Water security
Water security is a policy goal that describes the fundamental societal goal of water policy and water management, whereby the productive potential of water is harnessed and its destructive impact is limited. Water has productive contributions to human and ecosystems’ well-being, livelihoods and development. It can also have destructive impacts on societies and ecosystems when there is too much water (flood), too little water (drought and water scarcity) or poor quality (polluted) water. Water security has been defined as "the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with  an acceptable level of water-related risks". Improving water security, by managing water resources, is a key factor to achieve growth, sustainable development and poverty reduction. The main three factors that determine a society's ability to sustain water security include: hydrologic environment, socio-economic environment and changes in the future environment (climate change). The term water security encompasses ideas and concepts regarding sustainability, integration and adaptiveness of water resource management and has a complex history. The absence of water security is termed "water insecurity". Water insecurity is regarded as a growing threat to humanity. Some organizations use "water security  in a more narrow sense, focused mainly on water supply issues. There are a diverse range of mechanisms by which weather and weather-related shocks impact on water quality, and the potential ways in which climate change will affect water quality. Weather-related shocks include water shortages, heavy rain and temperature extremes. Water resources can be affected by climate change in various ways. The total amount of freshwater available can change, for instance due to dry spells or droughts. Heavy rainfall and flooding can have an impact on water quality: pollutants can be transported into water bodies by the increased 	Water security
2088018	surface runoff. In coastal regions, more salt may find its way into water resources due to higher sea levels and more intense storms. Higher temperatures also directly degrade water quality: warm water contains less oxygen. Climate change threatens the Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 of achieving universal access to safe drinking water. Definitions. Broad definition. The term “water security” is often used with varying definitions by different people. It emerged as a concept in the 21st century and is a broader concept than just the absence of water scarcity, for example. When compared to the terms “food security” and “energy security”(which 	Water security
2088019	refer to reliable access to food or energy), an important difference with water security" is that not only is the absence of water a problem but also its presence when there is too much. Water security has been defined in 2007 as "the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks". A similar working definition of water security by UN-Water was provided in 2013 as follows: World Resources Institute also proposed a similar definition in 2020: "For purposes of this report, we define  water security as the capacity of a population to Specific focus on water supply. Some organizations use "water security" in a more specific sense to refer to water supply only, not the water-related risks of "too much water". For example, the definition of WaterAid in 2012 is mainly focused on water supply issues: "WaterAid defines water security as: Reliable access to water of sufficient quantity and quality for basic human needs, small-scale livelihoods and local ecosystem services, coupled with a well managed risk of water-related disasters. The World Water Council also uses this more specific approach with  a focus on water supply: "Water security refers to the availability of water, in adequate quantity and quality, to sustain all of these needs together (social and economic sectors, as well as the larger needs of the planet’s ecosystems) – without exceeding its ability to renew." Outcomes. There are several outcomes of water security which have interactions and trade-offs: sustainability of the water resource (in terms of quality and availability), inclusive services so that different users (people, industry, agriculture) are able to access safe, reliable, sufficient and affordable water, and to dispose of wastewater safely; sustainable growth (considering changing  water needs and threats, linked to job creation, productivity and standards of living). Scales. Water security risks need to be managed at different spatial scales: from within the household to community, town, city, basin and region. At the local scale, actors include county governments, schools, water user groups, local water providers and the private sector. At the next larger scale there are basin and national level actors which contribute to informing overarching policy, institutional and investments constraints. Lastly, there are global actors which shape international agendas around water security. Relevant global development actors include Worldbank, UNICEF, FCDO, WHO and USAID , which can design service delivery models promoting more affordable, safe and sustainable services. Related concepts. Integrated water management and others. Scholars have pointed out that the term water security is "generally taken so broad that it captures all that also goes under headings like integrated, sustainable and adaptive". Terms such as "integrated water resources management (IWRM)" or "sustainable water management" might be seen as predecessors. Related terms that are gaining in popularity include water risk, water resilience, water proof, and the water-food-energy nexus. Water risk. "Water risk" refers to the "possibility of an entity experiencing a water-related  