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Water sustainability is central to modern political and academic debates. Despite increasing efforts to promote regional and global integrated water management, climate change, population, and economic growth, and increasing consu...
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Water sustainability is central to modern political and academic debates. Despite increasing efforts to promote regional and global integrated water management, climate change, population, and economic growth, and increasing consumption of water-intensive goods project higher water deficiency. Robust economic analyses rely on information about water supply and consumption across different production sectors, type of procurement source (public or private water supply), and water prices. Nevertheless, developing current and future economic water assessments and indicators is impeded by the absence of data. Despite the lack of official national statistics on water withdrawal and consumption, a small number of international and global databases have been constructed and attempt to combine available national water information into databases. Water databases do not commonly define and/or distinguish terms such as water use, water consumption, water supply, or water abstraction, and the associated aspects of water scarcity and sustainability. They comprise variable data quality, provided by numerous sources, and estimated values. This paper evaluates the current state of knowledge of national statistics, international and global water databases. We describe the data collection methods, identify basic concepts and definitions of water terms, followed by the criteria of consistent water databases. We inform about data availability across regions, and present the data content and definitions of national, international, and global water databases. The results show inconsistencies of data content and definitions, suggesting no evidence of data harmonization among databases. Therefore, our study cautions researchers to be careful when manipulating and comparing the available water data, especially when deriving policy recommendations or economic conclusions. In the long run, the headway of water research and political assessments depend on political enforcements to refine the meaningfulness of water data and support water collection, reporting, and monitoring. Alternatively, in the short- and medium-run, water data challenges can be addressed by joint research efforts for water data harmonization.
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Rising costs of production and the need for capital investment in the public water supply network in Ireland, has placed a strong emphasis on the need for water conservation and tackling the current high levels of leakage (Departm...
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Rising costs of production and the need for capital investment in the public water supply network in Ireland, has placed a strong emphasis on the need for water conservation and tackling the current high levels of leakage (Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, 2015) [1]. Consequently, Irish Water which is Ireland's national water utility has had to consider various business models and supply frameworks to demonstrate value for money. This has included those successfully implemented by Scottish Water. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare both national utility providers in terms of structure and financial performance. The results of this study showed that both utility providers differed significantly. The Utility has, indeed, tried to achieve "too much too soon" (O'Leary, 2018 [2]; Donegal Now, 2016) [3]. Therefore, the initial results of this study suggest that, continuing to consider Scottish Water as the benchmark may generate unrealistic targets and expectations which in all probability may not be achieved.
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On 26 January 2007, following a prolonged period of severe drought and rapidly diminishing water supplies, the Australian Prime Minister announced the National Plan for Water Security, a 10-point plan significantly enhancing Commo...
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On 26 January 2007, following a prolonged period of severe drought and rapidly diminishing water supplies, the Australian Prime Minister announced the National Plan for Water Security, a 10-point plan significantly enhancing Commonwealth involvement in the nation's water affairs. One of the pillars of the reforms was a significant commitment to improve the quality and coverage of Australia's water information. The Bureau of Meteorology was directed to implement the Improving Water Information Program, supported by significant funding and a legislative mandate under the Water Act 2007. This paper traces the evolution of these new water information arrangements and highlights some of the new water information services that have emerged under the program. They include periodic water resource assessments, an annual national water account, various web products summarising the state of our water resources, and a seasonal streamflow forecasting service. Like their weather and climate service counterparts issued by the Bureau of Meteorology, these services have some important characteristics, namely that they are enduring, repeatable, robust, trusted and tailored to end user needs. The success of the program to date has been facilitated by appropriate resourcing levels, a clear legislative mandate, high levels of cooperation across the water sector and strong support from the water research and development community.
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Physical water consumption (PW) in economic sectors are linked with virtual water consumption (VW) embodied in the supply chain of commodities. It is important to quantitatively assess PW and VW in economic sectors and understand ...
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Physical water consumption (PW) in economic sectors are linked with virtual water consumption (VW) embodied in the supply chain of commodities. It is important to quantitatively assess PW and VW in economic sectors and understand interconnections between them for supporting water resources management. Here, we applied an 10 framework to analyse how the PW is linked to the VW from both production and consumption perspectives. A water scarce region consisting of Ganzhou, Linze, and Gaotai counties (GLG) in the Heihe river basin in China is used as a case study. The agricultural sector is broken down into seven sub-sectors represented by individual major crops. From production perspective, the results show that the agricultural sector accounted for 98.1% of total PW, which can be divided into 79.0% of final demand driven water consumption and 21% of intermediate demand driven water consumption. From consumption perspective, the VW of all the sub-sectors in the agricultural sector was largely attributed to the direct VW. The sector "Food and tobacco processing" (the downstream of the agricultural sector) has the largest indirect VW among all the sectors. Most PW in GLG was used to produce the low value added primary agricultural products to fulfil the final demand (VW) outside GLG. The results suggest that the water resources management in arid regions should guide the restructuring of economy from increasing agricultural production to increasing the economic value of the embodied virtual water, and reducing the export of the virtual water from the low economic value products. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Water use, water consumption and water balance of a large plantation of12 000 ha and a palm oil mill in South Sumatra Province of Indonesia was studied. Water use is the water abstracted from surface water and ground water sources...
