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Understanding the value of water for sustainable development

March 26, 2021.

Angela Lusigi

UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana

Water is the central nervous system in the fight to create resilient and low carbon economies to build back better from the impacts of COVID-19. Access to water and sanitation for all which is Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contributes to the achievement of most of the SDGs.

Yet 785 million people worldwide still lack safe water. Of these, 490 million live in sub-Saharan Africa mainly in rural areas. In Ghana, though the country has made significant progress in ensuring access to clean water, nearly three million people rely on surface water to meet their daily needs. This leaves them vulnerable to water-related illness and disease. Ghana’s recent environmental analysis report indicates that the cost of environmental degradation due to water pollution is equivalent to three percent of GDP.

Valuing water was the theme for this year's World Water Day. This is apt as many communities struggle to maintain the high level of hygiene required in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Appreciating the true value of water will prompt us to take action to protect this vital resource for the benefit of all.

The availability of water is falling over time and water crisis is the fifth highest risk to society according to the 2020 edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks report . Ghana’s Voluntary National Review report on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reveals that water availability per capita has decreased but remains above the threshold for water stress (1700m3 per capita). However, climate change could significantly affect water resource availability especially in the Northern Savannah ecological zone.

In this Decade of Action, in the lead up to the 2030 Agenda, valuing the multiple uses of water, from agriculture to power generation, transport, industry, domestic use, ecosystems, fisheries, and livelihoods will help transform this looming crisis into an opportunity for advancing sustainable development. There are three reasons to be optimistic.

Growing momentum for an integrated water resources governance and planning

There is increasing recognition of the power of better planning and integrated governance of water resources to enhance climate resilience. Effective regulatory frameworks and tools for managing and protecting water resources are helping to improve water security. Public awareness and education in water resource management is also growing. And so are improvements in transboundary and international cooperation in the management of shared water resources. However, gaps still exist in these lofty plans. The activities of many small-scale illegal gold miners - “galamsayers”, whose livelihoods depend on mining - are depleting water bodies and raising the cost of clean water. Protecting these resources requires addressing the needs of small-scale mining without undermining the achievement of the SDGs particularly SDG 6.

Ambitious climate plans present opportunities

Ghana is updating its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to raise ambition as part of its commitment under the Paris Agreement on climate change. The ongoing update is an opportunity to ensure sustainable water management. This must ensure efficient irrigation and drainage systems, basin management, wastewater recycling and reuse, and rainwater harvesting in Ghana’s climate plans for a more inclusive, resilient and low carbon development.

A transition to renewable energy will reduce the stress on available water resources in the face of a changing climate. Effective implementation of Ghana’s Renewable Energy Master Plan, developed by the Government, with support from UNDP, will promote the transfer of Ghana’s rich renewable energy resources towards a low carbon economy.

Ensuring gender equality in water resources management is a smart investment

Addressing the differentiated impact of climate change on women and men opens up new opportunities to free up time for more productive use. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, 21 percent of women as against 17 percent of men spend about one to three hours a day collecting drinking water when they don’t have it in their homes. In drought prone areas affected by desertification, particularly in northern Ghana, women and girls especially spend an average of 43.5 hours per week getting water for farming. Lessons from the government and UNDP supported climate adaptation project, funded by the Adaptation Fund, showed that investments in water infrastructure can reduce burdens on women and girls. The project , which has provided 145 boreholes in 50 communities, is benefiting more than 40,000 people mainly women and children because of their distinct roles in water collection and usage.

Looking forward

The cord that binds “people, planet, and prosperity” together is the value that water provides. So, unsustainable management of water resources is a recipe for the destruction of the planet that people depend on and ultimately our collective prosperity. The  recent UNDP  Human Development report : The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene’ argues that as people and planet enter a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene or the Age of Humans, it is time for all countries to redesign their paths to progress by fully accounting for the dangerous pressures humans put on the planet. The planet cannot survive without water and this calls for investments in water infrastructure.

In this regard, the new UNDP’s SDGs Investor Map for Ghana identified investment opportunities in key areas including sanitation services, for unserved areas. The map also provides market intelligence on investment opportunities in the provision of affordable irrigation solar systems and water dams. These highlight emerging opportunities for the government, private sector and citizens to advance development by valuing water. Protecting this valuable resource and reclaiming water bodies destroyed by unsustainable use provides significant investment opportunities for private investors in the water sector.

Water governance should be reinforced at all levels- local, regional and national, to ensure the reliable delivery of water for priority uses, especially for domestic, and agriculture to head off potential crop failures.

The truth is that we cannot live without water, and this requires water bodies to be clean and safe, and citizens have an important role to play. By changing behaviour, people can be the key to a healthy environment and a healthy life for all.   

Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published in ModernGhana .

UNDP’s NDC Support Programme is funded by the European Union and the governments of Germany and Spain as a contribution to the NDC Partnership.

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• Published: 10 July 2023

Water for sustainable development

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The alarmingly slow progress on water-related goals and targets jeopardizes the entire sustainable development agenda. In March 2023, the United Nations (UN) convened the first UN Water Conference in nearly 50 years to create momentum and accelerate progress. The outcome of the conference will feed into the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which will be held in New York on July 10–19, 2023. Nature Water asked five experts about the challenges to meet the goals and where we need to go from here.

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Water and Environment for Sustainability

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

Front matter, hydrometeorological extremes and climate profiling of pakistan.

• Muhammad Amjad

Blue and Green: Hues of Riverine Flood Risk Reduction in Chennai, India

• Jasjit Singh Banga, Yazid Ninsalam, John Fien

Water Balance Equation for Rivers of Assam, India

• Pranjal Kumar Phukan

Effects of Structural Measures for Flood Mitigation on Migratory Behaviour of the River Indus Using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing: A Case Study

• Fatima Afzal, Naeem Shahzad, Syeda Uzma Naureen

Assessing the Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Hydrological Components of the Jhelum River Basin Using SWAT Model

• Muhammad Uzair Akhtar, Syeda Maria Zafar, Haris Lateef, Muhammad Salman Shaheer, Usama Shahid, Muhammad Sarim Azeem et al.

The Climatic Benefit of Perennial Rice Cropping System: A Case Study in West Java, Central Java, and East Java

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Contribution of Renewable Energy to Social Protection and the Fight Against Climate Change: Case of the Noor 1 Project in Southern Morocco

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Storage Depletion of Surface Water Reservoirs Due to Sediment Deposition and Possible Management Options

• Muhammad Bilal Idrees

Exploring Synergies Between Social Protection Programs, DRR and Climate Change Policies in Pakistan: Case Study NDRMF

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Indigenous Knowledge and Flood Resilience Strategies in African Coastal Cities: From Practice to Policy

• Olasunkanmi Habeeb Okunola, Kehinde Balogun, Deborah Bunmi Ojo

National Resilience Leading to Sustainability; Case Study of Pakistan

• Nadeem Ahmad Shah, Naeem Shahzad, Syeda Uzma

Community Post-flood Vulnerability Assessment of Tehsil Behrain District Swat, Pakistan

• Shams Ul Haq, Naeem Shahzad

Socio-Economic Potentials of Nigerian Inland Waterways System for Sustainable Use

• Solomon Usman Jatau, Araoye Olarinkoye Ajiboye, Babatope Gabriel Oni
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The International Conference on Water, Energy, and Environment for Sustainability (IC-WEES) 2022 is a flagship conference of National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan. With the growing global concerns about environmental degradation, depletion of freshwater resources, and climate change-induced disasters, this year the IC-WEES is focused on climate change, water, environment, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and their interrelationship with each other.

Given the continuous evolution of contemporary scientific research work, it is progressively encouraging that there must be strong collaboration between experts, researchers, and research sharing platforms. Believing in this, the IC-WEES 2022 aims to bring expert individuals and diverse research groups to exchange and share R&D updates and discuss sustainable solutions to challenges in climate change, DRR, environment and water resources management, and respective nexuses between these fields.    

The conference proceedings consists of multi-disciplinary topics on the themes. As with every passing day, the climate change impacts are becoming visible, there is a dire need to understand the complex inter-relationships of climate changes, environment, water, and energy nexuses in order to lead to more sustainable solutions for our future generations. Our region is presently suffering from unprecedented heat waves, and prospective readers will be quite curious to know about the latest researches being carried out in this region with regard to environment, climate change, and water in order to reduce the disaster risks the continent is likely to face in near future.

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Book Title : Water and Environment for Sustainability

Book Subtitle : Case Studies from Developing Countries

Editors : Naeem Shahzad

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27280-6

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Softcover ISBN : 978-3-031-27282-0 Published: 04 May 2024

eBook ISBN : 978-3-031-27280-6 Published: 02 May 2023

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Results and discussion, data availability statement, conflict of interest, evaluation of sustainable development capacity of water sources: a case study of china.

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Jingqi Zhang , Shaohua Jiang; Evaluation of sustainable development capacity of water sources: a case study of China. Water Sci Technol 15 March 2024; 89 (6): 1482–1496. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2024.084

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The issue of water scarcity has drawn attention from all over the world. The coordination of the interaction between ecological and environmental development of water sources and socio-economic development is currently an essential issue that needs to be solved in order to safeguard the water resources environment for human survival. In this essay, we suggest a paradigm for assessing the sustainable exploitation of water resources. First, three ecological, economic, and social factors are investigated. Twenty essential evaluation indexes are then constructed using the Delphi approach, along with an index system for assessing the potential of water sources for sustainable development. The weights of each evaluation index were then determined using the combination assignment approach, which was then suggested. The coupled degree evaluation model of the capability for sustainable development of water sources was then developed. In order to confirm the viability and validity of the suggested model, the model was used to assess the Liwu River water source's capacity for sustainable growth in the context of the South-North Water Transfer in Shandong, China. It is believed that the aforementioned study would serve as a helpful resource when evaluating the capacity of water sources for sustainable development.

Proposes a novel coupled coordination degree evaluation model for water source sustainability, expanding upon traditional methods to offer a comprehensive understanding of sustainable development status, aiding in strategic planning.

Introduces an improved weight determination method using the coefficient of variation combined with the combination assignment approach, enhancing the precision and reliability of sustainability evaluations by mitigating outlier effects.

Establishes a comprehensive evaluation index system from ecological, economic, and social perspectives, providing a holistic framework for assessing water source sustainability, serving as a reference for future sustainable development efforts.

Schematic diagram of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

In this paper, a coupled coordination degree evaluation model for the sustainability of water sources is proposed. It is an innovation and expansion of the traditional evaluation method. Through this model, we can understand the sustainable development status of water sources in a more comprehensive and in-depth way and provide a scientific basis for formulating corresponding protection and management strategies.

Since the index weights obtained by the entropy method are too equalized, this paper introduces the coefficient of variation method to improve it. It can weaken the influence of outliers and make the evaluation results more accurate and reasonable. In order to make the evaluation results more scientific and objective, this paper adopts the combination assignment method to determine the weights of each evaluation index. It enables to reflect more accurately the importance of each index in the evaluation and improves the accuracy and credibility of the evaluation.

There is no complete evaluation index system for the study of the sustainable development capacity of water sources. From three aspects, ecological, economic, and social, this paper assesses the sustainable development capacity of water sources with a view to providing useful references for the sustainable development of water sources.

The rest of this study is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the current status of research on water sources and the evaluation method of water source sustainability. The third section discusses the research methodology of this paper. Results and discussion are in the fourth part. Finally, conclusions and further work are given in Section 5.

Studies on water sources

The environmental conditions of water sources have an important impact on regional water supply security and sustainable economic development and are also closely related to people's life and health safety. Wu et al. (2019) concluded that organic micropollutants in the water environment have potential impacts on ecological safety and human health. By analyzing four drinking water sources in Henan Province, China, water contaminants were found to be of high risk to algae and invertebrates ( Wu et al. 2019 ). Cao et al. (2019) collected long-term monitoring data of conventional physicochemical parameters and metal elements in water bodies from 2005 to 2017. Multivariate statistical techniques were also used to evaluate the elements' sources. It was discovered that the presence of trace elements was significantly impacted by both endogenous releases and human activity ( Cao et al. 2019 ). Yang et al. (2020) analyzed the current status of ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin in China and discussed the types and key areas of ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin. After a series of analyses, it was suggested to strengthen basic research and key case studies on ecological compensation mechanisms in the Yellow River basin ( Yang et al. 2020 ). Sun et al. (2020) realized that the main cause of nonpoint source pollution in drinking water sources is unreasonable management of commercial forests in upstream areas. The relationship between soil factors and surface runoff pollutants was studied using redundancy analysis. It was concluded that effective measures were to increase vegetation cover and improve the soil environment ( Sun et al. 2020 ). Yu et al. (2021) used a questionnaire survey method to statistically analyze the sustainable development of the Sun Moon Lake Reservoir in Taiwan. The study found that the development of the reservoir has brought a large amount of waste. This caused the disappearance of culture and architecture ( Yu et al. 2021 ). Wang et al. (2021) found that the main cause of water source pollution is eutrophication of water bodies. Realizing the importance of implementing clean agricultural production to protect the environment of water sources, a series of feasible measures were proposed ( Wang et al. 2021 ). Leya et al. (2022) used key information interviews to assess the status of water source security in six areas with urban fringe characteristics in Bangladesh. The study showed that partnership among key stakeholders can enhance water source security in similar urban peripheral environments ( Leya et al. 2022 ). In summary, scholars have conducted a large number of studies on contaminants and environmental safety of water sources. A foundation has been laid for the study of the sustainability of water sources.

Research on water source evaluation system

In recent years, significant results have been achieved in the application of water source evaluation index weighting, ranking of evaluation objects, and correction of evaluation results. In order to improve the accuracy of water source evaluation and reduce the influence caused by subjective factors, water source evaluation systems are usually combined with statistical methods. Ding et al. (2019) used a two-dimensional water quality detection model to generate a computational network. A safety platform for drinking water sources in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of China was developed ( Ding et al. 2019 ). Wang et al. (2020) realized that identifying the spatial and temporal variability of nonpoint source pollution is a prerequisite for improving water quality. A combined model based on land use types was used to simulate pollution loads. And the spatial and temporal characteristics of pollution sources in typical urbanized areas were identified by assessing the pollution loads in typical urbanized areas ( Wang et al. 2020 ). Zhang et al. (2020) used a cloud model to analyze the ecological environmental vulnerability of water sources. The ecological environmental vulnerability evaluation index system of water sources was constructed by studying the water sources of the South-North Water Diversion Central project in China ( Zhang et al. 2020 ). Qin et al. (2021) combined multiple linear regression models with Bayesian networks to identify and assess contaminants in water sources ( Qin et al. 2021 ). Liu et al. (2021) combined the water quality index (WQI) and entropy weighting method to evaluate the environmental quality of groundwater in the Dawu water source. Full index method, Delphi method, and multivariate statistical analysis were used to analyze the evaluation results. The conclusion of overall good water quality was drawn ( Liu et al. 2021 ). Xiao et al. (2022) proposed a combined assignment method for the comprehensive evaluation of coastal water quality. The study showed that riverine input is the main source of pollutants in the study area ( Xiao et al. 2022 ). Zhang et al. (2022) proposed an evaluation method that combines the intrinsic vulnerability of aquifers with pollution source loads. The contamination risk of groundwater in the Guanzhong Basin, China, was evaluated from a macroscopic perspective ( Zhang et al. 2022 ). Hou et al. (2022) considered that controlling nonpoint source pollution is crucial. It is necessary to estimate the nonpoint source pollution export and identify the pollution sources. After studying rainfall and topography and investigating the characteristics of pollution sources and surface sources, an improved output coefficient model was developed ( Hou et al. 2022 ). From the existing literature, it can be seen that scholars have focused on qualitative studies and a few scholars have conducted quantitative analyses. However, the single evaluation method is too subjective and has poor evaluation results.

In general, there exists a significant disparity between China and developed countries concerning both theoretical research and practical approaches to water source protection. Many efforts fall short in addressing the driving mechanisms behind changes in water quality, and only a few delve into the effective safeguarding of water sources from the perspective of watershed or catchment land use. The rights and interests of various stakeholders in water sources have not received adequate attention. The absence of operational and promotional mechanisms for water source protection hampers the effectiveness of implemented measures. Research on the evaluation of water sources remains limited, and the existing evaluation system cannot be fully applied to assess water sources. Moreover, the current evaluation methods lack scientific rigor, highlighting the need to identify a suitable evaluation approach. These constitute the primary focus areas of this paper.

