Water security

The aim of water security is to maximize the benefits of water for humans and ecosystems. The second aim is to limit the risks of destructive impacts of water to an acceptable level. These risks include too much water (flood), too little water (drought and water scarcity), and poor quality (polluted) water. People who live with a high level of water security always have access to "an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihood, and production". For example, access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services is one part of water security. Some organizations use the term "water security" more narrowly, referring only to water supply aspects.

Decision makers and water managers aim to reach water security goals that address multiple concerns. These outcomes can include increasing economic and social well-being while reducing risks tied to water. There are linkages and trade-offs between the different outcomes.  Planners often consider water security effects for varied groups when they design climate change reduction strategies.

Three main factors determine how difficult or easy it is for a society to sustain its water security. These include the hydrologic environment, the socio-economic environment, and future changes due to the effects of climate change. Decision makers may assess water security risks at varied levels. These range from the household to community, city, basin, country and region.

The opposite of water security is water insecurity. Water insecurity is a growing threat to societies. The main factors contributing to water insecurity are water scarcity, water pollution and low water quality due to climate change impacts. Others include poverty, destructive forces of water, and disasters that stem from natural hazards. Climate change affects water security in many ways. Changing rainfall patterns, including droughts, can have a big impact on water availability. Flooding can worsen water quality. Stronger storms can damage infrastructure, especially in the Global South.

There are different ways to deal with water insecurity. Science and engineering approaches can increase the water supply or make water use more efficient. Financial and economic tools can include a safety net to ensure access for poorer people. Management tools such as demand caps can improve water security. They work on strengthening institutions and information flows. They may also improve water quality management, and increase investment in water infrastructure. Improving the climate resilience of water and hygiene services is important. These efforts help to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development.

There is no single method to measure water security. Metrics of water security roughly fall into two groups. This includes those that are based on experiences versus metrics that are based on resources. The former mainly focus on measuring the water experiences of households and human well-being. The latter tend to focus on freshwater stores or water resources security.

Related concepts

Water risk

Water risk refers to the possibility of problems to do with water. Examples are water scarcity, water stress, flooding, infrastructure decay and drought. There exists an inverse relationship between water risk and water security. This means as water risk increases, water security decreases. Water risk is complex and multilayered. It includes risks flooding and drought. These can lead to infrastructure failure and worsen hunger. When these disasters take place, they result in water scarcity or other problems. The potential economic effects of water risk are important to note. Water risks threaten entire industries. Examples are the food and beverage sector, agriculture, oil and gas and utilities. Agriculture uses 69% of total freshwater in the world. So this industry is very vulnerable to water stress.

Risk is a combination of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Examples of hazards are droughts, floods and decline in quality. Bad infrastructure and bad governance lead to high exposure to risk.

The financial sector is becoming more aware of the potential impacts of water risk and the need for its proper management. By 2025, water risk will threaten $145 trillion in assets under management.

To control water risk, companies can develop water risk management plans. Stakeholders within financial markets can use these plans to measure company environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. They can then identify leaders in water risk management. The World Resources Institute has 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.

Understanding risk is part of water security policy. But it is also important to take social equity considerations more into account.

There is no wholly accepted theory or mathematical model for determining or managing water risk. Instead, managers use a range of theories, models and technologies to understand the trade-offs that exist in responding to risk.

Water conflict

Water conflict typically refers to violence or disputes associated with access to, or control of, water resources, or the use of water or water systems as weapons or casualties of conflicts. The term water war is colloquially used in media for some disputes over water, and often is more limited to describing a conflict between countries, states, or groups over the rights to access water resources. The United Nations recognizes that water disputes result from opposing interests of water users, public or private.[30] A wide range of water conflicts appear throughout history, though they are rarely traditional wars waged over water alone. Instead, water has long been a source of tension and one of the causes for conflicts. Water conflicts arise for several reasons, including territorial disputes, a fight for resources, and strategic advantage.

Water conflicts can occur on the intrastate and interstate levels. Interstate conflicts occur between two or more countries that share a transboundary water source, such as a river, sea, or groundwater basin. For example, the Middle East has only 1% of the world's fresh water shared among 5% of the world's population and most of the rivers cross international borders. Intrastate conflicts take place between two or more parties in the same country, such as conflicts between farmers and urban water users.

Desired outcomes

There are three groups of water security outcomes. These include economic, environmental and equity (or social) outcomes. Outcomes are things that happen or people would want to see happen as a result of policy and management:

• Economic outcomes: Sustainable growth which takes changing water needs and threats into account. Sustainable growth includes job creation, increased productivity and standards of living.

• Environmental outcomes: Quality and availability of water for the ecosystems services that depend on this water resource. Loss of freshwater biodiversity and depletion of groundwater are examples of negative environmental outcomes.

• Equity or social outcomes: Inclusive services so that consumers, industry and agriculture can access safe, reliable, sufficient and affordable water. These also mean they can dispose of wastewater safely. This area includes gender issues, empowerment, participation and accountability.

There are four major focus areas for water security and its outcomes. It is about using water to increase economic and social welfare, move towards long-term sustainability or reduce risks tied to water. Decision makers and water managers must consider the linkages and trade-offs between the varied types of outcomes.

Improving water security is a key factor to achieve growth, development that is sustainable and reduce poverty. Water security is also about social justice and fair distribution of environmental benefits and harms. Development that is sustainable can help reduce poverty and increase living standards. This is most likely to benefit those affected by the impacts of insecure water resources in the region, especially women and children.

