the operating assumption is that water is a scarce resource that must be allocated systematically to avoid conflict. The ‘myth of abundance’ common in humid regions is counterproductive to effective water governance. This paper provides an overview of the concepts of water scarcity and water security and explains how water governance in humid regions fits into these frameworks. It then addresses the riparian system for allocating water rights and how this system promotes the myth of abundance. Three case studies are presented from humid regions of the Anglophone world, highlighting the shortcomings of abundance-based water-governance systems in these regions. Finally, the water-security framework is advocated as an alternative that addresses fundamental flaws of the abundance-based approach, namely issues related to ecosystems, water quality, disasters, and conflict. Using a goal of water security, rather than a perception of abundance, as the basis for water governance will lead to improved outcomes, especially given future climate change and population growth.

Water Governance and Management in Indus Basin - Challenges & Threats

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marium Sara Minhas Bandeali
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
The State ◽  
Indus Basin

Water governance and management are important challenges for the River Indus Basin in Pakistan. Water governance refers to social, political and economic factors that influence water management. The water scarcity and water security are a major concern for the state to control its water resources. The study aims to give Sindh water policy by exploring the challenges to Indus Basin in managing water resources and to identify opportunities Indus Basin can look to improve water management. Interviews were conducted from water experts and analysts having 5 years’ experience or more in the water sector of Pakistan through a semi-structured self-developed questionnaire using purposive sampling technique and transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that increasing population, climatic change and rising demand of water are major challenges Indus is facing and Indus with time is getting water-scarce therefore need strong institutions, civil society and legislatures to ensure equitable distribution of water and maintain the ecosystem. The study emphasizes that water governance and management are necessary for sustainable use of water. Pakistan, the water stress country needs to address ‘governance’ at a wider scale to solve problems in the Indus Basin for the livelihood of people. The research will benefit the state, water experts, institutions as well as civil society to promote efficient use of water in Indus Basin.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Urban Water Security in a Severe Water Stress Area–Application to Palestinian Cities

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2060
Author(s):  
Samah Jabari ◽  
Isam Shahrour ◽  
Jamal El Khattabi
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Security Assessment ◽  
Water Losses ◽  
Severe Water Stress

This paper presents an assessment of the urban water security in a severe water stress area using a semi-quantitative risk-based approach. Water security indicators are selected according to the recommendations of international institutions, the literature review and the opinion of a panel of water experts. Selected indicators cover three fields: water resources, water services and water governance. The field of water resources is described by indicators related to the water resources availability, annual precipitation and the ratio of treated water, while the water services field is described by indicators related to the water service coverage, water losses and the continuity of water supply. Water governance includes three indicators: role and responsibility, access to water information and stakeholder engagement. Water security assessment is conducted in three stages: (i) data collection for five Palestinian cities in the West Bank of Jordan, (ii) determination of the risk score for each indicator using collected data and an expert’s opinion, (iii) determination of the global water security score and water security index using the matrix risk assessment and the wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) methods. Results show that water risk is ranked as extreme for all cities. Risk related to water resources is a major contributor to global risk, followed by water governance.

Comparing water resources management in China and India: policy design, institutional structure and governance

Water Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Araral ◽  
Xun Wu
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
China And India ◽  
Development Framework

In the area of water governance, there has been little systematic comparison between China and India. The intended contributions of this special issue are threefold. A comparative study of water governance between China and India not only provides opportunities for the two countries to draw lessons from each other, but also sheds light on similar challenges in water resources management in other developing countries. In addition, both China and India are key riparian countries in some of Asia's most important international river basins, and their approaches to water conflicts in these rivers have significant impacts not only on water security but also on regional stability. Finally, comparative water governance is a new and undeveloped field of study. This special volume introduces a Modified Institutional Analysis and Development Framework as a tool to facilitate more systematic, theoretical, and comparative approaches to water governance in the context of comparative study of China and India. It does so by specifying various dimensions of the institutional context and how they could explain variations in the performance of the water sector. The aim is to help advance the current theoretical and applied discourse on comparative water governance as a basis for improving water sector performance.

Water Security

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Mukhtarov ◽  
Aleh Cherp
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Food Energy

In the post–Cold War era, the concept of water security referred to the potential dangers of conflict over water resources and safety of drinking water infrastructure from attacks by military enemies or terrorists. By the 1990s, water security increasingly became discussed together with human security and such concerns as economic security, environmental security, energy security, and food security. The use of security jargon in the field of water resources signaled the importance of this resource for the survival of nations. Definitions of water security prominent in the 1990s focused on the quantity and quality of water supply for human welfare and economic development. More recently, an additional requirement for water management emerged, namely, the functioning of the biosphere as the basis for human well-being. The most recent definitions of water security embrace both human and ecosystem access to water, most often in the form of the so-called water-food-energy nexus with the emphasis on the links between these resources. However defined, the use of the “water security” concept is clearly on the rise in the circles of academics, government officials, and policymakers. However, it is not without its critics who challenge “water security” as failing to add value to the discussions of water governance. Indeed, the pre-eminence of intricate links between water, food, energy, and eco- and social systems has already been widely marked within the integrated water resources management (IWRM) discourse. The proponents of “water security,” in turn, argue for the complementarity of these two concepts. Another major debate running throughout the emerging “water security” literature is on whether it should be defined and operationalized in a broad sense as a framework for water management at multiple levels, or in a narrow sense, as a quantifiable index or a set of indicators.