Establishing an index system for evaluating the sustainability of water sources

Evaluation index system of sustainable development capacity of water source.

Research process

Flow chart of evaluation model of sustainable development capacity of water source.

Determine the weight of each evaluation index

The significance of each indicator in the evaluation system is gauged through weighting. A judicious distribution of weights is crucial for ensuring the reliability of evaluation results. To attain a balanced weight composition, this paper employs the entropy value method, wherein the utility value of information entropy is utilized to objectively calculate the weights of indicators. Effective information in the original data is fully utilized under the premise of the interference of subjective factors ( Liu et al. 2022 ). However, the shortcoming of the method is the equalization of indicator weight. There is no horizontal comparison of the degree of influence of each indicator on the sustainability of water sources. The variation coefficient method directly uses the valid information in the original data, which can better overcome the disadvantage of weight equalization distribution ( Jin et al. 2022 ). Therefore, this paper proposes an objective portfolio assignment method based on the coefficient of variation method and the entropy value method.

Entropy method to determine the weight

The entropy method calculates the information utility value based on the information entropy provided in the raw data of each indicator. It is an objective weighting method to determine the weight of each index ( Lee & Lee 2022 ). The steps to determine the index weight by using the entropy method are as follows:

Coefficient of variation method to determine the weight

The coefficient of variation method is an objective weighting method that uses the coefficient of variation and standard deviation of the data to calculate the weight coefficient of each indicator ( Yosboonruang et al. 2022 ). The steps for determining the weight of indicators using the coefficient of variation method are as follows:

Combination weighting methods to determine weights

Integrated development level model, coupling coordination degree models.

In this study, the coupled coordination degree model is employed to assess the sustainable development of the ecological–social–economic complex system within the water source region. This model serves to depict the level of coordination among two or more systems in a manner that closely aligns with real-world scenarios. Its application mitigates the influence of subjective human factors, thereby enhancing the objectivity and validity of the evaluation results across diverse complex situations ( Li et al. 2022 ). The coupling degree mainly reflects the strength of interactions and interactions between systems.

Step 2. The coupling coordination degree function is calculated. Compared with the coupling degree model, the coupling coordination degree can better measure the coordination degree of interactive coupling between systems. It is very necessary to go further to evaluate the coupling coordination degree of the region, where D is the coupling coordination degree; T is the integrated coordination index of the three subsystems; α , β , γ are the coefficients to be determined.

In accordance with the index system for assessing the sustainable development capacity of water sources outlined in Part 3, the weights are initially determined using the combination assignment method. Subsequently, the comprehensive development level is computed and applied to assess the coupling coordination degree among the subsystems. The Zhangwei New River Basin encompasses six or five rivers situated on both sides of the Chen Gong Dike, featuring 12 tributaries ranging from 300 to 1,000 km 2 . Beyond these major tributaries, there are an additional 53 tributaries with a watershed area of 100–300 km 2 and 114 tributaries with a watershed area of 30–100 km 2 . This has essentially formed a network of interconnected dry and branch rivers, facilitating the discharge and transfer of river water throughout the basin. However, recent years have seen a water shortage from the Yellow River, and the rivers within the region primarily rely on rainfall. The water quantity is intricately linked to the climate characteristics of the upstream areas, and the distribution of precipitation in the city is highly uneven. During the rainy season, water levels rise, leading to floods that can escalate into disasters. Conversely, in the dry season, many rivers progressively dry up. The sustainability of water sources has attracted widespread attention from scholars. The data in this paper are from the 2013–2022 Shandong Statistical Yearbook, see S2.

Calculation of the social-economic-ecological coupling coordination of water sources in Shandong from 2013 to 2022

Entropy method calculation results

Calculation results of coefficient of variation method

Calculation results of combined weights

Levels of economic development of the eco-economic-social subsystems.

Criteria for discriminating the type of coordinated development.

Step 7. The coupling coordination degree between the three subsystems is calculated according to the coupling coordination degree model, which is shown in S3.

Analysis of social–economic–ecological system coupling coordination in the study area

2013–2022 couplings and coordination among water source systems in Shandong.

However, a pivotal shift occurred in 2018 when the coupling coordination degree reached its lowest point. In response, local governance initiatives sought to address this challenge by expediting the transformation and upgrading of the service industry. This strategic move resulted in a significant shift in the industrial structure from the previous ‘two, three, one’ configuration to a more balanced ‘three, two, one’ paradigm ( Qiu et al. 2017 ). This restructuring aimed to alleviate the dissonance and enhance coordination among the social, economic, and ecological dimensions.

Despite these efforts, the coupling coordination degree witnessed a continuous decline after 2019, accompanied by an increase in the absolute deviation of the evaluation index. This trend highlights the intricate relationship between the three subsystems, where inhibiting factors within one subsystem impact the others. The data underscore a crucial insight – the absolute value of the deviation in the comprehensive evaluation index is inversely proportional to the coupling coordination degree. This implies that true harmony can only be achieved through mutual promotion and collective improvement.

The findings reveal that the ecological environment construction and socio-economic development in the Shandong water source area did not achieve synchronized progress. Instead, there is evidence of a reciprocal inhibition and influence between socio-economic development and ecological environment development. This suggests that the rapid socio-economic advancements in the region are intricately linked to the state of the ecological environment, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to achieve sustainable and coordinated development.

Suggestions on sustainable development of the Liwu River water source

For the sustainable and healthy development of the water source area of six or five rivers, the following aspects should be emphasized when carrying out ecological construction of the water source area: as the origin of six or five rivers in Xiajin County, Shandong Province, the implementation of the water transfer project has undoubtedly intensified the burden of ecological protection for the people of the water source area. For Xiajin County, which provides high-value ecosystem services and is poor and backward, ecological compensation can be provided by the ecological beneficiary area as a way to improve the sustainable development of people in the water source area.

In the social development factor, the urbanization level of the water source area should be improved. Increase the proportion of non-agricultural population in the total population and improve the living conditions of residents in the water source area. In terms of economic development factors, efforts should be made to increase farmers' income and local financial income; in terms of ecological environment factors, environmental pollution control needs to be further strengthened. Reduce the amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers used in agriculture and strictly control industrial waste gas and wastewater emissions.

Water source is an important ecological barrier of a region, and it is necessary to provide a scientific method for the evaluation of the sustainability of a water source. It has been proved that the method can effectively solve this problem. It also provides a reference for the sustainability evaluation of other water sources. Second, in view of the shortage of current methods, this paper proposes a method for combining the entropy value method and variation coefficient method, which lay a solid foundation for the determination of weight. Next, to address the shortcomings of the current method, this paper proposes a method that combines the entropy value method and the coefficient of variation method. A solid foundation is laid for the determination of weight. Finally, a study is conducted on the example of the South-North Water Transfer of Six or Five Rivers in Shandong, China, and the coupled coordination degree model is applied to the evaluation of the sustainable development capacity of water sources. The rationality and validity of the evaluation model in the evaluation of the sustainable development capacity of water sources were verified. It provides a new research idea for the evaluation of water sources. The issue of water source development has always been a focus of attention, but there is little literature on the study from the perspective of coupled social–ecological–economic coordination, and this paper attempts to contribute to this part. Despite the valuable insights gained in this study, certain limitations and gaps exist in our evaluation of water source sustainability. The current evaluation index system is hindered by a lack of hands-on experience in water source engineering projects. Additionally, limitations stemming from the researcher's experience and knowledge background are acknowledged.

To address these shortcomings, future research endeavors can focus on innovating the identification method for water source evaluation indexes. This innovation can contribute to a more comprehensive and robust evaluation framework. Furthermore, staying attuned to emerging evaluation methods is crucial, and conducting a comparative study of these methods can enhance the sophistication of our assessments. Improvements in data selection are essential for enhancing the representativeness of our findings. Future studies should aim for more diverse and scientifically rigorous data sources to ensure the accuracy of the evaluation model. As the field evolves, researchers should strive to refine the evaluation process, incorporating new methodologies and ensuring a more holistic understanding of water source sustainability.

All relevant data are included in the paper or its Supplementary Information.

The authors declare there is no conflict.

Supplementary data

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Sustainable Water Resources Management, Volume 3: Case Studies on a New Water Paradigm

Related projects.

Communities face new challenges with respect to water resource management. These challenges include increased water demands, climate variability, economic uncertainty, a complex web of regulations and bureaucracy, aging and degrading infrastructure, pollution and impaired water resources, and a broad range of stakeholders with poor understanding of water issues. This study, the third phase of the Sustainable Water Resources Management project, created a platform for communities to overcome these challenges through organizing around and operating under key sustainability principles and practices. The report uses examples and perspectives from two case study communities (Tucson/Pima County, Arizona and Northern Kentucky) to offer real world context. Published by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). 172 pages. Online PDF available from NDWRDCP. (2010)

Originally funded as WERF project DEC6SG06a.

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REVIEW article

Achieving sustainable development goals from a water perspective.

• 1 Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
• 2 Sustainable Water Future Programme, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
• 3 Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• 4 Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
• 5 Department of Civil Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY, USA
• 6 Institute for Environmental Systems Research, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
• 7 Future Earth, Montreal, QC, Canada
• 8 Global Water Partnership, London, UK
• 9 Science Division, UN Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 10 Institute for Environment and Human Security, United Nations University, Bonn, Germany
• 11 Governance and Sustainability Lab, University of Trier, Trier, Germany

Efforts to meet human water needs at local scales may cause negative environmental externalities and stress on the water system at regional and global scales. Hence, assessing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets requires a broad and in-depth knowledge of the global to local dynamics of water availability and use. Furthermore, interactions and trade-offs between different SDG targets may lead to sub-optimal or even adverse outcomes if the set of actions are not properly pre-designed to consider such inter-linkages. Thus, scientific research and evidence have an important role to play in facilitating the implementation of SDGs through assessments and policy engagement from global to local scales. This paper addresses some of these challenges related to implementation and monitoring of the targets of the SDGs from a water perspective, based on the key findings of a conference organized in 2015 focused on three essential aspects of SDGs: indicators, inter-linkages, and implementation. The paper argues that indicators should not be too simple and should ultimately deliver sustainability measures. The paper highlights that remote sensing and earth observation technologies can play a key role in supporting the monitoring of water targets. It also recognizes that implementing SDGs is a societal process of development, and there is a need to link how SDGs relate to public benefits and to communicate this to the broader public.

Introduction

Human activities play a dominant role compared to many other natural processes in changing the biosphere and affecting the functioning of the Earth system ( Vörösmarty et al., 2010 , 2015a , b ; Green et al., 2015 ). Stresses on the earth system and exhaustion of its resources are causing interrelated, complex, and frequently unwanted outcomes that include impacts on the water system and unprecedented changes to global water circulation ( Vörösmarty et al., 2004 , 2015a ). Actions at the local scale to meet human water needs may trigger increased environmental stress at regional and global scales, and thus create a trade-off between human water needs and environmental sustainability. As stated in the first sentence of the World Water Development Report 2015, “water is at the core of sustainable development” ( UNESCO-WWAP, 2015 ); and the latter is strongly connected to the availability and access to sufficient quantity and quality of water for the preservation of healthy ecosystems and is critical for socio-economic and human development. Yet increased pressure on the water system is observed through increased global demand and mismanagement of our water resources and water-related infrastructure. The following illustrate some of the serious threats to water-related sustainable development:

• Approximately 1.4 billion people live in river basins where water use exceeds recharge rates ( UNDP, 2006 ).

• In developing countries, almost 90% of sewage is discharged without any treatment ( UNESCO-WWAP, 2012 ).

• Increased use of fertilizer for food production, combined with increased wastewater effluent results in 10–20% increase in nitrogen flow in global rivers ( UNEP, 2007 ).

• Globally, some 750 million people (mostly in rural areas) lack access to an improved source of drinking water

• 170 million people rely on untreated surface water ( Clarke et al., 2002 )

• 1.8 billion people have used a source of drinking water with fecal contamination ( UNICEF WHO, 2015 ).

Thus, while the manifestations of human water access at the expense of freshwater ecosystem health may be at both local and regional scales, the widespread occurrence of both makes them a global issue ( Haddeland et al., 2014 , Wheater and Gober, 2015 ). The governance systems in both industrialized and developing countries lack the capacity to handle these challenges and uncertainties ( Pahl-Wostl et al., 2013 ; Pahl-Wostl, 2015 ). Superimposing the different elements of global change, the question thus arises of how sustainable human development can be ensured while safeguarding earth's vital life-support system on which the welfare of current and future generation depends?

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly responded by adopting a set of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It emphasized the importance of water as an integral part of human development, and ecosystem needs ( Harlin and Kjellén, 2015 ; UN-Water, 2015 ). However, assessing whether the SDG targets related to water are “SMART,” i.e., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely, requires a broad and in-depth knowledge of the global to local dynamics of water availability and its use ( BWS, 2013 ). Furthermore, interactions and trade-offs between different SDG targets may lead to sub-optimal or even adverse outcomes if the set of actions are not properly pre-designed considering such inter-linkages ( ICSU, 2016 ). Scientific research and evidence can play a strong role in facilitating the implementation of SDGs through assessments and policy engagement from global to local scales ( Lu et al., 2015 ; Bunn, 2016 ). This paper addresses the challenges related to integrated implementation and monitoring of the targets of the SDGs from a water perspective 1 .

It is a paramount task to select “actionable” indicators measuring progress toward the achievement of the adopted 169 targets of the 17 SDGs on local, national and global scales, particularly when data in many parts of the world are either non-existent or not readily accessible. Thus, indicator-based assessments will have to rely on intensified monitoring and sustained follow-up. Beyond measuring success (or the lack of it) on 169 accounts, the indicators have to capture the strong interlinkages and interdependencies among various goals and targets ( Griggs et al., 2013 ; Nilsson et al., 2016 ). This may imply the use of some common indicators that could measure simultaneous progress toward different targets. The implementation of the SDGs also requires societal progress, development, and deployment of capacities, and changes in human behavior. Ultimately, these changes should also be monitored to ensure successful and sustainable implementation of the SDGs. The SDG framework poses some conceptual as well as implementation challenges that require enhancing collaboration between the policy and scientific communities and other stakeholders in industry and agriculture from the outset.

Recognizing that the science community had no prior formal involvement, the Global Water System Project (now called Sustainable Water Future Programme) sponsored by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) organized a conference on “ Sustainable Development Goals: A Water Perspective” in August 2015 in Bonn, Germany. The conference was attended by more than 200 experts from various fields of the water sector and played a unique and timely role in enabling the science community to interact with the international policy consultation process to inform and catalyse action by key actors: policymakers, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and educators as agents of change. Panel and roundtable discussion sessions enabled vivid exchange and discussion on topics specific to SDG 6 (ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all) as well as related goals and targets.

The focus of the conference was on “three I”'s: indicators, interlinkages and implementation of the SDGs. The theme related to indicators framed discussions on how to develop appropriate indicators and indices across several disciplines for water, wastewater and water-related disasters and address data integration and monitoring frameworks. Panel sessions on inter-linkages highlighted trade-offs and complementarities between different SDGs. While the conference adopted a “water perspective” the focus was not only on the six “what to achieve” and two “how to do” targets of the dedicated water goal (SDG-6), but also on the potential interlinkages with other goals and targets, including, among others SDG-2 (food security), SDG-3 (health and wellbeing), SDG-11 (resilient cities), SDG-12 (sustainable consumption), and SDG-15 (freshwater ecosystems). The implementation theme focussed on the practice, science, and policy links and explored how sharing available information, knowledge, and action gaps, as well as using viable instruments and approaches can contribute to implementation of SDGs. Each session identified several research and action gaps with respective recommendations that have been summarized and discussed during the synthesis session which are the basis for the recommendations provided in this paper.