Water security is important for attaining most of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is because access to adequate and safe water is a precondition for meeting many of the individual goals. It is also important for attaining development that is resilient to climate change.[8]: 4–7  Planners take note of water security outcomes for various groups in society when they design strategies for climate change adaptation.

Determining factors

Three main factors determine the ability of a society to sustain water security:

• Hydrologic environment

• Socio-economic environment

• Changes in the future environment (due to the effects of climate change)

Hydrologic environment

The hydrologic environment is important for water security. The term hydrologic environment refers to the "absolute level of water resource availability". But it also refers to how much it varies in time and location. Inter-annual means from one year to the next, Intra-annual means from one season to the next. It is possible to refer to location as spatial distribution. Scholars distinguish between a hydrologic environment that is easy to manage and one that is difficult.

An easy to manage hydrologic environment would be one with low rainfall variability. In this case rain is distributed throughout the year and perennial river flows sustained by groundwater base flows. For example, many of the world's industrialized nations have a hydrologic environment that they can manage quite easily. This has helped them achieve water security early in their development.

A difficult to manage hydrologic environment is one with absolute water scarcity such as deserts or low-lying lands prone to severe flood risk. Regions where rainfall is very variable from one season to the next, or regions where rainfall varies a lot from one year to the next are also likely to face water security challenges. The term for this is high inter-annual climate variability. An example would be East Africa, where there have been prolonged droughts every two to three years since 1999. Most of the world's developing countries have challenges in managing hydrologies and have not achieved water security. This is not a coincidence.

The poverty and hydrology hypothesis states that regions with a difficult hydrology remain poor because the respective governments have not been able to make the large investments necessary to achieve water security. Examples of such regions would be those with rainfall variability within one year and across several years. This leads to water insecurity which constrains economic growth. There is a statistical link between increased changes in rainfall patterns and lower per capita incomes.

Socio-economic environment

Relative levels of economic development and equality or inequality are strong determinants of community and household scale water security. Whilst the poverty and hydrology hypothesis suggests that there is a link between poverty and difficult hydrologies, there are many examples of "difficult hydrologies" that have not (yet) resulted in poverty and water insecurity.

Social and economic inequalities are strong drivers of water insecurity, especially at the community and household scales. Gender, race and caste inequalities have all been linked to differential access to water services such as drinking water and sanitation. In particular women and girls frequently have less access to economic and social opportunities as a directly consequence of being primarily responsible for meeting household water needs. The entire journey from water source to point of use is fraught with hazards largely faced by women and girls. There is strong evidence that improving access to water and sanitation is a good way of addressing such inequalities.

Climate change

Impacts of climate change that are tied to water, affect people's water security on a daily basis. They include more frequent and intense heavy precipitation which affects the frequency, size and timing of floods. Also droughts can alter the total amount of freshwater and cause a decline in groundwater storage, and reduction in groundwater recharge. Reduction in water quality due to extreme events can also occur. Faster melting of glaciers can also occur.

Global climate change will probably make it more complex and expensive to ensure water security. It creates new threats and adaptation challenges. This is because climate change leads to increased hydrological variability and extremes. Climate change has many impacts on the water cycle. These result in higher climatic and hydrological variability, which can threaten water security.  Changes in the water cycle threaten existing and future water infrastructure. It will be harder to plan investments for future water infrastructure as there are so many uncertainties about future variability for the water cycle. This makes societies more exposed to risks of extreme events linked to water and therefore reduces water security.

It is difficult to predict the effects of climate change on national and local levels. Water security will be affected by sea level rise in low lying coastal areas while populations dependent on snowmelt as their water source will be affected by the recession of glaciers and mountain snow.

Future climate change must be viewed in context of other existing challenges for water security. Other challenges existing climate variability in areas closer to the equator, population growth and increased demand for water resources. Others include political challenges, increased disaster exposure due to settlement in hazard-prone areas, and environmental degradation.  Water demand for irrigation in agriculture will increase due to climate change. This is because evaporation rates and the rate of water loss from crops will be higher due to rising temperatures.

Climate factors have a major effect on water security as various levels. Geographic variability in water availability, reliability of rainfall and vulnerability to droughts, floods and cyclones are inherent hazards that affect development opportunities. These play out at international to intra-basin scales. At local scales, social vulnerability is a factor that increases the risks to water security, no matter the cause. For example, people affected by poverty may have less ability to cope with climate shocks.

Challenges and threats

There are many factors that contribute to low water security. Some examples are:

• Water scarcity: Water demand exceeds supply in many regions of the world. This can be due to population growth, higher living standards, general economic expansion and/or greater quantities of water used in agriculture for irrigation.

• Increasing water pollution and low levels of wastewater treatment, which is making local water unusable. Poor planning of water use, poor water management and misuse. These can cause groundwater levels to drop, rivers and lakes to dry out, and local ecosystems to collapse.

• Trans-boundary waters and international rivers which belong to several countries. Country borders often do not align with natural watersheds. One reason is that international borders result from boundaries during colonialism.

• Climate change. This makes water-related disasters such as droughts and floods more frequent and intense; rising temperatures and sea levels can contaminate freshwater sources.

Other threats to water security include:

• Disasters caused by natural hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires. These can damage man-made structures such as dams and fill waterways with debris;

• Some climate change mitigation measures which need a lot of water. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, afforestation and reforestation may use relatively large amounts of water if done at inappropriate locations. The term for this is a high water footprint.

• Terrorism such as water supply terrorism;

• Radiation due to a nuclear accident;

• New water uses such as hydraulic fracturing for energy resources;

• Armed conflict and migration. Migration can be due to water scarcity at the origin or it can lead to more water scarcity at the target destinations.