Integrated Urban Water Management and Water Security: A Comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong

Guan

et al. 2020

Water

Growing population, increasing urbanization, and rural to urban migration, coupled with the ongoing climate change, threaten the sustainability of cities, particularly in developing countries. Previous studies indicate numerous deficiencies in the water supply and sewage systems of Islamabad; however, a comprehensive insight into the water security assessment has not been carried out. Therefore, this study is aimed at assessing the urban water security of Islamabad by taking both human and environmental aspects into consideration. In principle, we achieve this objective by implementing the Water Security Assessment Framework, using five distinct parameters to calculate an urban water security index. The water supply dimension incorporates availability, accessibility, affordability, and the quality of drinking water in the city, whereas, sanitation and health dimension measures access to improved drainage systems as well as the state of overall hygiene of the city inhabitants. Furthermore, the water economy dimension includes water productivity and investment aspects in the study area, while the environment and ecosystem dimension looks into the current state of natural water bodies. Similarly, overall management and public support for freshwater resources are measured in the society and governance dimension. In general, we attempt to better comprehend water-security nexus in the federal capital considering it as a prerequisite to ensure a sustainable future for the city dwellers.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Index for Measuring Water Security in an Urbanizing World: The Case of Pakistan’s Capital

Guan

et al. 2020

Water

“…Many of the IWRM principles are linked to institutional and governance arrangements that directly or indirectly help to reduce risks to water supply systems [25]. At urban level, different approaches for implementing IWRM have been proposed, such as the Water Sensitive Urban Design in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (Australia); the Sponge City in several cities in China including Beijing, Xiamen and Shenzhen; or the Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in cities like Cambridge and Yorkshire (UK) [28][29][30][31]. All of these are motivated by the shared vision of shifting water management from the conventional paradigm of centralized, engineering-focused approaches toward more flexible and decentralized systems [30].…”

Section: The Water Safety Plan Approach For Water Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of the Water–Energy–Food Nexus Approach to the Climate-Resilient Water Safety Plan of Leh Town, India

Páez-Curtidor¹,

Gondhalekar²,

Drewes³

2021

Sustainability

Climate-resilient water safety plans (CR-WSPs) have been developed as a risk-based approach to ensure a safe drinking-water supply while addressing the increasing stress on water resources resulting from climate change. Current examples of the application of CR-WSPs show a strong sectoral approach that fails to explore the potential synergies between other climate-sensitive sectors related to water, such as food and energy. This can increase the vulnerability or decrease the overall resilience of urban systems when planning climate change adaptation measures. In this work, the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus approach was applied in the formulation of a CR-WSP in Leh Town, India, a city with rapid development and population growth located in the Himalayas—one of the most sensitive ecosystems to climate change. The WEF Nexus approach was applied in the system description using a critical infrastructure approach and in the formulation of scenarios for risk management which exploited intersectoral synergies through water reclamation with resource recovery using constructed wetlands. The improvements in WEF security and risk reduction were demonstrated through indicators and risk mapping with geographical information systems (GISs). The methods for integrating the WEF Nexus approach in CR-WSPs provided through this work can serve as a base for a trans-sectoral, resilient approach within risk-based approaches for water security.

“…The authors find that, in particular, myths and stories can be important drivers with regards to mobilisation and policy making. Finally, Jensen and Nair [70] compare the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong with regards to the capacity of their integrated urban water management regimes to achieve water security in their jurisdictions.…”

Section: Contributions To This Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Mutual Learning and Policy Transfer in Integrated Water Resources Management: A Research Agenda

Fritsch

Benson

2019

Water

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) has become a global paradigm for the governance of surface, coastal and groundwater. International bodies such as the European Union, the Global Water Partnership, and the United Nations have taken the lead to promote IWRM principles, while countries worldwide have undertaken reforms to implement these principles and to restructure their domestic or regional water governance arrangements. However, the international transfer of IWRM principles raises a number of theoretical, empirical and normative questions related to its causes, processes and outcomes. These questions will be explored in our Special Issue ‘Governing IWRM: Mutual Learning and Policy Transfer’. This editorial briefly introduces IWRM and links this governance paradigm to theoretical and empirical scholarship on policy transfer. We then summarise the aims and objectives of this Special Issue, provide an overview of the articles brought together here and offer avenues for future research.