Table 1 summarizes the challenges related to implementation and monitoring of the targets of SDG-6 and lists some critical comments, key recommendations formulated by the science community, and other stakeholders during the conference. The targets are classified into “how to do” and “what to achieve” targets. The recommendations and research gaps in the table have been updated given more recent developments related to the definition and adoption of the official indicators which will be used for monitoring and reporting purposes ( UN-Water, 2016 ).

Table 1. Specific recommendations including research gaps related to targets, proposed indicators, interlinkages and implementation of WATER SDG (Goal 6) .

Meaningful Indicators for Multi-Level Assessment

Meaningful indicators are most needed to assess sustainable water use for humans and natural systems considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects ( Hák et al., 2016 ). Current indicators developed to track water-related SDGs, however, lack clear-cut definitions including minimum standards and guidance and suffer ambiguity (e.g., what is “improved sanitation” or “appropriate transboundary cooperation”) and may fail to provide a clear understanding of the progress that will be made on SDGs. For example, definitional uncertainties and misinterpretation can even discredit target achievements claims. The shift of semantics to “improved” water supply in Millennium Development Goal MDG 7 drinking water target created sizable uncertainty in whether the target of providing “safe drinking water” was achieved at all ( Onda et al., 2012 ).

In principle, indicators should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely), easy to apply and should inform policy makers on progress made toward sustainability. Indicators are not intended to give implementation prescriptions for countries, since every country should translate these targets and create roadmaps for achieving them based on their own realities ( ICSU, ISSC, 2015 ). On the other hand, indicators should not be too simple and ultimately deliver sustainability measures so that we will be able to understand the trajectories that ensure resource efficiency, sustainability and well-being simultaneously. It is also noted that even if indicators are “SMART,” they may not accurately reflect the over-arching goals. The tensions between indicators related to availability of “safe water” vs. equity and affordability create challenges in aggregating competing measures to assess progress toward the overall goal of water and sanitation for all. A drinking water service could be “safely managed” but the indicator measuring the proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services does not reflect on the affordability and equitable distribution of water. Urban poor, for instance, pay many times more for a liter of water than their richer neighbors, as they often have to buy their water from private vendors ( UN-Water, 2011 ). As suggested in Table 1 , an indicator measuring the affordability of drinking water supply can address this and deal with such discrepancy. Similarly, in addressing the targets toward substantially increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors, the indicators do not address the affordability of farmers, households in using efficient methods to save water; and also indicators do not measure how the “saved” water can be used equitably, sustainably, and efficiently which is key to understanding the benefits of water use efficiency. Many discriminatory national level policies shaped by political economy lead to such inequitable distribution of services and resource. Sustainable Development Goal 16 in achieving peace, justice, and strong institutions address this in a broader context and how human rights and effective governance based on the rule of law could be an important way for sustainable development.

While many of the indicators, as described in Table 1 , will be measured at national level, there is also a risk of overlooking and neglecting global dynamics with large and possibly irreversible impacts on humans and nature if the focus of the indicators is only on local processes. Also, there is a particular concern that an approach which assesses water state only on a global scale may mask critically important and unique local contexts that influence water risk. Given the reciprocal benefits of considering local to global scales, a continuum approach from local to global and assess systemic risk at different levels and for different sectors is needed so that it can inform policy makers on progress made, and provide a reality-based global vision on sustainability. At the global level, appropriate risk metrics are needed to assess whether humans are in a safe and sustainable operating space of the global water system and still can meet their essential needs ( Rockström, 2009 ). At a regional and local level, water risk assessment is needed to guide social, private, and public decisions on investment under risk and uncertainty, and also in developing appropriate institutions and coordinating implementation and enforcement plans.

The number of variables for quantifying such indicators and indicator sets need to be sufficient to capture complexity, but it should also be small enough to be manageable for monitoring. Scenarios are useful tools to visualize possible water futures and can be used to see if potential indicators can characterize the outcomes of complex scenarios. For scenario development, time series data are needed which are spatially scalable, consistent, and harmonized. Such information backed by scientific evidence can allow for distinguishing between “ what can be done ,” “ what can't be done,” and “ what are the costs of inaction ” to implement water-related goals including social implications.

There is a need for the development of scientifically sound assessment and regulatory guidelines that can help to address the gaps in understanding the interaction between stressors and their impacts on the ecosystem health of freshwater bodies. Details of such knowledge gaps and recommendations are laid out in Table 1 .

Water quality is strongly linked to SDGs, focusing on the sustainability of water use for future generations. Declining water quality, for instance with harmful implications in the long run for socio-ecological systems as a whole, has become a global issue of concern. Today, we recognize that water scarcity is gradually becoming even more a quality than a quantity problem. Target 6.3 calls to improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping, and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally. There exists a wide range of possible water quality indicators, and yet there remains a formidable challenge to assess the quality status of freshwater bodies adequately in many parts of the world. The indicators, as described in Table 1 , do not reflect how different sources of water pollution have different impacts on ecosystems, human health, and human activity. Some of the anthropogenic factors of water quality degradation are agricultural runoff containing organic pollutants, chemical and medicine residues, and also global climate change which increases the water temperature and change the characteristics of freshwater systems (e.g., though alteration of dilution capacity); air pollution deposition into aquatic systems from local and distant sources ( Alcamo, 2011 ).

In order to understand the relationships between water quality and human well-being and environment, there is a need for an effective tracking of point and non-point source pollution. Science can play a role in providing an in-depth understanding of the links between water, phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon cycles and other pollutants, assessing the magnitude and the impact of these pollutants on water quality and in determining how these impacts could be reduced and controlled (Refer to Table 1 ). Such assessments at different scales can help to identify the root causes of the problem and help to fill up the knowledge gap to formulate the right policies in implementing SDGS.

Many global measures or indicators do not reflect the household or community level action toward or away from sustainability. The sustainability conditions that may appear at the macro level may not hold at the household (micro) level. There is a strong need also to include household and community level water quality and sanitation assessments to account for the multiple scale nature of the respective target achievement. For instance, in order to gain more information on wastewater treatment which is a crucial part of sanitation, the Yale Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has been developed as a national wastewater treatment indicator ( Malik et al., 2015 ). An interactive map of the percentage of wastewater treated per country performance can be established using crowdsource data to overcome data scarcity in this field ( Hsu et al., 2014 ).

Even more “on the ground” approaches have been taken up for example by the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in India. Their sanitation campaign aims at promoting the use and construction of latrines in rural areas. The previous monitoring system was based on expenditure for sanitation, thus not directly observing de facto toilet construction leading to significant over-reporting: 80% of the toilets being recorded could not be verified as existing by the Census 2011. In order to improve the monitoring system, the SBM is setting up a smartphone based observation system. Using geo-tagged pictures of latrines is a simple and efficient method to report household specific toilet construction and existence. Both cases could be used as baseline examples for SDG monitoring. However, neither of the procedures bridges the gap between local and global scale monitoring. Further, the issue still remains about the role of an indicator. An ideal SDG indicator may reflect on the sustainability of (i.e., lasting and delivering intended benefit) water management measures and not the one that requires counting of installed latrines per capita or other simply quantifiable achievements.

Role of Earth Observation

As mentioned in Table 1 , national statistics often fail to assess water stress and fail to capture the full dimensionality of water problems. The alternative geospatial analysis could give better insights on populations, and environment at risk. Remote sensing and earth observation technologies can play a key role in supporting the monitoring of water targets, particularly where temporal data are unavailable, for instance on freshwater biodiversity. It can also identify emerging risks of underachievement, and help to understand responses when economic changes take place. These technologies could lead to a cost-effective, high-quality, monitoring program for water, by providing global data to complement in situ data at national level ( Lawford et al., 2013 ).

In situ measurements provide time series trends of the water system and its variability at specific locations. Earth Observation data are geospatially consistent and can provide estimates of distribution of water cycle variables at the spatial and time dimensional scale using interpolation of in situ data. For instance, data sets on precipitation have been improved largely by integrating higher frequency in situ point measurements with less frequent but spatially consistent satellite data to give better rainfall accumulation estimates ( Hsu et al., 2012 ). In recent decades, satellites have been able to provide increasingly reliable information on other variables, soil moisture, river discharge, monitoring of water quality by measuring sediment loading, chlorophyll concentrations, algal blooms, and general turbidity, assessment of groundwater changes.

However, the importance of concomitantly strengthening local in situ field observations also has to be stressed, since these are usually required to diagnose cause-and-effect in the changes being observed. By combining earth observations with hydrologic and biophysical models as well as with socioeconomic data, water indicators can be monitored at high data resolutions and allow effective computation of complex water indices ICSU, ( ICSU, ISSC, 2015 ).

Understanding the SDG Interlinkages

While the SDGs are formulated as individual goals, they are hardly independent. Water runs as a common link through several of them, and the targets and indicators relating to freshwater systems are to be found not only in the dedicated water goal (goal 6) but also in other goals and indicators.

Groundwater systems serve as a useful example to illustrate some of the interconnections. Local, regional and continental aquifers are strategically significant, constituting the planet's major storage reserve of freshwater and representing a critical buffer for socioeconomic adaptation to climate and environmental change. Threats to their sustainability, associated with both excessive exploitation and quality degradation over the past 30–50 years ( Foster et al., 2013 ), represent a potential impediment to achieving the SDGs—and this applies not only to the SDG-6 for water but also to SDG-2 on food security, SDG-3 on human health, SDG-11 on resilient cities and SDG-15 on protecting ecosystems and conserving biodiversity. In many ways, the proposed SDGs tend to “skate around” the critical consideration of absolute physical constraints on natural resources such as groundwater, and how these have been significantly reduced as a result of historically inadequate custodianship. The SDGs relating to food production, resilient cities, and aquatic ecosystems can only be achieved in the long term if underlying groundwater systems are conserved in “good status” and not subject to continued depletion and quality degradation.

The inter-linkages across the SDGs are many, and a full and systematic understanding of the links can offer an opportunity to formulate strategically policy interventions and solutions that simultaneously advance multiple goals ( Waage et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, failure to achieve water-related goals propagates the risk of failure in achieving other interlinked goals. For instance, if we fulfill the clean water and sanitation (SDG-6) completely, it will significantly advance SDG-14 and 15 on preserving land and aquatic ecosystems respectively—and failure in achieving SDG-6 will negatively impact these connected SDGs. Thus, prioritizing the water targets could be one of the most important ways to maximize the potential stimulus of other SDGs.

The SDG indicators that are related to interconnected issues should be cautiously used and carefully interpreted. For instance, water quality is influenced by many factors (e.g., land degradation, human health, sanitation, etc.). However, the dedicated food security and human health goals (SDGs 2 and 3 respectively) have no water-related indicators that address this interlinkage.

The interconnections—or the nexi—between water, food, energy, land, and climate are been increasingly studied by researchers across multiple disciplines who recognize that understanding the important links is a necessary element for future sustainable development ( Hoff, 2011 ; Rasul, 2014 ; Ringler et al., 2016 ) and as a response to global environmental change ( Leck et al., 2015 ). The interconnections of water with agriculture (and food security and rural livelihoods), energy (particularly through hydropower but also with other energy systems), land (and ecosystems), public health (based on water quality and access), and sustainable cities and communities have long been highlighted. There has also been significant research on integrated water resources management (IWRM) that sought holistically to improve development and management of water sources ( Grigg, 2008 ). But there is now emerging research that seeks to explicitly understand and account for the inter-connections of water with other important sectors (such as that of agriculture, energy, urban, and rural development etc.) to inform policy design ( Conway et al., 2015 ), technology selection ( Siddiqi and Anadon, 2011 ), and institutional arrangements ( Siddiqi et al., 2013 ; Scott et al., 2015 ). This research can serve as an important base to build toward further work in the context of the new SDGs for identifying and understanding their linkages for synergistic actions.

Supporting the SDG Implementation Process

The implementation of the ambitious SDGs poses considerable challenges to water governance. Many water related problems arise from inadequate and dysfunctional governance, irrespectively whether physical scarcity is prevalent or not. A lack of institutional capacity is the central factor to explain the poor performance of water governance in many countries ( Schuster-Wallace et al., 2015 ). The SDG implementation process must thus support the building of institutional capacity to achieve its goals. Water governance should be participatory, accountable, transparent, responsive, consensus orientated, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and should respect the rule of law. This is also connected to Goal 16 which says “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development” and target 16.3—“Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, and ensure equal access to justice for all.” It can also be considered as a call for a better transboundary and global level water governance; and it implies that access to justice, law are crucial elements in water governance ( Orme et al., 2015 ).

It also raises the question: How can political will, institutional capacity and good governance be fostered so that SDG process could become a global process driving transformative change toward sustainability? It requires engaging policy, business, science and civil society at large, and formulating incentives that foster harmonized interlinked regulations and policies. It is key to recognize that implementing SDGs is a societal process of development. We need to link how SDGs relate to public benefits and communicate this to the broader public. For instance, the question can be framed as “how do we make water drinkable,” rather than an abstract question of water quality without considering the direct or indirect human dimension.

Accelerating Innovations for Sustainable Development

Many water initiatives and solutions exist, all around the globe that addresses these challenges, but frequently from a single, constrained perspective and often limited in geographic scale. Scientists are concerned with understanding the nature and impact of global change; businesses implement new strategies and products. Policy makers on all different levels attempt to mitigate and adapt to environmental impacts. Non-governmental organizations raise awareness and actively protect and support impacted humans and nature. Despite these varied efforts, it is beyond any doubt that sustainable development requires accelerated technological, social, and institutional innovation.

The increasing demand for drastic reductions of environmental burdens and footprints of human consumption (e.g., water pollution and excessive withdrawals), implies that adaptation within existing technologies is not sufficient. Instead, a change in approach and a framework is needed that strongly connects problem identifiers with solutions implementers, knowledge generators and knowledge implementers while focusing on integrated solutions. Such a solution-oriented integrated approach can act as an antidote to the otherwise sluggish flow of evidence-based knowledge from water science to policy formulation and application. It can help to develop the trajectory from concrete actions and find solutions through the co-production and critical review of knowledge. This may be done by facilitating meaningful and sustained dialogues between different stakeholders (science, industry, policy makers, and civil society), which will help to stimulate the diffusion of innovation by identifying “demand pulls” instead of creating a “supply push.” There is a need to bring forward best practices of technological, institutional, and social innovation that will help in policy design and ensure the twin goals of environmental conservation and economic development are not conflicting.

Obviously, there are still serious unresolved scientific, professional, and also societal challenges involved ( Pahl-Wostl et al., 2013 ). It is not perceivable that conclusive answers will be found before the implementation of SDGs starts and inherent monitoring and indicator related decisions have to be made. This implies that the scientific community must remain involved and assist the implementation process which will last at least the coming 15 years. No doubt in many aspects it will have to be an adaptive “learning by doing and improving” process.

Role of Water Storage Infrastructure

Infrastructure is mediating the flow of water resources between nature and society and within society. Hence infrastructure plays an important role in reducing existing inequalities ( Bruns and Frick, 2014 ). Among large-scale water infrastructure, water storage plays a key role to mitigate the effects of scarce and unreliable occurrence of the natural resource and its frequent inability to match even legitimate water demands. Yet, no other large-scale engineering intervention is as controversial as dams and reservoirs. Thus, the potentially controversial debates over technical solutions can be well illustrated in the case of dams. These debates are not without any ideological motivation ( Muller, 2012 ). There are indeed serious consequences for freshwater bodies, terrestrial ecosystems, and human society. Not only the displacement of people due to the impoundment of water but the differences between the (new infrastructure, and mainly downstream) beneficiaries and the affected (local) population pose serious challenges within a country, and even more in a transboundary context.

