Water scarcity

and the Future "They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there. They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery" (Leguin 1973 page 3.) We are told that life is unfair, a truism which often obscures the reality that humanity is unfair. Life did not put Leguin's child in the broom closet, people did. In fact let us dot our I's and cross our T's, life is not what condemned this child to its 'abominable misery", life is that which was stripped from this child in the name of others' lives. In the world of Omelas, one child pays for the happiness of many. In our world, there are countless childrenand grownups-in broom closets, sweatshops, refugee camps, prisons, plantations, mines, factories…the list can go on forever. The annexation of the lives of the majority for the gain of a few is what we call capitalism. The system we are all collaboratively reproducing, supporting and enacting in our daily lives, despite the wellknown fact that "it creates monstrous forms of inequality, and therefore of otherness, within the basic unity of the human species" (Badiou 2017 page 12). Capitalism is a world system built on a universal outlook and plan. The universal and universalizing narrative of capitalism dictates the relation and dynamic between "the overall unity of humanity in its biological and historical adventure dimension [and] humanity's microscopic composition as individuals" (Badiou 2017 page 13). The first is a collective ego-trip, often referred to as humanism, a delusional rhetoric of grandeur, superiority and fake humanity. The latter, the microscopic, individual or particular, is reduced to insignificance in the face of the first. For an individual to be relevant, they must somehow be feeding the arrogance of the gargantuan human race. Despite their stark difference, the universal is built on the particular. They are not so much opposites as they two ends of a circular spectrum, a "Moebius-strip continuum between the inside and the outside" (Pavon-Cueillar 2014 page 662), between the universal and the particular, between the wretched and the king.

This paper focuses on empirically assessing determinants of river basin management decentralization, which is growing in popularity among water resource managers world wide. Measuring decentralization as a shift of decision-making responsibility to water users or governments at the river basin level or below, the analysis sheds light on the decentralization reform process and its success, using primary data from 83 river basins world wide. Contrary to common perception that primarily emergency situations trigger reform, persistent water scarcity is found to be a major stimulus to reform. Similarly, financially wellendowed or-developed basins do not necessarily outperform poor and underdeveloped basins. Conditions improving decentralization performance include: existence of dispute resolution mechanisms; greater financial responsibility of users; and as opposed to traditional thinking, government financial support to basin budget.

This paper is to highlight the threatening of climate change on the water shortage problem in North China, a semi-arid and arid area. Observations show that the runoff of the major rivers is decreasing dramatically especially in the lower reaches where water is highly demanded. Most noticeable are the dry-outs of the Yellow River, the so-called 'mother river of China'. Water scarcity would be the most front challenge for the society and economy in China, especially the urban area with extremely high population density. The government already paid attention to the deepening of the underground water level at Beijing. Sustainable water resource management should the top priority for the local community to adapt to climate change. Studies show that human activities heavily impact on the local climate and environment in China and a dramatics amount of clean water is wasted or polluted.

Research Reports IWMI's mission is to contribute to food security and poverty eradication by fostering sustainable increases in the productivity of water through better management of irrigation and other water uses in river basins. In serving this mission, IWMI concentrates on the ...

The main contributions of the paper can be divided into five areas. (a) It tries to explain conceptually, the institutional arrangements for water supply in Chennai and whether the state government's decision about improving the performance of the water utility depends on particular political circumstances. A plausible explanation is also given of the impact of ground water regulation on the supply decision of private sector (tanker truck operators), using a crowding out framework. (b) It discusses how Amartya Sen's entitlements approach could be used to understand water scarcity as a problem of some people not having enough water rather than a problem of there being not enough water, and in that light, to examine inequality in access to water supply. (c) The paper presents a water balance sheet for Chennai. While I do not use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, I suggest a possible framework to use such models for water supply policy issues at city level. (d) Aspects of water quality are discussed by focusing on the steps taken by households to improve water quality at home, and whether access to energy also contributes to entitlement deprivation of the poor. (e) Monthly household expenditure on water supply is briefly examined. These expenditures comprise direct costs, the cost of time spent in collecting water, and expenditure incurred in improving the quality. Expenditure on water is found to be positively associated with years of education of the respondent, water endowment, home ownership and location within Chennai City (as compared to residing in the peri-urban areas). The low income households do spend a slightly larger proportion of their monthly income on water supply as compared to others, mainly in the form of the cost of time spent in collecting water. Due to energy prices and lack of access to certain sources of energy, they may also be suffering from entitlement deprivation in having to settle for using water of low quality and increased health risk. (printed publication) ISBN 92-9190-105-9 (internet publication) 11 There has been some discussion on property rights in relation to ground water (for example, Moench 1998), but much focus in this literature seems to be on irrigation (for example, Shah 1993).

