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Climate change impacts on water resources have jeopardized human security in the Sahel countries for many decades, especially in achieving food security. Many strategies and policies have been made to address such impacts. However, there are still difficulties to measure progress and the effectiveness of these policies and strategies with regard to climate risks. The lack of practical and consensual monitoring tool is one of the factors that can explain gaps in policies and initiatives to overcome these impacts. To move towards filling this gap, using ClimProspect model and a participatory approach, and based on in-depth vulnerability analysis, this paper makes available some innovative integrated and coherent resilience indicators and a new index for Burkina Faso's water resources. Taking into account both climate and disaster risks, the indicators and index developed are related to warning, responses, recovery and long term resilience. The indicators-based index applied to three sites shows that agriculture water is less resilient to a changing climate with a score varying from 22.66% to 24%. These tools can help in formulating, implementation and reviewing water policy to secure water resources under the stress of climate change. The approach and findings bring together, on one hand, social and ecological resilience to climate risks, and sciences and policy on the other.

Purpose This paper aims to propose, for the very first time in Burkina Faso, a “no regret” reference tool to improve policies and processes which could strengthen agricultural water resilience under climate risks and change for sustained food security. Such a framework consists of five pillars derived from the agricultural water vulnerability analysis. Design/methodology/approach The method combined a new designed tool “ClimProspect”, adapted to the Sahelian climatic context, participatory and analogue approaches. Findings Innovative “no regret” framework to overcome current and future climate risks on agricultural water requirements has been built. Research limitations/implications The paper proposes a new way to assess vulnerability and build resilience for a given system and brings climate and disaster risks together. In fact, in the country, disaster and climate risks are closely associated. Practical implications The proposed measures will reinforce water security under climate variability and change and disaster risks, boost the farmers’ participation in water governance and secure the adaptation investment for the long term. Social implications Implementing the proposed measures should provide farmers with agricultural water needs at any time over the year, having access to social protection and sustainably increase their food security. Originality/value Method used explicitly allows for paying attention, at the same time, to climate variability and change, disaster risks and social issues. The “no regret” framework is a practical secured tool for policy makers and planners, and it gives them a new way to secure sustainable water requirements.

Water scarcity in developing countries has forced farmers to use sewage as an alternative source of irrigation water. However, the usage of sewage for vegetable production has been known to cause excessive and often-unbalanced addition of nutrients hence posing a threat to food safety. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of slow sand filter and wetland plant in domestic wastewater treatment. To achieve this objective, samples were collected from the domestic wastewater collection pond within Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). Laboratory tests were conducted on the collected samples and they revealed the presence of BOD, DO, pH, TDS, Sulfates, Chloride, Turbidity, Salinity, Conductivity, Alkalinity and Coliform; whose values varied when compared with that of the parameters for standard irrigation water. This gave insight to the kind of treatments and filtration medium that were required to transform domestic wastewater into water fit for irrigation. A slow sand filter bed was designed and constructed using precisely six samples materials; sand, sand and wetland plants, gravel, gravel and wetland plants, mixture of gravel and sand, mixture of gravel and sand with wetland plants. These materials were used to identify the chemical and biological changes in domestic wastewater within a seven-day period. The water collected from the slow sand filter was tested, results showed that, of all six samples, slow sand filter using the mixture of gravel, sand with wetland plants had an average percentage efficient of 90% in removing all impurities from domestic wastewater thereby turning it into water suitable for irrigation. It is hoped that this study will provide a safe, easy, eco-friendly and cheap method of wastewater treatment while ensuring the sustainability of wastewater for irrigation and the expansion of green spaces in urban and peri-urban areas.

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