Despite the controversies around this topic, some argue that climate-change adaptation and the SDGs can only be achieved through the development of substantial additional water storage infrastructure ( Bates et al., 2008 ; Muller et al., 2015 ). There is historical evidence that human water security 2 , and other dimensions of human well-being, are positively correlated with the availability and size of water storage capacity per capita ( Vörösmarty et al., 2010 ). A massive dam development process, propelled predominantly by funding from private sources, is already underway to respond to increasing energy needs ( Zarfl et al., 2015 ). Potential co-benefits for agriculture are unlikely to be considered. Major existing reservoirs like the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams on the Zambezi River are single purpose ones meant for hydropower generation. There is much to be learned on how to establish consensus in building dams to meet human water needs and save the river system from being turned into an engineered one. Meanwhile, the IPCC report ( Jiménez Cisneros et al., 2014 ) indicates that along the course of climate change weather and streamflow phenomena will result in increased extremes on both ends of the spectrum. Thus, longer droughts and larger floods would imply again more storage volume to cope with it. However, building reservoirs as means of adaptation may trigger additional adaptation stress affecting both people and ecosystems associated with new dams and reservoirs. Reservoirs which are well designed and operated as multipurpose facilities can contribute to the achievement of several SDGs, including ecosystem-oriented ones. Improved energy, food and water security, but also disaster risk mitigation and securing environmental flows downstream can be attributed to dams and reservoirs, however, as already mentioned, it often comes at the price of deterioration of the natural features of freshwater ecosystems ( Krchnak et al., 2011 ; Muller et al., 2015 ).

Groundwater reserves constitute the other major form of freshwater storage and also have specific (but very different) “infrastructure requirements” if they are to be used sustainably. There is a pressing need for an adequate monitoring network to keep under long-term review whether they are excessively depleted or progressively salinized by current regimes of withdrawal for irrigated agriculture and urban water supply. In most cases, their sustainable utilization to improve water-supply security and ensure ecosystem conservation will require conjunctive management with surface water resources ( Foster and van Steenbergen, 2011 ) to take advantage of complementary hydrologic characteristics. This in turn often initially requires larger up-front capital investment and always needs strengthening of the “resource governance regime.”

Financing the Water SDG

The ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development needs bold and innovative approaches to financing the projects and programs that will turn the present goals to future reality. Municipal water systems are currently under-resourced, undervalued, and under-priced ( Rogers et al., 2002 ). Projects financed through external aid and philanthropy have led to less sustainable outcomes—and user paid instruments (tariffs, taxes, and concessional funding through bonds or loans) can been more viable alternatives. However, what is really needed is a departure from business-as-usual for implementing the SDGs. We actively seek new models of financing as well as project evaluation, noting that there are significant opportunities to mobilize public and private capital if investment risks are reduced and willingness-to-pay is adequately recognized.

There are a number of innovative practices that have been developed in recent years to fund social services. These can serve as useful examples for new financing models. Approaches such as donor funds (that receive no returns) serving as seed capital for social service providers and commercial investors providing remaining needed funds to support the service and receiving competitive returns are among a number of creative financial solutions that are being implemented by non-profit organizations ( Bugg-Levine et al., 2012 ). Innovation for financing and implementation of the SDGs will be about finding the unique systemic arrangement of incentives that are attractive for all relevant stakeholders.

In addition to new models, we need to address the accounting and evaluation of projects to shape the course of development on sustainable paths ( UN, 2015 ). The financial models need to account for the fact that environmental goals, laid out in the SDGs, matter. The current system of accounting, with long time horizons that push costs of environmental impacts out in the future, distorts the evaluation of projects. The equation for financing needs to change in fundamental ways. The real value and costs of ecosystem services should thus be accounted for up front rather than ignored with assumptions of paying for damages later. As we include costs of environmental impacts and value of ecosystem services, the affordability aspects remain important. We will have to be astute in ensuring that a “ cannibalistic economy ” is not created, i.e., the net impacts of development should not add up to costs that cities and municipalities are unable to bear.

New financing models and accounting approaches will be an important but not the only advancement that will be needed. New technologies and business models will be key for overcoming traditional barriers. For instance, large capital investment for WASH infrastructure has remained a continuing challenge toward large-scale deployment in developing countries. A number of new ventures are now offering distributed low-cost solutions, with integrated waste value chain business models, that convert the collected waste into organic fertilizer and renewable energy ( Auerbach, 2016 ).

For new infrastructure and development solutions, using traditional financing mechanisms, risk reduction is a key element for stimulating investment. With competitive returns, or at least reduced risks than what has traditionally been the case for water sector projects, we may find that there is a willingness to invest, and previously untapped resources become accessible. Risk reduction goes hand in hand with good governance—the drain of corruption has been a major barrier that has stalled investment in the water sector. Public or private investment, however, does find its way where there is substantive evidence of success. Research shows in some cases that users are prepared to pay more for water services if they benefit from the improved service ( Bhaduri and Kloos, 2013 ). There is a willingness to pay if the benefits can be perceived and received by the users of water. New models which are economical and deliver service sustainability will increase confidence and initiate a “ virtuous cycle ” of further investments.

To meet human water needs, we have relied mainly on conventional human-engineered structures, but sole reliance on gray infrastructure may alter important biophysical process needed to sustain a livelihood, ecosystem and habits ( Palmer et al., 2015 ). Complementing the gray infrastructure with green infrastructure are critical to support or preserves the functionality of gray infrastructure (an increase of lifespan of dams) and meeting water needs of current and future generation.

There are multiple challenges in financing green infrastructure also. Many countries do not consider investment in green infrastructure as part of capital expenditure ( Bunn et al., 2016 ). The question remains how the cost of maintaining the green infrastructure can be recovered. Payment for watershed services can potentially provide the financial mechanism to that restore ecosystem service. There are around 350 active programs now on watershed development, with a total investment of around $10 billion and covering activities on 365 million hectares ( Bennett and Carroll, 2014 ). It is also expected that such schemes may attract private sector funding to support comprehensive environmental management. With a high level of uncertainty, often such payments are determined below market rate and lead to under-investment. An individual may build green infrastructure on the basis of saving the cost of gray infrastructure. However, such individual private investments fail to take care of the downward stream externalities. A public water fund like the Latin American Water Funds Partnership (LAWFP) 3 , can be used to tackle such problem and connect downstream beneficiaries to upstream land stewards, particularly in covering capital expenditure and insurance, operating expenses. This may catalyse further investment on green infrastructure.

Capacity Development and Monitoring of the SDGs

With the adoption of the SDGs, the world obliged itself to abandon the clearly unsustainable business-as-usual trajectory and to engage in finding the sustainable path toward the achievement of its societal and environmental goals. The set of 17 goals and 169 targets are conceived as benchmarks to be achieved by 2030 (some of them by 2020 or preferably earlier). In many cases, surrogate indicators will have to be used to measure progress (or the lack of it). Thus, implementation of the SDGs implies continuous monitoring and periodic evaluation to check whether the direction and pace of development are right. It implies collection, archiving, and processing of massive amount of data to be evaluated at different scales. Monitoring and evaluation have their capacity needs both regarding professional and financial resources. Substantial capacity deficits, especially in developing countries, must be addressed. Professional capacity, educational, and media capacity are needed since multi-stakeholder implementation needs informed citizens, public and private engagement and a mentality change. It is clear that, as SDG implementation commences, neither monitoring capability nor assessment capacity is at an ideal level. Thus, implementing the SDGs also requires simultaneously developing the very basis of its targeted success. The “ ladder approach ” epitomizing the process of gradual improvement of monitoring can also be applied to many other facets of the SDG implementation process ( UN-Water, 2015 ).

Learning from Past Lessons on Governance, Technical, Training, and Social Incentives

Building capacity in countries is important for monitoring SDGs. The increased visibility of global data platforms (like UNEP Live- http://uneplive.unep.org/ ) can motivate countries to contribute data—since most senior government officials do not wish to see their countries as the “white spot” (blank) on global maps. The “ tragedy of averages ” however needs to be carefully avoided, since most countries have diversity in natural geography. Averaged data often presents a severely distorted characterization. The concepts such as monitoring ladders or monitoring tiers (with various levels of complexity) can be a useful and feasible trajectory for poorer countries. The enhanced capacity building could help decision makers to identify the long-term superior solutions in systemic approaches.

Multilateral Efforts from All Societal Levels

All levels of society—government, academia, NGOs, and others—should be involved in SDGs monitoring. An important question is how can this be made to work in practice, and what are the challenges regarding capacity in these societal levels to contribute meaningfully. One approach is to recognize that each societal level should do what it can do best. For instance, the role of the public should be to push policy makers and government to provide services at affordable rates and sustainable practices (such as good quality drinking water, clean environment, etc.); academics need to engage in data collection and sharing, knowledge creation, and mediation of societal aspirations with sustainable development goals; administrators need to devise effective mechanisms to implement policies and meet national development aspirations and politicians need to formulate policies for societal benefits and institute rewards and penalties to enforce them.

The role of modern digital technologies, ubiquitous devices ranging from smartphones to hand-held computers can bring a sea change to data acquisition and monitoring realms. Citizen science holds a lot of promise in certain areas. However, it has its limits and will not work where data quality, calibration, and standardization are of concern. Nonetheless, it has an important role to play in raising awareness and in contributing toward efforts for monitoring as well as implementation.

Concluding Discussion

The decision to incorporate a dedicated water goal (SDG-6) among the 17 SDGs is a clear recognition that water is not only part of many other SDGs but in many aspects their precondition. Within this goal are fundamental targets for drinking water provision and sanitation but also for environmental sustainability. The water goal is expected to address the global water crisis as it unfolds, as evidenced by increased water scarcity, inadequate sanitation, widespread pollution, accelerated declines in freshwater biodiversity and the loss of vital ecosystem goods and services ( GWSP, 2015 ). The paper addresses some of the challenges related to implementation and monitoring the targets of the SDGs from a water perspective, based on the key findings of a conference organized in 2015 with the focus on three essential aspects of SDGs- indicators, interlinkages, and implementation.

The paper suggests that indicators should be simple and SMART and able to inform policy makers on progress made toward sustainability and at the same time capture the complexity needed to assess the sustainability of its use. The expected set of official indicators for use in the intergovernmental progress reporting will not be able to adequately capture the progress of the SDGs and the cross-cutting role of water for their achievement. Hence, the scientific challenge to develop actionable and scientifically sound (secondary) indicators still exists. At the global level, science, for instance, can help in developing risk metrics that are required to assess whether humans are in a safe and sustainable operating space of the global water system and still can meet their essential needs. Further, water risk assessment can be conducted at the local and regional level to guide social, private, and public decisions on investment and also in developing appropriate institutions and coordinating implementation plans. There is a need for the development of scientifically sound assessment and regulatory guidelines that can help to address the gaps in process understanding focusing on the interaction between stressors and their impacts on the ecosystem health of freshwater bodies. It is not perceivable that conclusive answers will be found to all of them before the implementation of SDGs starts and inherent monitoring and indicator related decisions have to be made. This implies that the scientific community must remain involved in the years to come and assist the implementation process. In many aspects it will be a “learning by doing” adaptive process.

Author Contributions

AB, JB, AS, HV have written the manuscript mainly. CV, CP, SB, PS, RL, HK, FR, ABR, VO have contributed ideas, concepts. SF has contributed in the groundwater section part. FR has helped in the revision of the document.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for their financial support provided to organize this conference. We are also thankful to several keynote speakers, panelists, moderators, rapporteurs, and participants for their inspiring ideas, guidance and stimulating debates during the plenary and parallel sessions of the conference. We also thank two reviewers and the editor for their comments and suggestions to improve the paper.

1. ^ The paper, however, do not cover topics like conflict resolution, south-south cooperation, and efficiency of development assistance in the context of SDG as significant details of such issues are beyond the scope of this paper.

2. ^ There is a huge diversity in the definition of water security. In policy contexts, a water security definition can range from minimal access issues for meeting basic needs to meeting ecosystem needs as well ( Pahl-Wostl et al., 2016 ). In the paper here, water security has been referred to as basic human water needs.

3. ^ The Latin American Water Funds Partnership is the one of the first initiatives engaging the private and public sectors and civil society in a watershed conservation strategy. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/latinamerica/latin-american-water-funds-partnership.xml

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Keywords: SDG6, global water, nexus, environment, indicators

Citation: Bhaduri A, Bogardi J, Siddiqi A, Voigt H, Vörösmarty C, Pahl-Wostl C, Bunn SE, Shrivastava P, Lawford R, Foster S, Kremer H, Renaud FG, Bruns A and Osuna VR (2016) Achieving Sustainable Development Goals from a Water Perspective. Front. Environ. Sci. 4:64. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2016.00064

Received: 20 April 2016; Accepted: 22 September 2016; Published: 14 October 2016.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2016 Bhaduri, Bogardi, Siddiqi, Voigt, Vörösmarty, Pahl-Wostl, Bunn, Shrivastava, Lawford, Foster, Kremer, Renaud, Bruns and Osuna. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Anik Bhaduri, [email protected]

† Present Address: Afreen Siddiqi, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Vanesa R. Osuna, CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, Environmental Crossroads Initiative, New York, NY, USA

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Sustainable watershed management: an international multi-watershed case study

Affiliation.

• 1 Arts and Sciences Program, University of Washington, Tacoma, USA. [email protected]
• PMID: 11928352
• DOI: 10.1579/0044-7447-31.1.2

Global freshwater resources are being increasingly polluted and depleted, threatening sustainable development and human and ecosystem health. Utilizing case studies from 4 different watersheds in the United States, Japan, Switzerland, and Brazil, this paper identifies the most relevant sustainability deficits and derives general vectors for more sustainable water management. As a consequence of the demographic and economic developments experienced in the last few decades, each watershed has suffered declines in water quality, streamflow and biotic resources. However, the extent and the cultural perception of these water-related problems vary substantially in the different watersheds, leading to specific water-management strategies. In industrialized countries, exemplified by the US, Switzerland, and Japan, these strategies have primarily consisted of finance- and energy-intensive technologies, allowing these countries to meet water requirements while minimizing human health risks. But, from a sustainability point of view, such strategies, relying on limited natural resources, are not long-term solutions. For newly industrialized countries such as Brazil, expensive technologies for water management are often not economically feasible, thus limiting the extent to which newly industrialized and developing countries can utilize the expertise offered by the industrialized world. Sustainable water management has to be achieved by a common learning process involving industrialized, newly industrialized, and developing countries, following general sustainability guidelines as exemplified in this paper.

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2015 UN-Water Annual International Zaragoza Conference. Water and Sustainable Development: From Vision to Action. 15-17 January 2015

This section provides access to some of the cases discussed at the Conference.

Risk Management

>> Anheuser-Busch InBev By Bert Share, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

This case will explore the tools used to integrate water stewardship into standard business activities at Anheuser-Busch InBev and build internal and external capacity to take actions to scale at the watershed level and reduce climate and water-related risks, both for the company’s breweries and its barley supply chain.  This includes water risk assessment, goal setting and cascading systems, project management and reporting systems and company management systems.

>> CDP corporate stewardship By Cate Lamb, CDP.

CDP is an international not-for-profit organization providing the only global environmental disclosure system. These insights enable investors, companies and governments to mitigate risks from the use of energy and natural resources and identify opportunities from taking a responsible approach to the environment. In 2014, CDP’s water program was used by 573 investors, with USD 60 trillion in assets and 14 multinational companies. By inviting companies to disclose to CDP, we aim to lead them on a journey towards effective corporate water stewardship. We pose key questions to corporations about their risk and response to water challenges through the CDP platform enabling greater understanding of the private sector’s impact on water resources worldwide, while driving transparency of water issues, facilitating informed decision making and encouraging action to mitigate water risks and impacts.

>> Strategic Program for Climate Resilience in the Jamaican Sugarcane Industry By Katalin Solymosi, IDB.

In line with Jamaica’s national Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) to safeguard water resources, IDB’s Structured and Corporate Finance Department has started an initiative to promote water efficiency measures and technologies among small farmers in the company’s supply chain through a loan to a private sector client in the sugar industry. Some of the potential investments identified by the IDB are drip-irrigation and fertilization practices and mechanized harvest on state and third-party suppliers’ land; wastewater treatment investments at processing plant level; training/capacity building to create more employment opportunities for youth and women as well as to avoid illicit cane burning; and financial literacy and agribusiness management practices to enable the participation of all types of farmers. To overcome the risks derived from long payback periods and lack of farmer’s financial capacity and knowledge, SCF is considering the use of blended concessional funds as an incentive for investment.

>> Flood early warning systems By Lydia Cumiskey, Water Youth Network.