The Bundelkhand region in India has been dealing with a severe water crisis for the last two decades. This water crisis has received a significant amount of attention from the central government, media and academics. However, although multiple policies and acts have been passed, and extensive resources distributed, there has not been much improvement on the ground. This thesis analyzes the reasons behind ineffective water governance and implementation at all levels of government, and concludes that over-centralization of planning, crisis-response rather than long-term planning, and a lack of pragmatic planning are key to understanding the current situation. More generally, the disjointed nature of water governance in India has made it difficult for the public sector to carry out cohesive planning approaches. We suggest reforms that can be adopted, and consider the possible consequences to water management and planning if Bundelkhand were to become a separate state.

Large-scale anthropogenic changes to the natural environment, including land-use change, climate change, and the deterioration of ecosystem services, are all accelerating. These changes are interacting to generate five major emerging public health threats that endanger the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people. These threats include increasing exposure to infectious disease, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters, and population displacement. Taken together, they may represent the greatest public health challenge humanity has faced. There is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the dynamics of each of these threats: the complex interplay of factors that generate them, the characteristics of populations that make them particularly vulnerable, and the identification of which populations are at greatest risk from each of these threats. Such improved understanding would be the basis for stepped-up efforts at modeling and mapping global vulnerability...

This paper applies a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the formation of awareness and perception of water scarcity, based on a cross-sectional dataset of 446 farmers in the Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, China. We find that age, percentage of time spent on farming and social network are the main determinants of awareness. Water price and drought experience are the most important explanatory variables of perception. In addition, awareness and perception strongly interact. The results obtained in this paper are relevant for policymaking, since environmental behavior, which includes efficient use of natural resources, tends to improve if supported by internalization of social norms, which in its turn, is promoted by awareness and perception. From the analysis it follows that spreading information via social networks, rather than via the media, is an important vehicle to enhance awareness and perception and thus to improve irrigation water use efficiency. Special attention should be paid to part-time farmers who are limited in directly perceiving water scarcity. Finally, more use should be made of the price mechanism to strengthen perception and awareness.

Population increase and the improvement of living standards brought about by development will result in a sharp increase in food demand during the next decades. Most of this increase will be met by the products of irrigated agriculture. At the same time, the water input per unit irrigated area will have to be reduced in response to water scarcity and environmental concerns. Water productivity is projected to increase through gains in crop yield and reductions in irrigation water. In order to meet these projections, irrigation systems will have to be modernized and optimized. Water productivity can be defined in a number of ways, although it always represents the output of a given activity (in economic terms, if possible) divided by some expression of water input. The authors identified five expressions for this indicator, using different approaches to water input. A hydrological analysis of water productivity poses a number of questions on the choice of the water input expression, since in many cases irrigation return flows can not be considered as a net water loss from a basin-wide perspective. A number of irrigation modernization and optimization measures are discussed in the paper. Particular attention is paid to the improvement of irrigation management, which shows much better economic return than the improvement of the irrigation structures. In closed basins the hydrological effects of these improvements may be deceiving, since they will be accompanied by larger crop evapotranspiration and even increased cropping intensity. As a consequence, less water will be available for alternative uses.