challenge (e.g., water scarcity, water stress, flooding, infrastructure decay, drought)". Water risk is inversely related to water security, meaning that as water risk increases, water security decreases. Water risk is complex and multidimensional. It includes risks from natural disasters such as flooding and drought, which can lead to infrastructure failure and worsen hunger. When these risks are realized, they result in water scarcity or other problems. The potential economic effects of water risk are significant. Entire industries, such as the food and beverage, agriculture, oil and gas, utilities, semiconductor and industries, are threatened by water risk. Agriculture uses 69% of  global freshwater, making the industry extremely vulnerable to water stress. Risk is a combination of hazard (droughts, floods and quality deterioration), exposure and vulnerability. High vulnerability can be caused by bad infrastructure and bad governance. The financial sector is becoming more aware of the potential impacts of water risk and the need for its proper management. By 2025, $145 trillion in assets under management are expected to be exposed to water risk. To help mitigate water risk, companies can develop water risk management plans. These can then be used by financial markets to measure company environmental, social and governance  (ESG) performance and identify leaders in water risk management. The World Resources Institute has also developed an online water data platform named Aqueduct for risk assessment and water management. China Water Risk is a nonprofit dedicated to understanding and managing water risk in China. The World Wildlife Fund has a Water Risk Filter that helps companies assess and respond to water risk with scenarios for 2030 and 2050. The World Wildlife Fund has also partnered with DWS, which provides additional business solutions to water risk including water-centric investment funds. The concept of risk is increasingly used in water security  policy and practise but has been weakly integrated with social equity considerations. There is no unifying theory or model for determining or managing water risk. Instead, a range of theories, models, and technologies are used to understand the trade-offs that exist in responding to risk. Determining factors for improving water security. The main three factors that determine a society's ability to sustain water security include: Hydrologic environment. The hydrologic environment is a determinant of water security due to water resource availability, its inter- and intra-annual variability and its spatial distribution. An "easy to manage" hydrologic environment would  be one with relatively low rainfall variability, with rain distributed throughout the year and perennial river flows sustained by groundwater base flows. A “difficult” hydrology is one with absolute water scarcity (i.e. deserts) or low-lying lands where there is severe flood risk; regions where rainfall is markedly seasonal, or a high inter-annual climate variability. Socio-economic environment. The socio-economic environment is a determinant for water security and refers the structure of the economy, behavior of its actors, natural and cultural legacies as well as policy choices. This factor also includes water infrastructure and institutions, macroeconomic structure and  resilience, risk and the behavior of economic actors. Changes in the future environment (climate change). Global climate change is "likely to increase the complexity and costs of ensuring water security". This is because climate change is expected to lead to increased hydrological variability and extremes. Climate change has many impacts on the water cycle, resulting in higher climatic and hydrological variability, which means that water security will be compromised. Changes in the water cycle will threaten existing water infrastructure, making societies more vulnerable to extreme water-related events and resulting in increased insecurity. Specifically, climate change can lead to an  increased incidence of droughts in some areas, while others will see an increasing incidence of floods and other extreme events such as cyclones due to increasing trends in precipitation intensity. Drinking water supply can be threatened though melting of glaciers in terms of quantity, while saltwater intrusion from rising sea levels as well as higher temperatures will compromise water quality. Climate change is about uncertainty and is an important long-term risk to water security. However, climate change must be seen in the context of other existing challenges for water security which include: existing high levels of climate variability at  low latitudes, population growth, increased demand for water resources, political obstacles, increased disaster exposure due to settlement of hazard-prone areas, and environmental degradation. Water demand for irrigation in agriculture is predicted to increase due to climate change. This is because evaporation rates and crop transpiration rate will be higher due to rising temperatures. Factors contributing to water insecurity. There are many risk drivers for water insecurity, for example: Water as a destructive force. is a force for destruction: This destructive aspects water are related to its "extraordinary power, mobility, indispensability and unpredictability". Poverty. Low-income countries are at greater  risk of water insecurity. This can result in human suffering, sustained poverty, constrained growth and social unrest. It has been found that: "Not coincidentally, most of the world’s poor face difficult hydrologies" (combined inter-annual and intra-annual variability). It has been found that greater rainfall variability is statistically associated with lower per capita incomes. Improving water security, by