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Water use, water consumption and water balance of a large plantation of12 000 ha and a palm oil mill in South Sumatra Province of Indonesia was studied. Water use is the water abstracted from surface water and ground water sources by the plantation and the mill. Water consumption is water that is consumed by the plantation and mill activities and is no longer returned to the initial water catchment area. Water consumption is calculated using the Water Footprint model developed by Hoekstra et al. in 2011. Water balance is calculated by comparing the water input and output in the plantation and palm oil mill. Water input is total rainfall plus water in the streams and rivers that flows into the plantation. Water output is total water consumption of the plantation and mill.The result shows that total water use of the plantation is relatively small at 684 857 m3 compared to the total water consumption of 178 730 069.12 m3 during the study period from 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2016. The majority (72%) of water consumption is coming from green water consumption due to crop evapotranspiration. Blue water consumption (surface and ground water consumption) for plantation and mill activities constitute only 0.3per cent of total water consumption. Grey water consumption or water required to dilute pollutants from the plantation and mill make up the rest (28%) of the water consumption. Water balance calculation showed that the plantation is water positive meaning cultivation of oil palm in that area is sustainable in terms of water consumption.The water use, water consumption and water balance information helps plantations to identify hotspots in its water use and consumption and enable the management of the plantations to take steps to reduce water use and consumption. The management strategies are described in the paper.
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The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natural freshwater availability is contributing to water scarcity, ...
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The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natural freshwater availability is contributing to water scarcity, affecting industrial and agricultural production and a wide range of social, economic, and political problems, including poverty, deterioration of ecosystem health, and violent conflicts. Understanding and addressing different forms of water scarcity are vital for moving toward more sustainable management and use of fresh water. We provide here a review of concepts and definitions of water scarcity, metrics and indicators used to evaluate scarcity together with strategies for addressing and reducing the adverse consequences of water scarcity, including the development of alternative sources of water, improvements in water-use efficiency, and changes in systems of water management and planning.Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Volume 46 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natural freshwater availability is contributing to water scarcity, ...
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The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natural freshwater availability is contributing to water scarcity, affecting industrial and agricultural production and a wide range of social, economic, and political problems, including poverty, deterioration of ecosystem health, and violent conflicts. Understanding and addressing different forms of water scarcity are vital for moving toward more sustainable management and use of fresh water. We provide here a review of concepts and definitions of water scarcity, metrics and indicators used to evaluate scarcity together with strategies for addressing and reducing the adverse consequences of water scarcity, including the development of alternative sources of water, improvements in water-use efficiency, and changes in systems of water management and planning.
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This paper attempts to introduce specific analytical meanings for the frequently used terms "water stress" (Falkenmark 1992, Vorosmarty et al. 2000, 2005) and "water strain" (Haddadin 2007) by drawing an analogy from the science o...
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This paper attempts to introduce specific analytical meanings for the frequently used terms "water stress" (Falkenmark 1992, Vorosmarty et al. 2000, 2005) and "water strain" (Haddadin 2007) by drawing an analogy from the science of engineering mechanics. It introduces "water characteristic curves" and a "water modulus" that defines the status of indigenous water of a given country. Compared to other tools that have been introduced to reflect the "water footprint" of a country (Hoekstra and Chapagain 2008), the water modulus is different in approach and meaning and is more reflective of the adequacy of indigenous water resources of countries.
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The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is a “reinforced network” of organisations interested in the sustainable management of freshwater resources in developing countries. It was established in 1996 in response to the worsening wate...
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The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is a “reinforced network” of organisations interested in the sustainable management of freshwater resources in developing countries. It was established in 1996 in response to the worsening water shortage in large parts of the developing world and to the perceived lack of international leadership in water. It is modelled on the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) as a virtual organisation with a minimum of formal structure. It aims to establish principles of sustainable water resources management, identify gaps and stimulate its partners to meet critical needs, support action that follows principles of sustainable water resources management, help match needs to available resources, and strengthen mechanisms for sharing information and experiences. It promotes an integrated approach to water resources management that recognises that water is a limited resource subject to multiple uses and increasing demand. GWP is co-sponsored by the World Bank, UNDP and Sida and supported by several bilateral aid donors. Its secretariat is hosted by Sida in Stockholm.
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Globally, sea level has been rising for more than the last one hundred years, and is expected to do so into the foreseeable future, and at an accelerating rate. The direct influences of sea-level rise on water resources come princ...
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Globally, sea level has been rising for more than the last one hundred years, and is expected to do so into the foreseeable future, and at an accelerating rate. The direct influences of sea-level rise on water resources come principally from the following: new or accelerated coastal erosion; more extensive coastal inundation and higher levels of sea flooding; increases in the landward reach of sea waves and storm surges; seawater intrusion into surface waters and coastal aquifers; and further encroachment of tidal waters into estuaries and coastal river systems. The impacts of sea-level rise are likely to be felt disproportionately in certain areas, reflecting both natural and socio-economic factors that enhance the levels of risks. The opportunity to learn about the likely nature of, and most appropriate adaptation to, the anticipated impacts of sea-level rise on water resources is arguably best developed in rapidly subsiding coastal areas, and especially in low-lying deltas where subsidence rates are typically much larger than the historic rise in global mean sea level. Significantly, such areas are often major centres of population and of economic activity, thereby highlighting the human dimensions of sea-level rise. Sound management of the risks to water resources associated with sea-level rise requires enhancing adaptive capacity, mainstreaming adaptation, harmonizing responses to extreme events, variability and long-term change and strengthening regional and international cooperation and coordination. In this regard, the policies and initiatives of international organizations are not always entirely consistent with the needs of developing countries..
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