The reclamation of effluent from wastewater treatment plants to be applied as an alternative water source is usually linked to reasons of water scarcity in the sense of unmatched temporary or structural water demand. Uneven spatial distribution and seasonal variations in water demand and in the hydrological cycle make the semi-arid coastal planes and islands of the Mediterranean particularly indicated for the use of reclaimed water as a useful droughtproof conservation measure. In the moderate climates of northern Europe, however, at first sight, one may think that there should be sufficient amounts of water available to support all possible water uses. However, the reuse of water in northern Europe can be an important asset to preserve or improve the quality of the existing water bodies. In simplified terms, 'reuse' of water in Northern Europe is dictated by quality aspects rather than by quantity. The main reason for the use of reclaimed water today is to conserve good quality (ground)water resources to applications requiring high-quality water such as the make-up of potable water. The water management in Flanders, the northern region of Belgium, is a good example of this situation, and will be discussed in the following paper.

Water is a scarce resource in many parts of the developed world. Two solutions are possible to address water scarcity: conservation of existing resources, or the further production of water from new sources e.g. through recycling of wastewater or desalination of seawater. However, the main hurdle to implementation of many of these solutions is often viewed as a lack of public willingness to adopt these alternative water behaviours. Research in this area is therefore crucial. Yet, and possibly due to the interdisciplinary nature of such research, there is currently no comprehensive overview of what has been done before. This study fills this gap by (1) choosing a general consumer behaviour perspective as a starting point, (2) developing a conceptual model of research required in the area of water-related public acceptance studies, (3) identifying eight key water-related behaviours which require future research attention, and (4) reviewing which areas of the conceptual model have been investigated in the past by conducting an extensive literature review of water-related social science research.

Sharp increases in food commodity prices in 2007-2008 led to impacts on food security and poverty worldwide. This paper discusses the impacts on smallholder farmers in six Arab countries that all suffer, to varying degrees, from water scarcity, poverty and food insecurity. The analysis is based on a survey covering more than 1000 rural households in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It examines government responses to the price spike, price transmission from international to local markets, and farmers' production decisions in response to these price changes. It also discusses how smallholder farmers, given the right policy support, could benefit from new opportunities offered by higher commodity prices. Higher international prices were transmitted to domestic markets in all six countries. The price transmission was high and immediate in countries with the least intervention in food markets. In countries with more interventions on imports and/or domestic food prices, the connection between international and domestic prices was generally low. The ability of smallholder farmers to benefit from higher domestic prices was limited by various factors: drought, higher input prices (especially fertilizer), and the timing of the price increases in relation to the crop cycle. The study makes several recommendations to enable smallholder farmers to better respond to market signals. These include better timing of announcement of policy decisions regarding price supports, better access to credit, safety nets to protect the poorest households, improved management of water resources, and simple financial instruments to protect against price volatility.

Merely “surreal” might describe the interview given by Aqua America’s CEO, Nick DeBenedictis, to Crissa Shoemaker DeBree did the fact that he is lying not portend such devastating consequences for so many people. The security of the nation’s water supply is an important, but often silent, priority for water companies, said the head of Aqua America. The worldview evinced in DeBenedictis’ brief interview with DeBree is not, in fact, surreal; it’s not even “merely” self-deluded. Rather, it epitomizes the “up is down,” “true is false,” “the sky is pink” (thanks Josh Fox) propaganda promoted by the hydraulic fracturing corporations and their associates in order to justify the construction of 200,000 fracked wells, their attendant compressor stations, water withdrawal depots, freshwater impoundments, and “produced water” deep injection disposal wells. For DeBenedictis, the sky is pink—and water is the green of a big fat dollar bill.