Analysis of water governance in Malawi: towards a favourable enabling environment?

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinex W. Chiluwe ◽  
Bimo Nkhata
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Enabling Environment ◽  
International Water ◽  
Effective Water ◽  
National Water

This paper examines the enabling environment for effective water governance in Malawi by specifically determining the extent to which the water acts and policies of Malawi reflect international water governance principles of participation, accountability and transparency. It is argued that governance issues determine the extent to which sound and equitable water sharing is achieved among competing uses. Despite the fact that Malawi has vast freshwater resources, the country experiences chronic water shortages in some parts; this is due to disparities in water distribution to the extent that the country has been classified to be going towards water stress by 2025. In this study, it was found that the Water Resources Act of 1969, which is currently being used by the country has not clearly set the scene for good water governance. This is despite a number of treaties on water resources management that the country has ratified. However, despite the failure to update the archaic Act of 1969, the country has taken some important strides such as the development of the National Water Policy of 2005. This policy attempts to espouse key governance prerequisites required to improve the country's capacity to deal with the impeding water crisis situation.

scholarly journals Simulation of Pan-Evaporation Using Penman and Hamon Equations and Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 793
Author(s):  
Abdul Razzaq Ghumman ◽  
Mohammed Jamaan ◽  
Afaq Ahmad ◽  
Md. Shafiquzzaman ◽  
Husnain Haider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Fuzzy Inference ◽  
Sunshine Duration ◽  
Pan Evaporation ◽  
Estimation Of Parameters ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
The Impact

The evaporation losses are very high in warm-arid regions and their accurate evaluation is vital for the sustainable management of water resources. The assessment of such losses involves extremely difficult and original tasks because of the scarcity of data in countries with an arid climate. The main objective of this paper is to develop models for the simulation of pan-evaporation with the help of Penman and Hamon’s equations, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), and the Artificial Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). The results from five types of ANN models with different training functions were compared to find the best possible training function. The impact of using various input variables was investigated as an original contribution of this research. The average temperature and mean wind speed were found to be the most influential parameters. The estimation of parameters for Penman and Hamon’s equations was quite a daunting task. These parameters were estimated using a state of the art optimization algorithm, namely General Reduced Gradient Technique. The results of the Penman and Hamon’s equations, ANN, and ANFIS were compared. Thirty-eight years (from 1980 to 2018) of manually recorded pan-evaporation data regarding mean daily values of a month, including the relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine duration, and temperature, were collected from three gauging stations situated in Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia. The Nash and Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and Mean Square Error (MSE) evaluated the performance of pan-evaporation modeling techniques. The study shows that the ANFIS simulation results were better than those of ANN and Penman and Hamon’s equations. The findings of the present research will help managers, engineers, and decision makers to sustainability manage natural water resources in warm-arid regions.

Exploring Northwest China's agricultural water-saving strategy: analysis of water use efficiency based on an SE-DEA model conducted in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mu ◽  
L. Fang ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
L. Chen ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Use Efficiency

Worldwide, water scarcity threatens delivery of water to urban centers. Increasing water use efficiency (WUE) is often recommended to reduce water demand, especially in water-scarce areas. In this paper, agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) is examined using the super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in Xi'an in Northwest China at a temporal and spatial level. The grey systems analysis technique was then adopted to identify the factors that influenced the efficiency differentials under the shortage of water resources. From the perspective of temporal scales, the AWUE increased year by year during 2004–2012, and the highest (2.05) was obtained in 2009. Additionally, the AWUE was the best in the urban area at the spatial scale. Moreover, the key influencing factors of the AWUE are the financial situations and agricultural water-saving technology. Finally, we identified several knowledge gaps and proposed water-saving strategies for increasing AWUE and reducing its water demand by: (1) improving irrigation practices (timing and amounts) based on compatible water-saving techniques; (2) maximizing regional WUE by managing water resources and allocation at regional scales as well as enhancing coordination among Chinese water governance institutes.

scholarly journals Vitality of Complex Water Governance Systems: Condition and Evolution

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurian Edelenbos ◽  
van Ingmar Meerkerk ◽  
Corniel van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Governance Systems
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