managing water resources, is a key factor to achieve growth, sustainable development and poverty reduction. Water security is therefore also linked to social justice and equitable distribution of environmental benefits and harms. Sustainable development would result in lowered poverty and  increased living standards for those most susceptible to the impacts of insecure water resources in the region, especially women and children. Water scarcity. An important threat to water security is water scarcity. There can be several causes to water scarcity including low rainfall, climate change, high population density, and overallocation of a water source. About 27% of the world’s population lived in areas affected by water scarcity in the mid 2010’s. Even by more conservative estimates, this is expected to increase to 42% by 2050. Over-urbanization relative to water resources can create conditions of rapidly deteriorating household  water security, particularly where pre-existing water and sanitation infrastructure is only poorly developed. Examples of periodic deep water scarcity that is inducing water insecurity include the ongoing California drought that started in early 2000s and the Cape Town Water Crisis (mid-2017 to mid-2018). In both cases pre-existing vulnerabilities were exacerbated by persistent climatic drought. Water pollution. A broad category of threats to water security is environmental threats (water pollution). These include contaminants such as nutrients, pesticides and herbicides (usually from agriculture), heavy metals (usually from industry), and Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or "forever chemicals", climate change and natural  disasters. Contaminants can enter a water source naturally through flooding. Contaminants can also be a problem if a population switches their water supply from surface water to groundwater or even from one surface source to another. An example of this was the "Flint Water Crisis" in Flint, Michigan during 2014-2019 (Flint had changed its water source from treated water that was sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River). Natural disasters and accidents. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires can damage man-made structures such as dams and fill waterways with debris. Another  thread to water security includes radiation due to a nuclear accident. Other. Other threats to water security include terrorism. Water insecurity can also be created by emergence of extensive new water uses such as hydraulic fracturing for energy resources. Approaches. Core elements. There are four key areas of focus: increasing economic welfare, enhancing social equity, moving towards long-term sustainability and reducing water related risks. Approaches to improve water security include natural resources, science, and engineering approaches, political and legal tools, economic and financial tools, policy and governance strategies. Core elements necessary to improving and maintaining water security include: Reducing  inequalities in water security. Inequalities in water security have structural and historical roots. They can affect people at different scales, from the household, to the community, town, river basin or the region. Vulnerable social groups and geographies can be selectively identified or ignored during political debates. For example, water inequality is often related to gender in low-income countries, e.g. at the household level, where women are often the water managers but with constrained choices over water and related expenditures. Improving climate-resilience of water supplies. The impacts of weather on water quality vary by local climate and context, highlighting  the complexity of understanding the impact of climate change on water quality and health. There are a diverse range of mechanisms by which weather and weather-related shocks impact on water quality, and the potential ways in which climate change will affect water quality. Weather-related shocks include water shortages, heavy rain and temperature extremes. They can cause damage to water infrastructure from erosion under heavy rainfall and floods, loss of water sources in droughts, and deterioration of water quality. Therefore, climate change threatens the Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 of achieving universal access to safe drinking water. For example, increases  in fecal contamination of water sources is often linked to rainfall. Heavy rainfall can have a rapid impact on water quality in rivers, that is delayed but still significant in reservoirs. It may also be rapid for shallow groundwater, although more limited in deeper, unfractured aquifers. The impact of antecedent dry periods on the microbial contamination of drinking water through piped water supplies has also been demonstrated. The influence of weather on microbial water quality is mediated by management: decisions to protect and treat the water. Where access to the water on-premises is not available, drinking water quality at  the point of use (PoU) can deteriorate significantly from the point of collection (PoC), highlighting the importance of household practices around hygiene, storage and treatment. There are interactions between weather, water source and management, and these in turn impact on drinking water safety. Climate resilient water supplies provide access to drinking water, that is sustained through seasons and through extreme events, and where the safety of water quality is also sustained. To ensure climate resilience for water supplies, consideration of infrastructure and management decisions, at both community and household level, are essential. Recommendations to improve water security and increase resilience  to climate risks have been formulated as follows: Building capacity for