The viability and sustainability of crop production is currently threatened by increasing water scarcity. Water scarcity problems can be addressed through improved water productivity and the options usually presumed in this context are efficient water use and conversion of surface irrigation to pressurised systems. By replacing furrow irrigation with drip or centre pivot systems, the water efficiency can be improved by up to 30% to 45%. However, the installation and application of pumps and pipes, and the associated fuels needed for these alternatives increase energy consumption. A balance between the improvement in water use and the potential increase in energy consumption is required. When surface water is used, pressurised irrigation systems increase energy consumption substantially, by between 65% to 75%, and produce greenhouse gas emissions around 1.75 times higher than that of gravity based irrigation systems so their use should be carefully planned keeping in view adverse impact of carbon emissions on the environment and threat of increasing energy prices. With gravity-fed surface irrigation methods, the energy consumption is assumed to be negligible. This study has shown that a novel real-time infiltration model REIP has enabled implementation of real-time optimisation and gravity fed surface irrigation with real-time optimisation has potential to bring significant improvements in irrigation performance along with substantial water savings of 2.92 ML/ha which is equivalent to that given by pressurised systems. The real-time optimisation and control thus offers a modern, environment friendly and water efficient system with close to zero increase in energy consumption and minimal greenhouse gas emissions.

SUMMARY - It is nowadays widely accepted that the increasing concentration of the so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is altering the Earth's radiation balance and causing the temperature to rise. This process in turn provides the context for a chain of events which leads to changes in the different components of the hydrological cycle, such as evapotranspiration rate, intensity

he severe scarcity of freshwater in the Arabian Peninsula has forced the GCC countries to turn to the sea for a solution, rather than to other countries, near or far. They have chosen to desalinate seawater and ground water in order to ensure their supply, largely as a result of their geo-climatic and geopolitical settings. The hydrological reasons are self-evident, but the geopolitical considerations are the focus of this chapter. It will investigate the geopolitics of water scarcity in the Middle East, with a particular focus on what it means for the Gulf states. It will also discuss the political and security risks of reliance on desalination plants and on water imports.

In many parts of the world, freshwater is already a scarce and overexploited natural resource, raising concerns about global food security and damage to freshwater ecosystems. This situation is expected to intensify with the FAO estimating that world food production must double by 2050. Food chains must therefore become much more efficient in terms of consumptive water use. For the small and geographically well-defined Australian mango industry, having an average annual production of 44,692 t of marketable fresh fruit, the average virtual water content (sum of green, blue and gray water) at orchard gate was 2298 l kg À1. However, due to wastage in the distribution and consumption stages of the product life cycle, the average virtual water content of 1 kg of Australian-grown fresh mango consumed by an Australian household was 5218 l. This latter figure compares to an Australian-equivalent water footprint of 217 l kg À1 , which is the volume of direct water use in Australia having an equivalent potential to contribute to water scarcity. Nationally, distribution and consumption waste in the food chain of Australian-grown fresh mango to Australian households represented an annual waste of 26.7 Gl of green water and 16.6 Gl of blue water. These findings suggest that interventions to reduce food chain waste will likely have as great or even greater impact on freshwater resource availability as other water use efficiency measures in agriculture and food production.

In the arid zone of central Turkana, north-western Kenya, where soil salinity affects 15-20% of the rangelands, growth performances of trees planted in saline soil rehabilitation trials have not been evaluated. Tree-planting trials have emphasised exotic species over indigenous ones. However, advantages and disadvantages of promoting exotic tree species have not been examined. The current study was aimed at evaluating growth performance of seven exotic and nine indigenous tree species used in saline soil rehabilitation trials. The tree species were established from 6-month-old saplings using microcatchments (FT1) from 1988 through 1990 and pitting treatment (FT2) from 1989 through 1992. The soils in FT1 and FT2 treatments were moderately to highly saline. The exotic tree species produced greater cover and volume during the first year (FT1) but by the second year, production was not sustained due to greater mortality (FT1 & FT2). The indigenous species in general had higher survival rates. Relative growth rates (RGR) of exotic and indigenous species did not differ (FT1 & FT2). Tree mortality was negatively correlated with RGR for exotic species in FT1 but not for indigenous ones. However, changes in plant performance were not in response to salinity alone. Rather, water scarcity superimposed on soil salinity might have influenced plant growth performance. Greater water and salinity stress and subsequently greater mortality in exotic species provided a more convincing reason for promotion of indigenous tree species. In the future, knowledge of salinity distribution and selection of indigenous species to match this will be a better way of rehabilitating sites affected by soil salinity in the arid zone of central Turkana, north-western Kenya.

