scholarly journals Water Resource Management: Moving from Single Risk-Based Management to Resilience to Multiple Stressors

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8609
Author(s):  
Sarah Bunney ◽  
Elizabeth Lawson ◽  
Sarah Cotterill ◽  
David Butler

Water resource management in the UK is multifaceted, with a complexity of issues arising from acute and chronic stressors. Below average rainfall in spring 2020 coincided with large-scale changes to domestic water consumption patterns, arising from the first UK-wide COVID-19 lockdown, resulting in increased pressure on nationwide resources. A sector wide survey, semi-structured interviews with sector executives, meteorological data, water resource management plans and market information were used to evaluate the impact of acute and chronic threats on water demand in the UK, and how resilience to both can be increased. The COVID-19 pandemic was a particularly acute threat: water demand increased across the country, it was unpredictable and hard to forecast, and compounding this, below average rainfall resulted in some areas having to tanker in water to ‘top up’ the network. This occurred in regions of the UK that are ‘water stressed’ as well as those that are not. We therefore propose a need to look beyond ‘design droughts’ and ‘dry weather average demand’ to characterise the management and resilience of future water resources. As a sector, we can learn from this acute threat and administer a more integrated approach, combining action on the social value of water, the implementation of water trading and the development of nationwide multi-sectoral resilience plans to better respond to short and long-term disruptors.

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 8239-8298 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nazemi ◽  
H. S. Wheater

Abstract. Human activities have caused various changes in the Earth System, and hence, the interconnections between humans and the Earth System should be recognized and reflected in models that simulate the Earth System processes. One key anthropogenic activity is water resource management that determines the dynamics of human–water interactions in time and space. There are various reasons to include water resource management in Earth System models. First, the extent of human water requirements is increasing rapidly at the global scale and it is crucial to analyze the possible imbalance between water demands and supply under various scenarios of climate change and across various temporal and spatial scales. Second, recent observations show that human–water interactions, manifested through water resource management, can substantially alter the terrestrial water cycle, affect land-atmospheric feedbacks and may further interact with climate and contribute to sea-level change. Here, we divide the water resource management into two interdependent elements, related to water demand as well as water supply and allocation. In this paper, we survey the current literature on how various water demands have been included in large-scale models, including Land Surface Schemes and Global Hydrological Models. The available algorithms are classified based on the type of demand, mode of simulation and underlying modeling assumptions. We discuss the pros and cons of available algorithms, address various sources of uncertainty and highlight limitations in current applications. We conclude that current capability of large-scale models in terms of representing human water demands is rather limited, particularly with respect to future projections and online simulations. We argue that current limitations in simulating various human demands and their impact on the Earth System are mainly due to the uncertainties in data support, demand algorithms and large-scale models. To fill these gaps, the available models, algorithms and data for representing various water demands should be systematically tested, intercompared and improved and human water demands should be considered in conjunction with water supply and allocation, particularly in the face of water scarcity and unknown future climate.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nazemi ◽  
H. S. Wheater

Abstract. Human activities have caused various changes to the Earth system, and hence the interconnections between human activities and the Earth system should be recognized and reflected in models that simulate Earth system processes. One key anthropogenic activity is water resource management, which determines the dynamics of human–water interactions in time and space and controls human livelihoods and economy, including energy and food production. There are immediate needs to include water resource management in Earth system models. First, the extent of human water requirements is increasing rapidly at the global scale and it is crucial to analyze the possible imbalance between water demands and supply under various scenarios of climate change and across various temporal and spatial scales. Second, recent observations show that human–water interactions, manifested through water resource management, can substantially alter the terrestrial water cycle, affect land–atmospheric feedbacks and may further interact with climate and contribute to sea-level change. Due to the importance of water resource management in determining the future of the global water and climate cycles, the World Climate Research Program's Global Energy and Water Exchanges project (WRCP-GEWEX) has recently identified gaps in describing human–water interactions as one of the grand challenges in Earth system modeling (GEWEX, 2012). Here, we divide water resource management into two interdependent elements, related firstly to water demand and secondly to water supply and allocation. In this paper, we survey the current literature on how various components of water demand have been included in large-scale models, in particular land surface and global hydrological models. Issues of water supply and allocation are addressed in a companion paper. The available algorithms to represent the dominant demands are classified based on the demand type, mode of simulation and underlying modeling assumptions. We discuss the pros and cons of available algorithms, address various sources of uncertainty and highlight limitations in current applications. We conclude that current capability of large-scale models to represent human water demands is rather limited, particularly with respect to future projections and coupled land–atmospheric simulations. To fill these gaps, the available models, algorithms and data for representing various water demands should be systematically tested, intercompared and improved. In particular, human water demands should be considered in conjunction with water supply and allocation, particularly in the face of water scarcity and unknown future climate.