This case presents the “Mobile Services for flood early warning in Bangladesh” project  conducted by a multi stakeholder consortium including government institutions (Flood forecasting and Warning Centre and the Regional Integrated Multi Hazard Early Warning System), research institutions (Deltares and HKV consultants) and NGO partners (Cordaid Netherlands, Concern Universal Bangladesh, Practical Action Bangladesh and MMS). This project develops a people-centred early warning system comprised of four key elements: knowledge of the risks; monitoring, analysis and forecasting of the hazards; communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings; and local capabilities to respond to the warnings received (Basher, 2006) 1 . The communication and dissemination component has being recognized as the least developed one, with a huge gap between the information produced by national level forecasting agencies and that received and acted upon by the flood affected communities. Thus, in view of the recognition of the important role of young actors in flood risk reduction given by the 3rd UN World Congress for Disaster Risk Reduction (3WCDRR), the Children and Youth Blast, 3WCDRR is to be held in Sendai in 2015 and will give young people the opportunity to influence decision makers, display their unique abilities, make commitments, co-educate and plan actions to reduce the risks our communities face to disasters.

>> ICPDR Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change By Raimund Mair, International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR).

In view of the warnings raised by the most recent IPCC technical reports on predictable risks to water quality and availability, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) was asked by the Ministers of the Danube countries in 2010 to prepare the first transboundary Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the whole basin. The Strategy was finalised and adopted in December 2012 2 , and is based on a scientific research study which summarises all relevant information on climate change and expected impacts on water for the Danube River Basin.

The Strategy is currently under implementation, whereas the most important tools for taking the required adaptation measures are the international Danube River Basin Management and Danube Flood Risk Management Plans. Drafts for both plans are currently in public consultation and will be finalised and adopted in December 2015.

>> Democratic Policy of Civil Society in Risk Management for Universal Access of Safe Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Pakistan By Muhammad Wasif Bashir Babar, University of Punjab, Pakistan.

The city of Lahore, Pakistan, faced critical drinking water, sanitation & hygiene conditions exacerbated by high levels of poverty, lack of political will/interest, environmental and groundwater pollution, worse socioeconomic status, lack of education, poor hygiene, high rates of water-born diseases. As a result, a common initiative of Faisalabad’s civil society and the Government of Punjab to develop WASH services and effective water risk management in the community with a high participatory and youth engagement component has been developed. The study presented in this case was carried out in 2014 to assess and analyse the effective role of civil society and youth in WASH Development and risk management, along with the process of community partnership and flexible strategies for community development. An innovative bottom-up and participatory approach was applied, engaging young women, educational institutions, religious leaders and children. It concluded that engaging communities and youth in development activities can play an essential role in developing local community ownership and ensure project and ecological sustainability, and partnerships including youth, media, women, educational institutions and civil society should be promoted.

>> Monitoring and Evaluation in Water and its relation to the Millennium Development Goals By Mohamed Elrawady, CEDARE

The monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the water sector have been considered the weakest link in progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa, as it faces several challenges on the national and regional levels. Accordingly, it is required to build and develop capacities of governments and non-governmental agencies in North African States to cope with the challenges of data collection, analysis, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Hence, human resources development and institutional capacity building could become one of the major areas of investment in Africa over the following years. The Monitoring and Evaluation of the Water Sector in North Africa (MEWINA) project has been launched in November 2011 to influence decision makers, governments, scientific community, development agencies, and general public in North Africa. Its overall goal is to report regularly on the State of the Water through a set of institutional, technical, environmental, socio-economic and governance indicators.

>> Sustainable Water Management Project (SWMP) in Salamieh District By Ali Al-Zein, Aga Khan Foundation, Syria

The Sustainable Water Management Project (SWMP) in Salamieh District aimed to alleviate negative impacts of water shortage such as poor yields, low incomes, high unemployment rate, which collectively lead to poverty and migration. It included multiple interventions in order to help farmers and create incentives for them to work collectively on scientific irrigation scheduling, water harvesting, supplemental irrigation, deficit irrigation and modernizing irrigation systems. The project interventions during the period 2005–2010 have resulted in several achievements, including minimized water consumption, yield improvements, increased water use efficiency and higher incomes, along with groundwater table stabilization in most of the villages. All the dimensions of sustainability were addressed throughout the project phases: From the social point of view, farmers producing vegetables and fruits – who apply traditional irrigation techniques using water from private owned wells – from 120 villages were targeted. Some farmers were trained to be facilitators of the introduction, promotion and maintenance of drip irrigation networks among the farmer communities. Meanwhile, several workshops and campaigns aimed at behavior changing, awareness raising and promotion of collective work and community participation and mobilization on water management and conservation were conducted. Regarding economics, an economic assessment showed that the first season’s income could cover the cost of the network, which had a lifespan of at least 5 years. Encouraging formation of groups in villages in order to maximize cost saving and widen participation was also a vital part of the project. From the environmental point of view, minimum intervention on water resources and maximum reservation for the environment were achieved. Materials used for the network were collected and recycled by farmers and biodiversity was considered during the whole project.

>> Projet d’appui a la protection de l’oasis de Bidi dans le Sahel au Burkina Faso By Illias Sawadogo, Youth Network for Water and Sustainable Development (YNWSD)

Burkina Faso is a sahelian country of West Africa with very few water resources. This country constantl faces water deficit, which does not allow meeting the various needs in water. The existing water resources are also under a threat of degradation and even disappearance because of human activities and climate change: animal and human pressure, advance of the desert, silting, lack of awareness or negligence of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The latest issue affects the oasis of Bidi, a natural water source in the Sahel region of Burkina. That source is precisely located in Oudalan province where there are also important dams such as the Oursi pond, a Ramsar site. That province which chief area is Gorom-Gorom has an area of 9.797 square kilometers with a population of 197.240 people.

In view of that situation, young people involved in the Youth Network for Water and Sustainable Development (YNWSD / REJEDD in French) are willing to contribute to solving the problem through this support project for the protection of the oasis of Bidi in the Sahel of Burkina: “Let’s save both the oasis and the people of Bidi”.

>> Flooding Analysis in San Rafael Neighbourhood, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay By Pedro Domaniczky, Itaipu Binacional

San Rafael neighbourhood is a coastal district that is located in the city Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. It is vulnerable to suffer flooding because its location and the sudden change in level of the stream running through it, called Acaray Mi.

This work aim is the determination of flood polygons of the Acaray Mi Stream, a tributary of the Paraná River, and the related costs of the events in the coastal neighbourhood San Rafael. To achieve the aim of this work were used free software developed by the Corps of Engineers of the United States: HEC-RAS for calculating the hydraulic component, and HEC-GeoRAS as a facilitator in the interconnection of hydraulic and geographic components.

>> Applications of Earth observations in monitoring the Water SDG By Richard Lawford, Morgan State University, US

The United Nations Open Working Group’s (OWG) 2014 report on Sustainable Development Goals includes a water goal. Effective monitoring of this goal needs to be action-oriented, measuring progress objectively, and guiding global investments. Recently, as part of the UN Global Expanded Monitoring Initiative (GEMI), a Task Team on Earth observations (EOTT) has explored the potential role of Earth observations (EO) for indicator monitoring.

Earth observations, which include both satellite and in-situ data, can provide robust monitoring for indicators because of their geospatial consistency, accessibility, repeatability, and global coverage. EO data are being used to derive population density maps that support monitoring and could assist in monitoring Waste Water and Water Quality Management (WWQM) indicators. Geographical Information System (GIS) platforms enable EO data to be combined with socioeconomic and survey data for more complex indicators. Water Resources Management (WRM) indicators lend themselves to the use of water cycle data used in routine water management purposes. Emerging integration capabilities such as land data assimilation systems and the University of Tokyo’s Water Cycle Integrator can also track WRM indicators. In addition, the present and future role of novel data, including new “Big Data” sources and citizen science will also play a significant role. Two avenues for addressing sustainable development monitoring are being considered. The first avenue integrates Earth observations into the current monitoring framework through the recommended design of a more open system. The second avenue explores how a different approach to sustainable development could enable Earth observations to inform a near-real time monitoring and adaptive management system that would direct resources to resolving non-sustainable practices and emergencies.

Water Resources Management and Scarcity

>> Integrated Water Resources Management in Myanmar By Htung Lwin Oo, By Htung Lwin Oo, Ministry of Transport of Myanmar

Though Myanmar only uses 5% of the potential water resources, 89% of them going to the agricultural sector, it is also subject to water related risks like floods and scarcity due to the uneven distribution of rainfall over the country and seasons. The rise of urban and rural water demands due to the increasing development is bringing the need for controlled management of surface and groundwater extractions to ensure future sustainability, together with an enhancement of water conservation initiatives, such as rain water harvesting, strategic planning for water resources development and related infrastructure investment ahead of time. For social inclusion, some water user groups have been mobilized to take part in such activities; however, capacity building is still needed to further involve local communities in the water management decision making process at all levels. In this context, Myanmar established National Water Resources Committee (NWRC), an APEX body that promotes coordination and cooperation among water related Ministries and Organizations, and constitutes a consolidated coordination mechanism that oversees, monitors, directs and supports all water related activities leading to inclusive water governance. The intellectual and technical support has been provided by the Expert Group of the NWRC that consisted of long standing Myanmar water professionals from various water related fields with the experience of 25 to 40 years, with additional support of the Dutch government.

>> Application of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) International Water Stewardship Standard in Australia By Michael Spencer, Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS).

This case study considers development and early stage application of the AWS’s International Water Stewardship Standard. AWS has been developing the concept of water stewardship in a way that it can be used in a variety of settings to deal with problems of water scarcity, poor water quality, threats to and loss of important ecosystems and cultural places and unequal access to water.  Water stewardship requires collaboration between business and industry, farmers, communities, governments (and their various agencies) and, civil society organizations.  In this case study, the system has been applied in the supply chains of major retailers in Africa and Latin America and in the supply chain of food producers in Australia.  Each case has involved the larger business (retailers or producers) engaging farmers in examining their water use in the context of the Standard.  It adopts a six step process to achieve four outcomes; (1) sustainable water balance, (2) good water quality, (3) healthy important water related areas and, (4) good water governance. A universal outcome evident in all cases was the extent to which the system encouraged collaboration between stakeholders who may not have collaborated previously. Another important outcome was the extent to which implementers were required to look ‘outside their gate’ to the catchment in which they operated and the water challenges in that catchment.  This fostered a common understanding of the issues and the role each participant could play in resolving those issues. This collaboration will continue to develop as new implementers are engaged within the catchments. As a critical mass of implementers is achieved catchment indicators will provide evidence of improvement.

>> Financial sustainability to support the long term management of water resources in Ecuador: the case of FONAG By Pablo Lloret, FONAG, Ecuador

The Fund is a financial mechanism, with the legal 1 figure of a private mercantile trust, under the Securities Market Law of 2 Ecuador. The FONAG is a heritage fund with a useful life of 80 years. Operating 3 as a private mercantile trust fund and legally regulated by Ecuador’s stock market law, its revenues will be used to co-finance environmental activities in favour of water conservation. During the process of creation of the FONAG, the use of the water basins was defined as unit of analysis under three criteria: importance for the maintenance of biodiversity, intensity of the threats and a favourable socio-political and institutional context for the execution of actions.

The resources invested by FONAG allow the development of research, land tilting, surveillance and a control program, valuation of environmental services, sustainable productive systems, education and training, and monitoring and evaluation programs. The initiative to consider a water conservation mechanism was the result of an analysis in reference to the depletion of water sources near the capital city, and the need to turn to water springs on the western Andean range to provide water, as well as to summon the main users whose demand for water resources increases constantly. The initial analysis was promoted by several national and international environmental non-profit organizations who recommended a percentage contribution on the water and sewage bills for the city of Quito.

>> Abengoa experience in seawater desalination in developing countries By Arturo Buenaventura, Abengoa

This case presents four experiences developed under the framework of Abengoa initiatives in seawater desalination in developing countries. The study first presents key water facts on a global level are shown with special emphasis on the worldwide population that has no access to improved drinking water. Then, membrane desalination is presented as an excellent water technology to generate alternative resources that provide drinking water at an affordable cost. The central part includes an explanation of the four experiences - Algeria (with three desalination plants), Ghana, Morocco and India – both in terms of plant characteristics and particular issues that had to be tackled during the development of the different projects. It also presents the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in water projects involved and how Project Finance (PF) has proven as the most suitable tool to face global water challenges, especially in developing countries where access to finance sources is not easy. Finally some conclusions and final thoughts are driven.

>> Green bonds By Justine Leigh-Bell, Climate Bonds

Green bonds have emerged in recent years as a new financial mechanism that offers investors an opportunity to support climate friendly investments. Projects funded by green bonds have been located across the globe and focused on a variety of goals, from increasing the resilience of water systems to boosting energy efficiency. The involvement of multilateral development banks has expanded the interest in green bonds, with governmental agencies, municipalities and, more recently, utilities and corporations finding ways to use the financial instruments. Water is expected to be a key investment area for green bonds as the market grows. In the United States alone there will be an estimated $300 billion to $1 trillion invested in clean water infrastructure by 2030. But to keep this growth, new tools need to be at hand for assisting issuers in meeting investor demand for climate-themed bonds; assisting investors in recognising such bonds; and assisting governments in supporting investments in such bonds. Certified Climate Bonds will provide integrity and reduce reputational risks for all those involved in participating in a new asset class. Meanwhile, developing a robust framework for bond issuances in the water sector is critical, as it will help to create awareness about the opportunity within the industry, and give investors the confidence that the funds are being used to deliver credible climate change solutions.

>> The Audimod Tool By Elena López Gunn, Leeds University

We present the results of a study undertaken on behalf of FAO and then further developed for a Spanish river basin agency to look at whether irrigation modernization projects are effective measures as part of the implementation of catchment plans to help improve the status of water bodies. The tool developed is called AudiMod and was tested for two specific sites.

>> Drought Management Plans By Luis Garrote, Technical University of Madrid

The case study deals with the preparation and implementation of drought management plans. It is based on the MEDROPLAN project, carried out between 2007 and 2010. The objective of the project was to provide Mediterranean countries with a framework. The project produced a set of Drought Management Guidelines for effective and systematic approach to prevent and/or minimize the impacts of drought on people, which were published in 2010 in six languages. The Guidelines outline both long term and short term measures that are to be used to prevent and mitigate the effects of drought. The Guidelines provide an integrated approach to face droughts from a risk management perspective and therefore minimizing the impacts of drought in the population and resources. The integrated drought planning concept addresses the planning framework and four specific components: the organizational, methodological, operational and public review components.

>> Integrated Water Management in Stressed Basins: Segura River Experience By Miguel Ángel Ródenas, Segura River Basin Authority

The Segura River Basin (south-east Spain) suffers the lowest annual rainfall rate in the continental Europe (365 mm). However, its weather is exceptional for vegetable production. Its main characteristics are: structural water deficit, good climate for crops, millenary irrigation system (260,000 hectares vital to the socioeconomic support of the region) and advanced water infrastructures system. These features, mixed with cyclic droughts and floods, have designed along the history a special relation between the inhabitants of the region and the environment, while bringing the need of an integrated water system that has been implemented for the last hundred years. This single management system is based on a Previous Hydrological Planning to control all the water resources: surface water, groundwater, transfers and non conventional resources (reuse and desalination). Six main projects made the System possible: Tajo-Segura Transfer, Modern Irrigation System (by large pressure pipelines), Integrated Urban Water Reclamation and Reuse System, Urban Supply System (to 2.5 Million people), Desalination Plants System and Segura River Regulation Plan (flood defence).

>> UNECE Water Convention: from regional to global instrument, and its implementation on the ground By Minna Hanski, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland

The UNECE Water Convention has led to strengthened transboundary water cooperation, peace and security through intersectoral and transboundary coordination and cooperation. The Water Convention and the UN Watercources Convention, which entered into force in 2014, are based on the same principles and they complement each other. The former is focused more on the prevention of adverse transboundary impacts and the latter on the fair and reasonable use of shared water resources among states. The globalization of Conventions brings new opportunities for experience sharing. Finland has a long tradition in transboundary cooperation and in participating in the development of international water law and in promoting international water conventions. The agreement between Finland and Russia concerning frontier watercourses is already 50 years old. It has a wide coverage, both geographically and in terms of the topics included. It meets the principles of transboundary cooperation: equitable and reasonable use of the water resource, no harm principles and common institutional body.