The effects of climate change and variability on water availability in Ghana is being felt throughout the country. Coping with water scarcity has become a major issue. Most communities in the Offin River basin are rural with no pipe-borne water, and consist predominantly of farmers who depend on irrigation for their crops. The basin provides the communities with water for drinking, and for other economic activities. Benjamin Apraku Gyampoh, Monica Idinoba and Steve Amisah look at livelihood options to cope with water scarcity as the climate situation worsens in the coming years.

The year 2005 marks the beginning of the "International Decade for Action: Water for Life" and renewed effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) to reduce by half the proportion of the world's population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015. Currently, UNICEF and WHO estimate that 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water supplies and 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation. Providing safe water and basic sanitation to meet the MDGs will require substantial economic resources, sustainable technological solutions and courageous political will. We review five major challenges to providing safe water and sanitation on a global basis: (1) contamination of water in distribution systems, (2) growing water scarcity and the potential for water reuse and conservation, (3) implementing innovative low-cost sanitation systems, (4) providing sustainable water supplies and sanitation for megacities, and (5) reducing glob...

Food security is a high priority issue on the Chinese political agenda. China’s food security is challenged by several anthropogenic, sociopolitical and policy factors, including: population growth; urbanization and industrialization; land use changes and water scarcity; income growth and nutritional transition; and turbulence in global energy and food markets. Sustained growth in agricultural productivity and stable relations with global food suppliers are the twin anchors of food security. Shortfalls in domestic food production can take their toll on international food markets. Turbulence in global energy markets can affect food prices and supply costs, affecting food security and poverty. Policy safeguards are needed to shield food supply against such forces. China must make unremitting policy responses to address the loss of its fertile land for true progress towards the goal of national food security, by investing in infrastructure such as irrigation, drainage, storage, transport, and agricultural research and institutional reforms such as tenure security and land market liberalization. The links between water and other development-related sectors such as population, energy, food, and environment, and the interactions among them require reckoning, as they together will determine future food security and poverty reduction in China. Climate change is creating a new level of uncertainty in water governance, requiring accelerated research to avoid water-related stresses.

Where there is water scarcity, the situation is dramatic for aquatic ecosystems. In many Mediterranean basins the exploitation of water resources has gone clearly beyond renewable level and affects aquatic ecosystems. Thus, they may benefit from the recycling of high-quality effluents that can be used to cope with environmental water demands instead of being discharged. Their reclamation with natural technologies produces an improvement in quality based on the development of trophic webs built upon nutrients still dissolved in the reclaimed water. The main project in the Costa Brava area is that of the Empuriabrava constructed wetland system, where nitrified effluent is further treated to reduce the concentration of nutrients in the water and is reused for environmental enhancement. This facility is also an interesting site for bird-watching. Other projects where water recycling produces indirect benefits on the aquatic ecosystems are those in Tossa de Mar, affecting the "temporary" Tossa Creek (a watercourse which flows on temporary basis according to rainfall patterns), and in the Aro Valley, affecting the also "temporary", but slightly bigger, Ridaura River. This document summarizes these projects and proposes practical recommendations for the use of treated effluents in the recreation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