climate resilience. Adaptive capacity in water management systems can help to absorb some of the impacts of climate-related events and increase climate resilience. Stakeholders at various scales, i.e. from small urban utilities to national governments, need to have access to reliable information which details regional climate and climate change. For example targeted climate tools can help national policy makers and sub-national practitioners to make informed decisions to improve climate resilience. These are being developed and applied in Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh by REACH, a global research program  during 2020 to 2024 led by the University of Oxford. Improving water quality management. Drinking water quality and water pollution are interlinked but often not addressed in a comprehensive way. For example, industrial pollution is rarely linked to drinking water quality in developing countries. River, groundwater and wastewater monitoring is important to identify sources of contamination and to guide targeted regulatory responses at different scales. Water safety plans are considered by the WHO as the most effective means of maintaining a safe supply of drinking water to the public. Strengthening institutions for water security. Suitable institutions and infrastructure are needed  to improve water security. Water infrastructure is needed to access, store, regulate, move and conserve the resource. These functions can be performed by a combination of natural assets (lakes, rivers, wetlands, aquifers, springs) and man-made assets (bulk water management infrastructure, such as multipurpose dams for river regulation and storage and inter-basin transfer schemes). Water security can be improved at a national scale through investment in an "evolving balance of complementary institutions and infrastructure for water management". This is important to avoid unforeseen and even unacceptable social and environmental costs from infrastructure measures that were designed to improve water  security. Sustainable Development Goal 16 is about "peace, justice and strong institutions" and recognizes that strong institutions are a necessary condition to support sustainable development, also with regards to water security. Institutions govern how decisions can promote or constrain water security outcomes for the poor. In some cases, the approaches to strengthen institutions might involve re-allocating risks responsibilities between the state, market and communities in novel ways. This can include performance-based models, development impact bonds, or blended finance from government, donors and users. These finance mechanisms challenge the traditional separation between the state, private sector and communities. Governance  mechanisms can reduce water insecurity in transboundary groundwater contexts. They require processes that "(1) enhance context-specific and flexible international mechanisms; (2) address the perpetual need for groundwater data and information; (3) prioritize the precautionary principle and pollution prevention, in particular; (4) where appropriate, integrate governance of surface and subsurface water and land; and (5) expand institutional capacity, especially of binational or multinational actors." Measurement tools. Empirical research has challenged the many ways in which water security is quantified, noting the multiplicity of measures and the various scales at which they apply. Subsequently there has been considerable progress in developing  and rolling out meaningful ways of assessing water insecurity, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Improved metrics, and especially metrics linked directly to the "experience" of water insecurity are also allowing development specialists to more appropriately assess the efficacy of development programs. Country examples. China. China’s per capita water usage is just over a quarter of the global average. The World Resources Institute lists many of the more populated areas of the country as experiencing high (40% - 80% of renewable ground water extracted yearly) or extremely high (>80%) water stress. The WRI has also evaluated a similar portion of the  country in the range of 3 to 5 on their overall water risk index, a measurement accounting for a variety of qualitative and quantitative evaluations. Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China’s sustainable economic and infrastructural development. China introduces five year plans every fifth year pertaining to various issues facing the country. They are a guiding initiative that do not necessarily pertain to legal enforcement, but rather economic and social guidance and planning. In 2016, the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan was introduced along with the goal of limiting annual water consumption per  year to 670 billion cubic meters. These guidelines played an important role in China showing a reduction in water consumption for the first time in over a decade in 2014. A number of laws have been passed in the last two decades that aimed to reduce water usage, waste, and pollution as well as increase disaster preparedness. The Water Law (amended 2002) was first passed in 1988, this amendment provided sections relating to water allocation right, extraction rights, use and conservation parameters, pollution prevention, and basin management. This law could be seen as a turning point in the early 2000s  for water security recognition. Many have come to criticize China for its failure to introduce effective water resource management practices earlier than their mid-2010s onset. For nearly a decade the regulations set forth in the Water Laws regulation were not effectively enforced, so although there were effective measures drafted, the issues continued to develop.