>> Dealing with scarcity through effective water management and allocation: Civil society as agents for change (Myanmar Case: NWRC and ARBRO et al.) By Khin Nini Thein, ARBRO, Myanmar

Decades of close door policy and top down decision making system without any consideration for participatory approach, let alone to give room/space for inclusiveness, have severely constrained the ability for people in Myanmar to freely organize themselves and speak up. Since 2011, the Government of Myanmar has taken a new approach that practices relaxation and liberalization towards free trade economy, which has led to begin the process of political and economic reforms. Water is a major driving force and essential ingredient for any economic and social activities. However, due to lack of Integrated Water Resources Management, the more economic activities increase the more water resources suffer. It has reached to the level of urgency that water professionals in Myanmar could no longer keep the silence. At some point the water professionals slowly reached out to decision makers in Myanmar including the President’s Office to address the wáter, development and environment issues through the lens of wáter-energy-food nexus. The Myanmar wáter professionals initiated this process and succeeded in starting up a dialogue with influential and authorised leaders in the water sector in Myanmar.

We present a new and transformative disaster accounting framework – flood footprint accountings. Flood footprint is a measure of the exclusive total economic impact that is directly and indirectly caused by a flood event to the flooding region and wider economic systems. Flooding in one location can impact the whole EU or world economy, since the effects of the disaster are transferred through the whole supply chain.

For investment in flood risk management options, it is critical to identify the ‘blind-spots’ in critical infrastructure and vulnerable sectors along with the economic supply chains and social networks. This in turn allows for sufficient adaptation to the damage that is transferred from the current event to future events. Adaption to flood risk is not limited to the area which suffers the direct damage. It also extends to entire socioeconomic networks and this must be considered in order to minimise the magnitude and probability of cascading damage to the regions not flooded.

We are developing this new tool under EU FP7 project – BASE, UK EPSRC funded projects of Sesame and Blue Green Cities.

The “Cultivando Agua Boa” program has the aim to protect natural resources and fight against poverty in the region. It thus works on social and environmental problems, promoting a new vision of water resources use through the participation of all stakeholders involved. It represents a new way to substitute the old habits by sustainable and participative practices focused on those territories where natural resources are threatened.

This is a systemic program based on civil society participation where water is used as the backbone for a series of actions, with the objective to fight poverty and climate change. It works with an awareness plan composed of 60 actions, which to date has enabled the following main achievements: recuperation of 200 micro-basins in the region, upgraded water quantity and quality, reduced soil erosion, improved life quality and social insertion of local people, reforestation of riversides, increased nature conservation and a participative water management promoting water stewardship and sustainable land management.

Improving environmental performance in the apparel supply chain is critical for the long-term viability of the sector as well as the sustainability of ecosystems and communities. Water is a key natural resource for the apparel sector: the production of cotton and other fibers is dependent upon water resources but also impacts water quality through the use of fertilizers, pesticides and tillage practices; washing, dyeing, finishing (WDF) of fabrics and other textiles uses water and releases effluents that contain residual chemicals used in the processes. The Water Footprint Network has a strategic partnership with the clothing retailer C&A calculating the water footprint of its supply chain, assessing its sustainability and formulating responses to improve its sustainability. In the project: ”Building Capacity in the Apparel Sector on Reducing and Managing he Water Footprint” data was collected from 702 cotton farms from 3 states in India using three agricultural practices: conventional, REEL and organic. The green, blue and grey water footprint was calculated and analysed against the practice types to identify where significant water footprint savings can be realized. A guidance document on agricultural practices relative to the water footprint and training materials for farmers are developed for dissemination.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

>> Costs, Benefits and Financing of Post-2015 WASH Targets By Guy Hutton, World Bank.

It is expected that basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) will be part of a future water sustainable development goal (SDG). A study is ongoing to estimate the global costs, benefits and financing to meet the proposed target of reaching universal basic WASH access by 2030. The study estimates costs based on the incremental costs of extending services to the unserved as well as the costs of maintaining coverage for the already served. Costs and benefits are estimated for income quintiles separately. Public financing required to extend services to reach universal access is estimated based on what proportion of investment costs should be covered by public (or donor) finances, by income quintile. These values are compared to existing financial allocations. This study provides some key evidence for discussions that will be held at global as well as country level on how universal WASH access can be provided for households.

>> Monitoring Household Water Quality, SHIP Water Laboratory, Zambia By Shauna Curry, Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST).

The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) and its network of Water Expertise and Training (WET) Centres, which work on closing the capacity gap in the WASH sector at the local scale, have worked to build local capacity to carry out effective drinking water quality testing. A study of this work will contribute greatly to the WASH sector’s renewed focus on this area.

The study focuses on CAWST’s WET Centre partner in Zambia, Seeds of Hope International Partnerships (SHIP), which in 2009 expressed their need for water quality testing training. This training allowed WET Centre field workers to offer a wide range of water testing services, providing a record of successes, challenges and solutions, with an appropriate focus on skills and knowledge alongside technology and infrastructure. CAWST has also supported SHIP in its establishment of two laboratory facilities in Ndola and Lusaka, Zambia, servicing a range of government, non-government, individual and private sector stakeholders.

>> Improvement of Services in the Republic of Korea By Jong Ho Ahn, Government Repúblic of Korea.

With the rapid economic growth that began in the early 1960s, Korea has made great strides in improving and constructing the infrastructure and service enhancement of waterworks and sanitation.  Waterworks service is now provided to almost all regions in the country except for some vulnerable rural areas. Meanwhile, more than 90% of sewage generated is collected and treated properly. The key factors for a successful water service system included the government-initiated financial investment, executed in a timely manner to deal with the steeply acceleration on water demands, and the adequate preparation of a water resource management system for various fields of waterworks and sewage services. At present, the maintenance of existing facilities and improvement of service quality are our biggest challenges, rather than the quantitative expansion of infrastructure. Some of the major outstanding issues include the low operation efficiency of existing facilities; challenges in consolidated operation management, as the quantity and quality of water are managed separately by different departments; structural financial problems; and additional fund requirements to address climate change challenges.  To address these issues, the government is trying to shift the presently local based water management system to a waterworks/sewage total operation system and encourage the participation of private companies in water service provision. However, as of now some additional pending challenges remain, including the reformation of laws and a sustainable financial operation system, before the goal of establishing a total water management system that ensures better access to high quality water for leisure, tourism and exercise is achieved.

>> Sustainable Approaches for Drinking Water in Rural Area, Mea Moh District, Lampang Province, Thailand By Noppawan Boontham, Maejo University, Thailand

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) was established over 30 years ago. A Power Plant and Mae Moh mine, 13 Stream Power Plants, use lignite as fuel for electricity generation, causing air and water pollution and adverse effects on the health of nearby populations. Water resource problems for community consumption in terms of quality and quantity are important obstacles for quality of life in nearby communities. The project took place in the upper zone of Ban Dong Sub-District, Mea Moh District, Lampang Province of Northern Thailand. The main objectives were: to co-investigate the current situation of water problems for consumers in terms of quality and quantity; to develop mechanisms to supply drinking water through community participation and to design an appropriate model for sustainable water management. At present villagers face not only water shortages but also water quality-related problems. The water shortage is rather caused by the lack of effective community participation to manage integrated solutions from the raw water preparation and to distribute water throughout the community. These problems are lessened where the community in upper zone has been mindful about forest preservation and regulation around the Mae Moh water basin. The pilot projects were launched to initiate the working group, which assembled volunteers led by the village leader and representatives. The result helped the community to understand the issues and self-created solutions for reducing costs and improving sustainability, including developing the use of a slow sand filtering system for drinking water and maintaining the village water supply system. Participatory activities could be passed on to other villages around Mae Moh District so that villagers can develop sustainability mainly through their own self-supported work.

>> Regional Integration for Better Water and Sanitation Services By Diego Fernandez, Valle de Colombia University, Colombia

Since 2004, the Government of Colombia 4 adopted a policy known as Departmental Water and Sanitation Plans (PDA), designed to regionalize the delivery of drinking water supply and sanitation services by concentrating it in the hands of major specialized operators with technical and operational capacities to improve coverage, efficiency and quality of service, funded by the municipal authorities benefiting from the plan, the departments and the nation. As a result of the implementation of Departmental Water and Sanitation Plans, the municipalities’ mayors received support to develop proposals for business scheme transformation and for institutional strengthening. Likewise, there was an effort to engage the social and political stakeholders of each of the municipalities, so that each municipal council could approve the allocation of resources from the General System for Participation (transferred by the national government), for several years to subsidize the most vulnerable population.

>> Public policies and institutional frameworks in the water and sanitation sector in Latin America and the Caribbean By Franz Rojas, Independent Consultant, Bolivia

The case study describes public policies in drinking water and sanitation in 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: its regulatory frameworks, existing institutions, planning instruments, investments and corporate/organizational models for each water and sanitation provider. It also describes best practices for each country, although extrapolation requires analysis and adjustments as necessary depending on the context of each country. When contrasting with the public policy guidelines that are usually recommended for drinking water and sanitation services, it is concluded that the separation of functions and roles is partially fulfilled; the autonomy of providers is insufficient; and that although sectoral plans are ambitious this can become a cause of failure and discouragement. There is also a large number of small providers (specially in suburban and rural areas) with structural operational problems that do not have appropriate technical support, or monitoring and control systems.

>> Provision of drinking water supply and sanitation services in rural areas By William Carrasco, Independent Consultant, Colombia

This case study analyses public policies for the provision of drinking water and sanitation services in rural areas. To this end, the following content is covered: the characterization of rural areas from the perspective of a qualitative and quantitative approach; the situation of drinking water supply and sanitation services for rural communities in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean; and a comparative analysis of public policies in this field in Colombia and Peru. Rural drinking water supply and sanitation services reflect very different features and conditions from those in urban areas, and require countries to develop public policies specific to each case. Public policy recommendations for drinking water supply and sanitation for rural populations will be presented, with the caveat that in every case and for every reality measures should reflect local conditions as much as possible. The experience of Colombia with the Cooperative Public Administrations (APC) model for providing services in small municipalities and the Departmental Water and Sanitation Plans (PDA), will be highlighted.

>> The cost of not having drinking water supply services in Nicaragua By Carlos Narváez, University of Nicaragua, Nicaragua

In Nicaragua there are 17 departments and a total of 6 million Nicaraguans. Almost 65% of households have water through the public networks, however in rural areas only 25% of households have water services. People without access to water pay the equivalent of 15 dollars a month and consume about 2 cubic meters per household per month. On the other hand, a customer with access to water services through the ENACAL network with a consumption of 15 cubic meters pays only 3 dollars per month. These inequalities should be addressed and a new tariff structure is required. This case study shows, in monetary terms, the importance of water and the social benefits it provides have when accessed through a reliable network.

>> AWHHE action on WASH By Emma Anakhasyan, AWHHE

In the last years, the topic of water and sanitation has become the main priority of the NGO Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE). Since 1999, AWHHE has implemented more than 90 projects on promotion of sustainable sanitation, improvement of water supply, monitoring of the state implemented project, involvement of local people in the projects and strengthening their participation in decision making processes, etc. Between 1992 and 2010, Armenia reported 104 waterborne outbreaks with almost half of them in rural areas. Of the 915 communities, 560 are historically self-supplied through local springs and other sources. Being outside of the service areas of large water supply companies, these communities cannot benefit from national projects. Some of the most urgent water related challenges Armenia is facing are: deteriorated drinking water supply system; lack of sanitation supply system in rural areas; lack of proper management of drinking water supply and sanitation systems; lack of awareness in dangers of inadequately managed systems and related health risks; weak communication to policy makers; and deteriorated basins and pumps. The AWHHE projects are designed to help address water and sanitation related challenges in rural communities in Armenia.

>> Implementation of the Water Quality Legal Framework in Portugal By Luis Simas, ERSAR

The implementation in Portugal of the drinking water quality legal framework 20 years ago could only guarantee 50% of safe water, which meant that the other 50% were not controlled or were not complying with the national standards. After a decade, the levels of safe water increased to 84%. However Portugal was very far from the 99% of safe water internationally considered as the level of excellent drinking water quality. Pursuing this goal, a new regulatory model for drinking water quality was established taking into account the European Drinking Water Directive 98/83/CE and, 10 years after its implementation, the safe water is now on 98%. Meanwhile, new tools, like water safety plans approach, are being implemented to reach the 99%. It is important to highlight that one of the decisions that made a difference in this evolution was the creation of an independent regulatory framework for the water sector (ERSAR).

>> The UPGro program: increasing groundwater access for the poor By John Chilton, International Association of Hydrogeologists

The “Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor” (UPGro) programme, is a seven-year international research programme jointly funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). It focuses on improving the evidence base around groundwater availability and management in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to enable developing countries and partners in SSA to use groundwater in a sustainable way in order to benefit the poor. UPGro projects are interdisciplinary, linking the social and natural sciences to address this challenge. There is increasing, but often anecdotal, evidence that substantial numbers of rural water supplies in SSA based on boreholes with handpumps are failing within a short time of their installation. The work in our project was aimed at developing a methodology for unravelling the complex and often interlinked technical, institutional and social reasons for this high level of failure.  Working in two districts in eastern Uganda, the project team has undertaken fieldwork comprising community surveys and detailed technical examinations of pumps and boreholes.  The results of this pilot study have shown that, in this area, symptoms in the field resulting from poor siting and construction can be traced back to underlying conditions and root causes at programme level.

>> Achievements on WASH of the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction in Niger By Sarah Reng-Ochekpe, Ministry of Water Resources, Nigeria

Niger, 17.8 Million inhabitants (2013), is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an average income of US$ 413/Hab/y. Like other West African countries, Niger pledged to meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), and adopted a National Strategy on Poverty Reduction in January 2002 (SRP), aiming at reducing poverty from 63% to less than 50% by on 2015. In terms of the access to water, the goal was to increase the water supply coverage from less than 31% in 2001 to 59% in 2013. In particular, in the urban sector the goal was to reach 75% of the population through private connections or public standpipe. The Government is in charge of the water policy, management and tariff setting. The Société de Patrimoine des Eaux du Niger (SPEN) is the state-owned asset holding company which outsourced the operations for 10-years to the Société d’Exploitation des Eaux du Niger (SEEN), through a affermage-type contract associated with performance indicators (KPI). The SEEN installed 115,000 connections (threefold), of which 58,000 social connections and 530 standpipes, to provide access to water to people under the poverty-line, their connections works being totally subsidized (except state taxes). For the social connections, the water is charged at 127 F/m3 for the first 10 m3, about half the price of the cost at standpipes or of supply by water vendors.

>> Veolia Water Initiatives: 24/7 water supply services in Nagpur, India By Dominique Gatel, Veolia

The City of Nagpur decided to provide 24/7 water supply to every home of the 2.7 million inhabitants, including the 800,000 slum dwellers. This ambition sharply contrasts with the initial situation, as some inhabitants had access to water only 30 minutes a day. To achieve this goal, the city of Nagpur decided to upgrade/develop the assets and implement volumetric tariffs, in the frame of a PPP, which was awarded to Veolia-India for 25 years, starting in 2012. A special purpose entity, Orange City Water (OCW), was created in a joint venture with Vishvaraj Environment Ltd., one of India’s leading civil engineering and services companies. The upfront benefit is that the 24/7 access to tap-water reduces the costs for households, who no longer need to buy water from street vendors and water tankers. The tariffs setting include social tariffs for the vulnerable customers, together with transparent communication and social mediation. Veolia-India is convinced that community engagement is paramount for the success of the project, and created the “Social Welfare Team”, as part of the OCW Customer Services. The project staff work to inform about the 24/7 water supply scheme and pro-actively respond to slum inhabitants’ questions and requests, as well as engage will local bodies, NGOs and other stakeholders.