Rezaei Kalvani et al:Assesing ground and surface water scarcity indices using ground and surface water footprints in the Tehran province of Iran-4985-APPLIED ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 17(2):4985-4997. Abstract. Water consumption is increasing at an alarming rate all over the world. Iran is currently facing high water stress as a consequence of mismanagement. The aim of this study is to evaluate the agricultural ground and surface water footprints in the Tehran province of Iran in order to establish agricultural ground and surface water scarcity indices. Blue and green water footprints were evaluated based on the water footprint method. The volume at which ground and surface water is generated was obtained via fieldwork and GIS (Geographic Information System) data for the first time. In addition, an indicator for evaluating the agricultural ground and surface water scarcity index was established. The total groundwater footprint for the production of crops in Tehran was half of the total water footprint in 2014-2015. The results showed very high agricultural groundwater stress and moderate surface water stress. Groundwater abstraction for the agricultural sector was more unsustainable than surface water. Besides, agricultural ground and surface water scarcity indices are more suitable than existing indicators because they disclose environmental impact of crops production and help stakeholders to assess groundwater and surface water management policies. The agricultural water footprint should be reduced to sustain agricultural water consumption in Tehran.

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are the recommended techniques towards solving three major problems in Malaysia which are flash flood, water scarcity and water pollution. Practically, most of our stormwater runoff especially in urban areas is catered by conventional drainage systems that carry runoff to the downstream by rapid disposal concept. In order to manage these three major problems, SUDS provide long term solutions to urban drainage management. Sustainable drainage is a concept that includes long term environmental and social factors in decisions about drainage. It takes account of the quantity and quality of runoff, and the amenity value of surface water in the urban environment. With the particular design and right combination of SUDS techniques, the systems will operate holistically. From the aspect of quantity control, these integrated designs become as a runoff controller and flood protector by attenuation of runoff flow by implementing for example grass swale, dry detention basins, ponds and etc. Besides, it also increases infiltration and indirectly contributes to conservation of groundwater resources. From the aspect of quality, with a treatment train, it will minimize the amount of pollution entering the downstream waterways. The SUDS systems will allows sedimentation, pollutant removal, and purification process which occur in the grass swale, bio-filtration basins, ponds, wetlands and etc. Finally, for the amenity aspect, the systems will blend the landscapes and surrounding areas to be more relax, rejuvenate, leisure and environmentally friendly. In Malaysia condition, the implementation of the system is still in an early stage and we need to change our conventional thinking to balance the impact of urban drainage on flood control, quality management (pollution prevention) and amenity. Sustainable urban drainage provides a solution to this problem. Sustainable urban drainage systems offer control at source solution and we need to be conscious that the systems do not only solve the flash flood and water scarcity problems but also our water pollution problems. By implementing SUDS, Malaysia can avoid flash flood, water shortage (rainwater reuse) and water pollution in the near future. This paper will describe Malaysian experience in handling the pilot project based on Malaysian manual known as Urban Stormwater Management Manual (MSMA) which is effective on 2001. This manual has been launched by Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia, which is responsible for water resources in Malaysia. Basically the manual comprises all the Best Management Practices (BMPs) and SUDS techniques based on Malaysian condition. The construction of Bio-Ecological Drainage Systems (BIOECODS) at Engineering Campus, University Sains Malaysia (USM) as a pilot project for Malaysia, which is one of the research collaboration between DID and USM was completed end of the year 2002. BIOECODS offers an exemplary model for urban stormwater management under tropical climates. BIOECODS (Figure 1) consists of three components namely ecological swales (Type A, Type B and Type C) (Figure 2), biofiltration storage (Dryponds), and Ecological ponds (Wetpond, Detention Pond, Constructed Wetland, Wading River and Recreational Pond) (Figure 3). Investigation of BIOECODS capability in order to manage stormwater runoff in the 320 acres catchments areas of the Engineering Campus has been conducted since the year 2003. This paper discusses the performance of BIOECODS recorded based on the latest data collected (Figure 4, Table 1, Table 2). On quantity and quality aspect, it has been proven that the systems can minimize changes to the hydrological characteristics of a catchments area, prevent the pollution from contaminating stormwater and promote the amenity value at USM Engineering Campus by natural mechanism such as infiltration, flow retardation, storage and purification before discharging stormwater to the downstream end which is Sungai Kerian. The results of the study indicate that BIOECODS can be a viable method for the water quantity and quality treatment of site runoff (

Poverty eradication through sustainable development can be regarded today as perhaps the central goal of the CGIAR, of most agricultural research and development institutions in the developing world, and of the national governments that support their research. Irrigation has played a central role in poverty * The authors would like to acknowledge the useful comments of Ruth Meinzen-Dick, David Seckler, and Douglas Merrey.