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 806-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gosling

Although Scotland is relatively water resource rich in a UK and European context, water resource scarcity can occur during exceptional dry periods such as those experienced in North West Scotland during July 2012. Precipitation and flow anomaly indices have been recently developed and introduced operationally by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, in order to assess the severity of dry episodes and use this information within the decision-making process when managing the ecological implications of measures required to ensure continuity of water supply. The latest projections of future climate in the UK (UKCP09) point to warmer, drier summers across much of Scotland and, as such, imply an increased frequency of periods of water shortage. This study makes use of the results from a collaborative project in which projected values of climate variables have been used to derive projected river flows at a number of catchments across the UK. These datasets have been used to evaluate the change in frequency of significant precipitation and flow deficits in Scotland. The findings suggest a marked increase in frequency of summer water resource scarcity across much of Scotland which has implications for water resource management, particularly where current storage is relatively low.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie Herlambang

In the national water resource management, the data is the basis for the calculation of water reserves. In a large scale and wide, searching the data will require substantial funding, as well as with the updates. Data colecting becomes a problem and not useful if not managed with the system efficiently and effectively. Technology occupies an important role in accelerating the work, such as remote sensing technology using a satellite to determine the condition of forests and water, or a weather that can see the concentration of clouds and wind movement. Determination of catchment areas of water and protected areas, may of them using remote sensing technology. Water treatment technologies for drinking water and the development of efficient recycling technology of waste water, is very supportive in increasing water use efficiency. Technological developments also influence government policy and the implementation of water resource management. National Policy of Water Resource Management is influenced by economic factors, environmental sustainability and socio-cultural conditions. The role of technology are  facilitate, accelerate and improve the efficiency of the process, so that the process can be more economical and environmental impact is reduced, and does not conflict with the socio-cultural conditions. Keywords : Kebijakan nasional sumber daya air, potensi sda, teknologi pengolahan air


Agromet ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
I Putu Santikayasa ◽  
. Agis ◽  
Siti Maesaroh

<p>The use of economic approach on water allocation are inclusively becoming integrated on water resource management. Competing among water users is expected to escalate due to increasing water demand despite of limited water availability. This research used economic approach aiming to optimize water allocation in Ambang-Brantas subbasin, Malang, and to calculate the total benefit for different sectors of allocated water. We distinguished two scenarios (2012–2015 and 2016–2035) to reflect the existing and the future water allocation. We modelled the water allocation with the Aquarious application. In this subbasin, three main sectors of water users were identified i.e. domestic, agriculture, and industries. The results showed that the agricultural sector was the highest water demand compared to other sectors. This finding was consistent both monthly and annually. Our findings revealed that industries sector show the maximum benefit per unit water used. Based on the scenario, either a decreasing water availability by 10% or an increasing water demand by 10% will decline the total benefit by 44%. If we increase the scenario to 20% it will reduce the total benefit until 71%. This modelling exercise using Aquarius application shows that the model is a promising tool for water resource management with integration of economic approach.</p>


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haibo Jiang ◽  
Chunguang He ◽  
Wenbo Luo ◽  
Haijun Yang ◽  
Lianxi Sheng ◽  
...  

Habitat loss is a key factor affecting Siberian crane stopovers. The accurate calculation of water supply and effective water resource management schemes plays an important role in stopover habitat restoration for the Siberian crane. In this paper, the ecological water demand was calculated and corrected by developing a three-dimensional model. The results indicated that the calculated minimum and optimum ecological water demand values for the Siberian crane were 2.47 × 108 m3~3.66 × 108 m3 and 4.96 × 108 m3~10.36 × 108 m3, respectively, in the study area. After correction with the three-dimensional model, the minimum and optimum ecological water demand values were 3.75 × 108 m3 and 5.21 × 108 m3, respectively. A water resource management scheme was established to restore Siberian crane habitat. Continuous, area-specific and simulated flood water supply options based on water diversions were used to supply water. The autumn is the best season for area-specific and simulating flood water supply. These results can serve as a reference for protecting other waterbirds and restoring wetlands in semi-arid areas.


Author(s):  
Arezoo Boroomandnia ◽  
Omid Bozorg-Haddad ◽  
Jimmy Yu ◽  
Mariam Darestani

Abstract Fast-growing water demand, population growth, global climate change, and water quality deterioration all drive scientists to apply novel approaches to water resource management. Nanotechnology is one of the state-of-the-art tools in scientists’ hands which they can use to meet human water needs via reuse of water and utilizing unconventional water resources. Additionally, monitoring water supply systems using new nanomaterials provides more efficient water distribution networks. In this chapter, we consider the generic concepts of nanotechnology and its effects on water resources management strategies. A wide range of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, including nano-adsorbents, nano-photocatalysts, and nano-membranes, are introduced to explain the role of nanotechnology in providing new water resources to meet growing demand. Also, nanomaterial application as a water alternative in industry, reducing water demand in the industrial sector, is presented. Another revolution made by nanomaterials, also discussed in this chapter, is their use in water supply systems for monitoring probable leakage and leakage reduction. Finally, we present case studies that clarify the influence of nanotechnology on water resources and their management strategies. These case studies prove the importance and inevitable application of nanotechnology to satisfy the rising water demand in the modern world, and show the necessity of nanotechnology awareness for today's water experts.


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