>> Veolia Water Initiatives: The “Octopus” GIS platform to improve water infrastructure efficiency in Pudong, Shangai By Dominique Gatel, Veolia

Shanghai is the fastest growing economic region in China and one of the fastest in the world. Since 1992, Shanghai has recorded a double-digit growth almost every year. The total GDP of Shanghai grew from 540 billion Yuan in 2002 to 1.92 trillion Yuan in 2011 – an almost four-fold in less than 10 years.  Pudong, Shanghai’s dynamic financial and commercial hub, had to cater for this extremely rapid development and ensure water services would support the pace of growth.  One of the main challenges of the Joint-Venture created with Veolia was to overcome the high level of water losses (>35% in early 2000’s). Pudong Veolia has developed and implemented a dedicated information system to manage its network, with an advanced GIS centric integrated platform, collecting reliable real-time data from the field. The data analysis results are shared to all staff and workers through Web and mobile platforms. Because of its architecture, the system has been named “The Octopus”. Pudong massive permanent vertical and horizontal expansion is now supported by good water infrastructures which, amongst other progresses, have already reduced water losses by more than 10%.

>> Application of manual drilling in Africa By Fabio Fussi, University of Milano-Bicocca

In the framework of the programme for the achievement of MDG (Millenium Development Goals) for water supply, UNICEF is promoting manual drilling throughout Africa with different activities: advocacy, mapping of suitable zones, technical training and institutional support. Manual drilling refers to those techniques of drilling boreholes for groundwater exploitation using human or animal power (not mechanized equipment). These techniques are well known in countries with large alluvial deposits (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc). They are cheaper than mechanized boreholes, easy to implement as the equipment is locally done, able to provide clean water if correctly applied. But manual drilling is feasible only in areas with suitable hydrogeological conditions (shallow layers not to hard and groundwater not too deep). With the aim to improve the current data analysis methodologies used for area selection, the proposed research has two goals: first, contributing to define an improved methodology for the characterization of shallow geological conditions integrating other sources of indirect data; and second, producing more detailed suitability maps in the selected area, with the goal of supporting the implementation of manual drilling construction program.

>> Application of geospatial and geophysical technologies to identify potential aquifer drilling points By Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, United Nations Support Base, United Nations

This case study was undertaken in Mali in support of the peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) operations. The study used geospatial technologies and geophysical surveys to identify exact drilling points to secure potable water in support of deployment of UN troops and civilian personnel. Both, radar and multispectral satellite imagery was processed, analyzed, and interpreted to map geological features and coupled with spatial/terrain analyses (surface modeling) to identify potential sites for groundwater. Field geophysical surveys were conducted and the collected data was analyzed to model the subsurface. Three-Dimensional models of the aquifers were produced through the integration of the surface and subsurface models. Then drilling points were located in the deepest parts of the aquifers. A very high rate of success was achieved in this drilling campaign (over 90%) and in some areas (e.g. Kidal) historical highest yields were secured.

>> Action plan for delivery of WASH services in Suba and Homa Bay districts By Ricard Gine, Polytechnic University of Catalonia

In Homa Bay and Suba, access to safe water and improved sanitation remains elusive, which is strongly correlated to the outbreak of water borne diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera. Both districts have recurrently been cholera prone. The investment in water and sanitation therefore appears as a key strategy to improve health. In recognition of this fact, and to support the Districts of Homa Bay and Suba in its efforts to promote regional development and reduce poverty, this case study aims to prepare a strategic plan for the delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to the population. Such plan should contribute to a coordinated and focused implementation of WASH activities. In brief, the plan will achieve sustainable and equitable growth in the sector, being a comprehensive road map on how to increase sustained access to safe water and adequate sanitation as well as to improve hygiene behaviour. It includes: 1. A comprehensive baseline (data collection from waterpoints, households and schools); 2. Analysis of core sector indicators to describe WASH status at local level; 3. Design of simple planning tools for prioritization and targeting support; 4. Development of a WASH action / investment plan.

>> A Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) biosensor for water quality monitoring in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania By Sharon Velasquez, University of NewCastle

Urbanisation is rapidly occurring across the developing world especially in Africa. Since the majority of the population are using on-site sanitation systems (i.e., latrines and septic tanks), a rise in anthropogenic groundwater pollution through chemicals like nitrate and pathogens has led to a spreading of water pollution related diseases with significant associated costs. Particularly in Dar es Salaam, where this case study is based, in 2011 about four million people lived in densely populated unplanned settlements and waterborne disease outbreaks are usually triggered by the rains. The lack of water quality routine testing results is a major challenge for the management of public health, due to the high costs. This case study aims to tackle this problem by the development of a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) biosensor for the continuous monitoring of microbial and nutrient contamination in groundwater used for drinking water. The in situ MFC bio-sensor has been built at a cost of approximately £10 and does not require energy or high maintenance. It is estimated that it would be a suitable device to monitor groundwater pollution continuously.

>> Civil Society pillar - Lead case on WASH, Mweteni Village, Mweteni, Tanzania By Eliza Mngale, Tgemeo Women Group

The Mweteni Village, located in the Pare mountains in northern Tanzania, has faced acute shortage of safe water for a long time. Sanitation was virtually non-existent, leading to outbursts of water borne diseases and excessive time spent on fetching water with hampering effects on the local economic and social development, particularly for women. The situation worsened when HIV/ aids entered the community. Not being among the 10 villages included in the Tanzania Water Sector Development Programme (WSDP), Tegemeo Women Group of Mweteni took the initiative to address the challenge of accessing adequate, reliable drinking water for their community themselves. With the support of the Women for Water Partnership, the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme and Aqua for All, TWG engaged the village leadership and district authorities to jointly develop a comprehensive WASH scheme covering the four sub-villages and approximately 12.000 inhabitants. These women have built trust and restored confidence among the Mweteni people, effectively prevented corruption and achieved a financing scheme on the basis of ability to pay to cover costs of maintenance and reparation. The project includes five gravity schemes piping water from perennial springs, rainwater harvesting systems for the hospital and fours schools, sanitation demonstration facilities, hygiene training programmes including train-the-trainers, the establishment of a water user association (COMWE) and local water user committees, and a purpose community centre. Financing has been obtained in phases and from a variety of donors including WfWP, Aqua for All, GETF/RAIN, Marie-Stella-Maris, Retourschip Foundation, Soroptimists of Wassenaar and Delft and various private donations. The Tegemeo Women Group, Mweteni community and Same District contributed in kind.

>> The CLARA Simplified Planning Tool (SPT) By Antonia Lorenzo, BioAzul

The FP7 CLARA (Capacity-Linked water supply and sanitation improvement for Africa’s peri-urban and Rural Areas, contract number 265676) project overall objective was to strengthen the local capacity in the water supply and sanitation sector. One of the project activities was the CLARA Simplified Planning Tool (SPT), which aims to provide the missing link for the technical part of the overall planning process by designing a tool that both allows and encourages local planners for the comparison of fundamentally different water and sanitation systems at a very early planning stage. Using the SPT requires a limited amount of effort from the planner thus resulting in minimal cost for the client. Using the tool gives the planner - i.e. consultants and/or municipal planning departments - real costs of various alternative water supply and sanitation systems. Environmental, social and health aspects are not considered explicitly since it is assumed that these aspects are already considered in the framework conditions. However, the tool can be used to compare e.g. water-borne and dry sanitation systems. The CLARA SPT has been tested and evaluated in five geographical African regions, Ethiopia, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Kenya. For all CLARA pilot-communities, a full planning process for water supply and/or sanitation was carried out. As no funding for implementation was available in CLARA, application documents were prepared as a final output and were submitted to donors to seek for funding for further detailed planning and/or implementation.

>> Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW) By Hanna Woodburn, Global Public Private Partnership for Handwashing

Water, sanitation, and hygiene are cornerstones of development. Each of these three areas contribute in significant ways to public health, education, equity, and ultimately the economic prosperity of a country. However, for these benefits to be realized the provision of services alone is not enough. This is particularly true as it relates to hygiene. For proper handwashing to occur, the hardware required for handwashing, such as running water and soap, must be readily available. A handwashing station alone does not result in sustained use or behaviour change, but it can be designed in such a way to trigger handwashing. The significance of the behaviour change component to handwashing is not to be understated, particularly as it relates to the enactment of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. As such, this session will share success stories of tools for implementation from the frontlines of handwashing behaviour change based on new thinking regarding habits and drivers. This case explores the role of human-centred design in the development of handwashing stations by focusing on the Water and Sanitation Program’s (WSP) development of the Mrembo handwashing station. The role of habit formation, partnerships, and the private sector will be interwoven throughout the presentation, as these are topics that are essential to improving handwashing behaviour change at scale. Please note, the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW) is a coalition of international stakeholders. The organizations whose interventions we will present are members of our Steering Committee.

>> Civil Society Pillar – Case on Women’s Rights Fund in Tanzania – Women Fund Tanzania (WFT) By Mary Rusimbi, Women Fund Tanzania

This is a Case on Women Fund Tanzania (WFT), a growing grant making mechanism aimed at accessing funds to women’s initiatives for promoting voice/capacity of marginalized women and visibility of marginalized issues including denied rights in different settings. Its vision is to see a Tanzanian society where women realize their full potential and engage in transformation for empowerment and social justice at grassroots community, district and national levels. At the operational level, WFT functions as an intermediary – which gives out funds it mobilizes as smaller grants to women’s rights initiatives at grassroots level, including those directed at raising awareness/capacities and promoting women’s leadership on water and sanitation issues. In addition to resource mobilization and provision of small-scale grants, the Fund supports capacity strengthening for start up women’s organizations and promotes movement building and strategic alliance building strategies with a special focus on linking grassroots women to national level women’s rights struggles for larger impacts. Within this setting, WFT plays a diverse and complex role in strengthening potentials for women’s capacities and organizing at local levels to demand for their basic rights, including water and sanitation rights and also work towards contributing as active actors in broader women’s movements through funding and capacity enhancement.

>> ECI ‘Right2Water’: Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity! By Jerry Van Den Berge, EPSU

The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) took on the challenge of using a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to put the human right to water and sanitation on the European agenda and demand its implementation in European legislation and policies. The ECI is a tool that aims to safeguard water resources for the future by discouraging water services liberalization while fostering their exemption from internal market rules. The ECI’s ‘right2water’ campaign is a powerful tool that has proofed successful in different aspects: first as a democratic tool, allowing citizens to put an issue on the European political agenda; secondly by the fact that the Commission has removed water from the scope of the concessions directive, acknowledging that public interests must prevail over commercial interests; and thirdly by the enormous attention and awareness raising effect generated. It opened eyes and minds of many people to realise the importance of good quality water and sanitation for their and other people’s lives. However, the continuity of this initiative is still uncertain in spite of the large support and signatures received, and much effort is being put to disseminate its potential and ensure its survival.

>> Sustainable community aqueducts and community alliances in Puerto Rico By Roberto Ramos Pagán, Puerto Rico State Department

In Puerto Rico about 200 thousand people lack access to safe drinking water. It has 247 rural water aqueducts located in 45 of the 78 municipalities of the island. These aqueducts are distributed mostly in the mountains and remote places and managed by small groups of citizens, mostly elderly, poor and poorly educated people. To date the relationship between the government and these communities has been limited to some regulatory and supervision activities, so the citizens see the government with suspicion. Meanwhile, 50% of the community water systems do not provide any treatment or perform water samples and the amount of water provided is limited due to the breakage and lack of maintenance. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of financial resources, the poor organization and the lack of legal identity for most of the systems. Only 8.1% of the systems have an operator and a large number of the users do not pay for the water consumed, causing around 8.1 million gallons of water being daily withdrawn from rivers and wells without any control measures. In view of this problem, the Governor of Puerto Rico has approved an Executive Order to create the State Department Sustainable Community Water Supply Project aimed at organizing, protecting and strengthening the rural water systems in Puerto Rico through a new public investment system based on public community partnerships.

>> Veolia Water Initiatives: Improvement WASH services in Guayaquil, Ecuador By Sagrario Vicente, Proactiva

Guayaquil is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador, with around 2,5 Million inhabitants. It is well known for the cultural, commercial, industrial and political activity, and thus considered the economic capital of the country, attracting both internal migration and the construction of informal housing. The Guayaquil Government aimed to improve the services and operating performance of the existing water utilities, especially to underprivileged urban areas that have little access to drinking water. Veolia has been awarded a 30-year concession in 2008 to provide drinking water and sewerage services to Guayaquil, with the explicit objective of increasing the coverage and turning the company into a sustainable water provider. At the beginning of the operation, Interagua had to face 3 main intricate challenges: first, develop access to services (water & sanitation), especially for underprivileged people; second, reach an economic balance; and third, develop the acceptance of delegated management service. Interagua has decided to launch several action plans and technical, social and financial mechanisms to modernize the services rendered and help the disadvantaged people access quality resources at affordable prices. Thus the grievances related to the existing social inequalities in the region are reduced and relationships with users and governments positively influence the image of the company to strengthen its legitimacy.

>> Veolia Water Initiatives: water and wastewater services provision in Morocco By Mohamed Taki, Veolia Morocco

Morocco is rapidly developing its wastewater collection and treatment assets. In the early 2000’, almost all wastewater in coastal areas was discharged into the sea, directly or via the wadi (intermittent rivers), resulting in an ecological disaster in the marine water environment of coastal cities. Since 2002, important investments are underway to provide the Kingdom with suitable wastewater infrastructures, including 70 wastewater treatment plants. Veolia is in charge of water, wastewater and electricity infrastructures and operations for the cities of Rabat-Salé (including Témara and Skhirate), Tanger and Tetouan (30 and 25 years concessions), representing altogether 850,000 connection for water and wastewater services.

This case-study focuses on the wastewater management: In a decade, Veolia invested 640 Million Euros to bring the collection of liquid effluents close to 100%, and provide appropriate treatment -safe for Salé. Outside the concession, the Tamuday bay resort now also benefits from a comprehensive wastewater management system. As a result, the majority of the population benefits of sanitation and the coastal waters meet the bathing water parametric standards, enhancing the economic potential of the cities as touristic destinations.

Water Quality

>> Brazil National Water Agency Capacity Development By Antonio Felix Domingues, National Water Agency, Brazil.

Domestic sewage is the main source of pollution of water resources in Brazil, as only 39% of the sewage is treated, leading to the deterioration of water quality in many urban areas with economic and social consequences. Faced with the need to expand and integrate water quality monitoring in Brazil, the National Water Agency introduced in 2010 the National Water Quality Evaluation Program (NWQEP), which aims to increase knowledge about the quality of surface freshwater, so as to guide the design of public policies to restore environmental quality. The NWQEP created the National Water Quality Network, which is composed by state networks, and established binding national standards for water quality monitoring (parameters, frequency, methodology). Today, 17 of the country’s 26 States monitor more than 2,100 sampling points and the goal of NWQEP is to reach more than 4,000 points in all states by 2020. The NWQEP also provides capacity building, technical support and financial resources to States for the implementation of their monitoring networks. The data generated by states is transmitted to the National Water Agency and used to develop the National Water Quality Report. Investments in sanitation in the recent years have resulted in an observed trend to improved water quality in some rivers. The National Sanitation Plan released in 2013 aims to provide domestic sewage collection and treatment for 93% of homes in urban areas by 2033. The implementation of this plan will have significant effects on the improvement of freshwater ecosystems and the monitoring of water quality will be an important issue in order to evaluate its effectiveness and to disseminate the information to society.

>> BASF Water Stewardship By Brigitte Dittrich-Kraemer, BASF, Germany.

BASF is a German chemical company that uses water as a coolant, solvent and cleaning agent, as well as an input material, while offering its customers solutions to help purify water, use it more efficiently and reduce contamination.

To promote water stewardship and to increase BASF’s resilience against water availability risks, we pursue the goal of establishing sustainable water management at all sites located in water stressed areas by 2020, by applying the European Water Stewardship (EWS) standard. We have already introduced this voluntary industrial standard at nearly all of our sites in Europe. We were awarded the gold-level certification for our extensive application of the EWS standard at our production site in Tarragona (Spain) in 2013 and in Verbund (Ludwigshafen) in 2014.

BASF has also set corporative global 80% reduction goals for emissions to water of organic substances and nitrogen, and 60% for heavy metals, by 2020 compared to 2002 levels. To avoid unanticipated emissions, BASF reviews the water protection concepts at all production sites. For instance, we are constructing plants for the improvement of wastewater analysis and monitoring systems at our sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Geismar, Louisiana.

With the introduction of sustainable water management, BASF is also making an important contribution to fulfilling its purpose: “We create chemistry for a sustainable future.”