Declining reservoir storage has raised the specter of the first water shortage on the Lower Colorado River since the completion of Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams. This focusing event spurred modeling efforts to frame alternatives for managing the reservoir system during prolonged droughts. This paper addresses the management challenges that arise when using modeling tools to manage water scarcity under variable hydroclimatology, shifting use patterns, and institutional complexity. Assumptions specified in modeling simulations are an integral feature of public processes. The policymaking and management implications of assumptions are examined by analyzing four interacting sources of physical and institutional uncertainty: inflow (runoff), depletion (water use), operating rules, and initial reservoir conditions. A review of planning documents and model reports generated during two recent processes to plan for surplus and shortage in the Colorado River demonstrates that modeling tools become useful to stakeholders by clarifying the impacts of modeling assumptions at several temporal and spatial scales. A high reservoir storage-to-runoff ratio elevates the importance of assumptions regarding initial reservoir conditions over the three-year outlook used to assess the likelihood of reaching surplus and shortage triggers. An ensemble of initial condition predictions can provide more robust initial conditions estimates. This paper concludes that water managers require model outputs that encompass a full range of future potential outcomes, including best and worst cases. Further research into methods of representing and communicating about hydrologic and institutional uncertainty in model outputs will help water managers and other stakeholders to assess tradeoffs when planning for water supply variability.

Water quality is an urgent problem in the Lake Chivero catchment, Zimbabwe, whilst water scarcity will be a problem soon. This study focused on assessing the potential impacts of the application of cleaner production principles in urban water supply and sanitation in the context of sustainable management of water resources. The cleaner production principles are explained together with how they can be applied to urban water management. Data from City of Harare and previous studies were collected and analysed. The study focused mainly on water, nitrogen and phosphorus. About 304,000 m 3 /d of wastewater, containing 30,000 kg/d TN and 3600 kg/d TP are currently produced and treated at five sewage treatment works in Harare. Water conservation, treatment and reuse strategies were developed for different land uses starting from water-saving devices, regulation, leak detection and repair, to wastewater treatment and reuse. This study showed that the application of the cleaner production principles would reduce total wastewater production from 487,000 m 3 /d to 379,000 m 3 /d (a 27% reduction) based on year 2015 projections. A very large investment in treatment infrastructure can be postponed for about 10 years. In terms of amounts treated and discharged at central level this translates to reductions of 47% on flows, 34% on TN, and 44% on TP. River discharges can be eliminated. It was concluded that a cleaner production approach could substantially reduce current water pollution and long-term scarcity problems in Harare.

Nowadays the humankind is urgently invited to make available for potable use satisfactory quantities of good quality water to its increasing population. There is a big effort by the water treatment specialists to analyze the solutions the humankind has at its disposition to respond to these risks. The contribution of water reuse (WR) would be great in the humankind's water tomorrow. This review aims to discuss the growing WR technology as a future solution for water supply issues. WR is broadly applied by industries to decrease the consumption of clean water. WR process should employ treated wastewater mixed with surface water at a certain proportion depending on the degree of purity of the treated water and assuring the dilution effect. WR should not employ at any case only wastewater, for safeguard reasons and psychological effects. WR should be obviously more sophisticated than both water treatment and wastewater treatment since pathogens contamination and chemicals presence can be there most elevated. Since pharmaceutical products and cosmetics substances at trace levels are found in tap water, should we assist to a new formulation of water treatment technology? This will be feasible if water treatment/wastewater treatment/WR would be merged in a super and highly standardized water/wastewater treatment technology, as a future trend.

This is the Draft Table of Contents for my forthcoming book (Lexington--hopefully December 2016): Eco-Nihilism: The Philosophical Geopolitics of the Climate Change Apocalypse.

I post it here to give my readers--for whom I'm tremendously grateful--a preview of the book's themes and argument.

During the ’90s, water privatization was a popular trend in the Global South. Strongly inspired by neoliberal thinking and promoted by international development agencies, it was seen as a comprehensive solution for water issues. However, this tendency was based on some misconceptions and unfounded assumptions and did not manage to show their intended benefits. Thus, water privatization in the Global South started to decline after the 2000s. Conversely, in Chile, a broad process of water neoliberalization imposed under the military dictatorship of Pinochet persisted over the years, evidencing the underlying power relations it maintains and generating unjust social results. Nowadays, the neoliberal water model remains almost unchanged: while it has fostered the economy and benefited the countries’ elites, it has also created and worsened water scarcity and dispossessed communities from this resource. As will be seen in the emblematic case of Petorca Province, this has primarily affected peasants, rural populations, and indigenous people, ultimately altering local identities and social relations.

Water is one of the most essential element for survival for all forms of life. Almost 71% of the earth's surface is covered by water. But inspite of the large amount of water present on the surface of the earth only 3% of the total water available is fresh water. Out of this 3%, only 0.4% usable and drinkable water is available to us which is to be shared by 7.7 billion inhabitants. Due to unequal water distribution naturally, we see very wet and very dry geographic regions across the globe. The increase in freshwater demand in the recent years due to industrialization and human needs is leading to water scarcity. There are several geographical regions where adequate drinking water is not available. There is also a huge depletion of ground water. Proper measures if not taken may lead to severe water shortage by the 2050. The researcher wants to understand the gravity of water scarcity in India with a focus on north east India, the water sources utilized by inhabitants and the ground water condition.

Lake Chivero, in Zimbabwe, is the major water supply source for the greater Harare area. This paper looks at the sustainability of current practices of the urban water cycle in relation to water quantity and quality management in the Chivero catchment. Data on population, water supply, water and wastewater treatment and river flows were obtained from urban councils and government departments. The data were used to assess water consumption, wastewater generation, treatment and disposal practices, river flow trends, raw water abstractions and water demand patterns. The results showed that the current situation is not sustainable as water quantity in the catchment will soon be a problem at current levels of consumption while water quality is already a problem, especially with regard to nutrient levels. Water and nutrient management strategies, which include water use efficiency, treatment and water recycling and nutrient reuse in controlled urban agriculture, are recommended as matters of urgency.

Many urban areas suffer water scarcity but paradoxically, a local source of water such as rainwater is mostly treated as a risk rather than as a valuable resource. Scepticism regarding the use of rainwater harvesting technologies still prevails today, particularly in low precipitation areas. However, some regions such as the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (MAB) have started to promote the use of rainwater through specific regulations and incentives. This paper aims to examine the use of rainwater harvesting in the two main types of buildings prevalent in the MAB by analysing users' practices and perceptions, drinking water savings and economic costs. Despite low precipitation inputs and a high variability of precipitation, daily balances show that toilet flushing demand of a single family house can be practically met with a relatively small tank. Rooftop rainwater can also meet more than 60% of the landscape irrigation demand in both single and multi-family buildings. The main drawback is the long pay-back period that rainwater harvesting systems present today. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that in multifamily buildings residents usually take no notice of the costs associated with the system. In contrast, benefits for the whole society are usually much more appreciated. Users' reactions and their level of satisfaction towards rainwater harvesting systems suggest that both regulations and subsidies are good strategies to advocate and expand rainwater harvesting technologies in residential areas. However, a multidirectional learning environment needs to be promoted to ensure a proper use of rainwater harvesting systems and risk minimisation.

Water scarcity is one of the utmost issues and challenges of the 21st century. It is not only thequantity aspect causing the main problems, but furthermore the quality, distribution and thewasteful management. Estimated climate change, population growth and economicdevelopments further strain available water sources. As the Middle East and North Africa is aregion of great interest to me, this paper presents an overall introductory on the watersituation in Egypt. Basic country and water characteristics are presented, followed by someproject examples and current solutions.