>> Water supply and sanitation systems in Vietnam By Hung Nguyen, School of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Most of the water related programs have focused mainly on the quantitative aspects such as water supply and sanitation coverage, number of water facilities whereas water quality is often not addressed appropriately. Water quality that comprises drinking water, wastewater and sanitation constitutes an important feature for health, well being and the environment. The challenge of water quality management consists of the lack of a comprehensive framework that allows the use of science to assist in development of adequate policy for water quality management and translation of science into action.

A case study on water supply and sanitation system from Vietnam will be used as an example to discuss the above-mentioned topics. We will discuss how the Water Safety Plan (WSP) and the risk analysis framework can be used to integrate science and policy and promote the translation of science into action, applied in water quality domain.

>> Investigative monitoring By John Fawell, Independent Consultant

Investigative monitoring is needed to understand what important contaminants might be present in a water supply or proposed water supply prior to improvement. For microbiological contaminants investigative monitoring or sampling is a very useful first step in characterizing the quality of a source but continued monitoring is also important for assessing changes in that source over time and for determining whether contamination is occurring after collection of the water and the need for household treatment.  In some cases other analysis is appropriate. Chemical analysis requires more sophisticated equipment and techniques. Investment in the development of new tools and diagnostic approaches would be a huge benefit for relatively little outlay.  The MDGs included microbial indicators and also arsenic and fluoride yet monitoring approaches for application with the SDGs has not been fully developed and are needed.

>> Aguas Andinas Water Cycle management By Jordi Valls Riera, Aguas Andinas, Santiago de Chile.

Aguas Andinas manages the entire water cycle, from production and distribution of drinking water to collection and treatment of wastewater, in the Metropolitan region of Chile, which includes the Greater Santiago and surrounding areas with an approximate population of 6,5 million inhabitants. The past decade has been marked by a strong rain deficit and several extreme climatic events as a result of global warming.

On the drinking water side, these conditions have generated strong pressures on the availability and quality of water resources, resulting in the need to use low quality water and develop specific pre-treatment techniques (Arsenic, Nitrates); as well as an increase on the turbidity levels in waters coming from the mountains, which are impossible to treat on periods with especially low rainfall. These events have forced to significantly increase artificial water storage in a pond, to re-think the fresh water transport design, to incorporate into the production scheme a fresh water reserve to avoid water withdrawals in periods of high turbidity levels and to start an ambitious efficiency hydraulic plan of the transport and distribution network.

In relation to wastewater disposal, the wastewater treatment plan of the Metropolitan region, and particularly of Greater Santiago, launched in 2001 and accomplished with a final 100% of urban waste water treated by the end of 2012. Since then, the health statistics of the Chilean population have improved in spite of the adverse drought conditions, particularly around the Mapocho river, which received most of the wastewater generated in the region.

>> Analysing water contaminated with pathogens By Maureen Taylor, University of Pretoria, South Africa

The analysis of waters contaminated with pathogens, should be approached from a multidisciplinary perspective.  Management, economists, technicians, and scientists should be involved with the training and analysis.  In addition, there should be opportunities for continued professional development.

>> South-South Cooperation on the water management and sanitation in indigenous and dispersed rural communities, with a gender perspective and an inter-cultural approach (MDG-F projects on water and sanitation in Panama, Nicaragua, Paraguay) By María Teresa Gutiérrez, ILO, Nicaragua

This is an initiative developed with the ILO coordinators of the Joint Programmes MDG-F (JP) involved in the formulation and implementation of the water and sanitation projects in Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay 3 , under the Democratic Economic Governance. The aim of these projects was to strengthen the government’s capacity to manage water provision and water quality, including the poorest and excluded populations. ILO’s technical expertiseto these projects comprised capacity building on labour based techniques 4 and rights (Convention 169). 

Each project was in a different level of implementation and a participatory mechanism was needed to share community based experiences and discuss technical issues to incorporate a gender and inter-cultural approach along the project cycle. Panama and Nicaragua had already started the implementation and Paraguay was in the planning stage, consequently, Paraguay would incorporate and develop the lessons learnt from the other two projects under a South-SouthCooperation knowledge sharing scheme.

It focused on three main topics: planning and consultation with Indigenous communities, as a way of communities’ prioritisation and identification of local knowledge on water provision (Paraguay); management and empowerment through the management of water systems and sanitation (Panama); and technical capacity building in construction and maintenance to participate in the local labour market (Nicaragua).

>> Sustainable Wastewater Treatment for Small Villages By Rosa Huertas, Duero Basin Agency

The Duero Basin Agency has carried out a program called Sustainable Wastewater Treatment for Small Villages. According to the Spanish regulations local councils are responsible for wastewater treatment, but in our basin there are still many villages that do not have any facility for this. We have built different pilot plants as a kind of demonstration of sustainable solutions for small villages. The key is to be able to choose the right technology to each place, regarding climate, orography, population… and how other values can be added in these plants for recreational or educational purpose.

But the main problem we face is not a technical problem but a cultural one, that is, the lack of awareness about water quality, with the local councils preferring to spend the money on sports facilities or festivals rather than in wastewater treatment plants.

That is why another part of our program is focused on raising awareness and giving training and support to small villages through a project called Mayors School, with workshops and field visits to the pilot plants. We are also promoting agreements with other stakeholders and public bodies to engage them in the implementation of the water quality regulations.

>> Management and use of Water and Water Resources in the European Union By Rosina Girones, University of Barcelona, Spain; European Union; NEED Watershed Coalitions.

The management and use of water and water resources has been the focus of European Union (EU) water policy for many years. Regulations like the Nitrate Directive (91/676/EEC) or the Urban Waste Water Directive (91/14/EEC) to name only two were complemented and integrated latter on by the Water Frame Directive (2000/60/EC) which acted as an umbrella piece of legislation that embraced all the water Directives. These Directives targets the quality of water bodies with the aim of ensuring a sustainable use of water resources protecting the ecosystems and the human health.

It is well known that improperly treated wastewater may lead to the transmission of human viruses that are excreted in feces and urine at high concentrations. Distribution and burden of several infectious diseases may shift and human exposure may differ under the predicted climate change scenarios. Integrated river basin management is a key tool to mitigate the possible impacts of future climate change on the quality of water resources.

>> Decentralized Waste Water Treatment Plant in Lomas del Pagador, Cochabamba, Bolivia By Claudia Vargas, Major University of San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia

Three of Bolivia’s major cities (La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz) have had an increased growth in their suburban areas, where there are informal settlements that lack water and sewerage networks. Particularly in the peri-urban areas of Cochabamba, migrant population from rural areas are supplied by tank trucks at high prices or drill wells without any quality control. The human right to water is recognized by Bolivia’s constitution and the population demands access to such right. However, poverty and lack of investments in the sector still pose a great challenge to the provision of water and sanitation services in that area. It is worth mentioning that peri-urban areas have very poor and deficient sanitation services. Wastewater treatment is virtually non-existent, despite the contamination caused by this situation. To reduce the deficit in sanitation services, NGOs and municipal governments have come together to promote sustainable solutions to address such issues. In 2013, a project was completed and a sewage treatment plant was established in Lomas del Pagador in the city of Cochabamba. It is the first decentralized plant in a peri-urban area, with funding from UN Habitat, the Municipal Government and beneficiaries of the plant. This plant is fully operational and is owned by the community with a self-sustainable rate, a model that has begun to be replicated on a larger scale in other cities of Bolivia.

>> Veolia Water Initiatives: Grameen Veolia Water Ltd. development in Bangaldesh By Dominique Gatel, Veolia

34 to 77 millions of Bangladeshis are drinking arsenic-contaminated water on a regular basis. According to the WHO, this is the “largest poisoning of a population in the history”. Veolia Water and Grameen Health Care Services joined forces in 2008 to create Grameen Veolia Water Ltd., a social business that aims at providing safe drinking water to rural Bangladesh, at an affordable tariff. Grameen Veolia Water operates and maintains a water treatment plant that provides safe drinking water to 6,000 people in the village of Goalmari, 60 km far from Dhaka. Grameen Veolia Water’s water treatment plant purifies surface water through rigorous and various stages of treatment using world class technology implemented by Veolia Water. Drinking water complying with Bangladeshi and WHO standards is distributed through a dedicated network of standpipes throughout the village with almost 100 water points (public tap points, household and schools connections being set up in different locations in these villages.) Sales in Goalmari villages were not growing fast enough to ensure self sustainability in a short term. In order to achieve quicker financial balance, Grameen Veolia Water Ltd launched a 5US Gallon “Jar Business” in 2011. The water sold is also treated and bottled in Goalmari plant. The jars are then transported to Dhaka and delivered to offices, schools and other locations. Following the “social business” model, Grameen Veolia Water is a “no-loss, no-dividend” venture. Consequently, profits from this new branch of the social business are reinvested in rural water infrastructure development.

>> River Contract By Cristina Monge, ECODES

The “River contract” is a management and participation tool born in France around 1990, as a means for river restoration, improvement or conservation through joint actions by users and the public administrations. This tool has proven effective for river management and restoration and thus maintained after the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. It is based on a wide participation process where all stakeholders get engaged and committed. It was first implemented in Spain in the Matarraña basin, which encompasses three Autonomous Regions and 27 municipalities within the Ebro River Basin. In spite of the complex political framework, the inhabitants of the Matarraña river basin are an example of dialogue and water related conflicts solving, making them a perfect pilot experience of a participation process for the improvement and sustainable development of a river.

>> Fundación Solar’s IWRM and participation projects in the rural areas of Guatemala By Elisa Colom, Eje de Agua de Fundación Solar

Since 1999, Fundación Solar has lead several IWRM projects in the rural areas of Guatemala, where woman and man have been consider as equal, such as the facilitation of gender networks, the use of alternative energy, the adaptation to climate change, among others. The last one in 2014 consisted of the design and evaluation of a river basin restoration plan, through a participatory process comprising the local government, 9 rural communities and national sectorial representatives. The integrated water resources management approach was adopted as the framework, enabling the approval of a restoration and management plan in October 2014, in the San Luis Jilotepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala, micro basin. Fundación Solar is also a founding member of GWP at the regional (Central America) and national (Guatemala) levels.

WIPO GREEN is an interactive marketplace that connects technology and service providers with those seeking innovative solutions. It consists of a freely accessible online database and broad network that brings together a wide range of players in the entire green technology innovation value chain. The fast growing database currently lists around 1800 green technology products, services, IP assets and needs. The purpose of the dynamic network is to connect technology providers and seekers, and provide access to a range of services that facilitate the commercialization, selling, licensing, and joint development of green tech solutions. The database consists of more than 400 technologies and 10 technology needs in the water sector. Many of them are directly related to water purification or management of water quality. Governments can find information on available technologies; contacts to their providers as well as experts who help assess those. WIPO GREEN also provides them with a tool to support their local innovators and to link them to the international innovation system.

>> Sociedad de Energía y Agua de Gabón Juvenal Awori, SEEG

The national Electricity and water service company of Gabon, the Société d’Energie et d’Eau du Gabon (SEEG), provides electricity to 49 cities (271 399 customers) and water services to 44 Cities (159 customers). Since 1997, SEEG is a concession 51% owned by Veolia. Oyem, 42,900 inhabitants, is the capital-city of Woleu-NTem, the ninth province of Gabon. The Government of Gabon decided to ensure the electricity supply with a local power-plant built in Oyem in 1963, on the local pond shore, despite of the drinking water intake located 9 Km downstream. The power-plant remained in operation until its decommissioning in 2005, when the urban environment development made it no longer possible to keep the plant in operation. The SEEG launched investigations about the water and soil environment of the former plant. It revealed the presence of mineral oils in soils and pond water (volatile hydrocarbons), and heavier oils in the sediments, representing a risk for pond users, riparian and downstream populations, through either direct contact with soils, possible inhalation of volatile fractions and dusts, or finally, groundwater consumption.

With a self-funded investment of 1.4 Million Euros, SEEG cleaned up the old plant site and the lake sediments, to protect the riparian population’s health and the environment. A sports complex is being constructed before handing the site over to the local authorities.

2010, the HEALS study: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2960481-3/abstract

http://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/78%289%291093.pdf

1 Basher, R. (2006) Global early warning systems for natural hazards: systematic and people-centred. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 364: 2167-2182.

2 Available at http://www.icpdr.org/main/activities-projects/climate-change-adaptation .

3 Nicaragua: "Democratic economic governance in the Water and Sanitation sector in the RAAN and RAAS"; Panama: "Strengthening equity in access to safe drinking water and sanitation by empowering citizens and excluded indigenous groups in rural areas"; Paraguay: "Strengthening the ability to define and apply water and sanitation policies"

4 Technology choice for infrastructure development and employment creation, approach developed by the ILO's Employment Intensive Investment Programme, EIIP

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>> Capacity development >> Financing and economic instruments >> Governance frameworks >> Technology

>> Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) >> Water Resources Management >> Water Quality >> Risk management

>> Addressing drought and water scarcity --> >> Technical visit: La Cartuja >> Technical visit: The Ebro River Basin Authority and its Automatic System for Hydrologic Information (SAIH) >> Technical visit: Expo + Water Park >> New sources: Wastewater reuse >> Local level actions in decentralized water solidarity towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals >> Water Footprint Assessment >> Technological advances and Water Policy >> Cultivando Agua Boa Programme >> CODIA and water and energy in LAC >> The fulfillment of the human right to water and sanitation

>> Achieving sustainable water for all in LAC >> Achieving water security for Asia and the Pacific >> Ensuring implementation of the water-related SDGs in Europe >> Setting the scene

>> Academia >> Business >> Civil society >> Governments and local authorities >> Media and Communicators

>> Multi-stakeholder dialogue on tools for implementation

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Global Water Security Issues (GWSI) Case Studies: Water Security and the Sustainable Development Goals

Attachments.

Yang Su Kim, Director of UNESCO i-WSSM

Water challenges are increasingly impacting every region around the world facing the effects of climate change, urbanization, as well as natural disasters. Confronted with the on-going water-related challenges, addressing water security can be a practical approach to deal with the complex and interconnected challenges and enhance sustainability, development and human welfare. Over the years, ‘Water Security’ has gained international attention since the International Hydrology Programme (IHP) placed an emphasis on ‘water security’ during its 8th phase, being implemented between 2014-2021, in line with the eight-year Medium-term Strategy of UNESCO (2014-2021). For instance, ‘Water Security for Peace and Development’ is the main theme of 9th World Water Forum which will be held in Senegal in 2021. The significance of water security and the urgent need to conduct extensive research on emerging and future global water security issues, document these studies and disseminate them are globally being recognized. Surprisingly, though, a variety of topics regarding water security have not been researched in depth. There is an urgent need to conduct extensive research on emerging and future global water security issues, document these studies and disseminate them. In response to demand, UNESCO International Centre for Water Security and Sustainable Management (i-WSSM) published the Global Water Security Issues (GWSI) Case Studies with the aim of providing a starting point for discussion on a range of issues that collectively fall under the umbrella of water security, identifying the present issues, broadening discourses, bringing regional cases to the center, and sharing diverse perspectives. The GWSI Case Studies, ‘Water Security and the Sustainable Development Goals’, provides rich explanations on the related issues of water security while taking into context various aspects such as governance, society, environment, and technology. The Case Studies sheds lights on how the approaches to water security play important roles to achieve multiple priority development areas including climate action, conservation and restoration of ecosystems, national security, innovative technology, public health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, and enhancement of human integrity. It is timely that UNESCO i-WSSM has decided to work in order to disseminate global water security issues. I give my sincere thanks to the authors, editors, reviewers, and staffs for their contributions. I also wish to extend my gratitude to the Asia Water Council for their partial financial support to publish the GWSI Case Studies. Just as water is central to every aspect of life on earth, water security must lie at the heart of the new vision we forge for sustainable development for the century ahead. In this respect, the GWSI Case Studies makes an important contribution to addressing the challenges of water security and disseminate the issues to broader areas. I hope that the GWSI Case Studies encourages people around the world to actively contribute to enhancing water security and achieving sustainable development goals. For a sustainable and prosperous future for all, the current water challenges we face require collective action.

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