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Groundwater as a Source of Drinking Water in Southeast Asia and the Pacific: A Multi-Country Review of Current Reliance and Resource Concerns
Groundwater is widely acknowledged to be an important source of drinking water in low-income regions, and it, therefore, plays a critical role in the realization of the human right to water. However, the proportion of households using groundwater compared with other sources is rarely quantified, with national and global datasets more focused on facilities—rather than resources—used. This is a significant gap in knowledge, particularly in light of efforts to expand water services in line with the inclusive and integrated agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. Understanding the prevalence of groundwater reliance for drinking is critical for those involved in water services planning and management, so they can better monitor and advocate for management of water resources that supports sustainable services for households. This paper contributes data that can be used to strengthen the integration of resource considerations within water service delivery and inform the work of development partners supporting this area. We approach this issue from two perspectives. Firstly, we collate data on the proportion of households using groundwater as their primary drinking water source for 10 Southeast Asian and Pacific nations, finding an average of 66% (range of 17–93% for individual countries) of households in urban areas and 60% (range of 22–95%) of households in rural areas rely on groundwater for drinking. Together, these constitute 79% of the total population across the case study countries. Secondly, we review current and emerging groundwater resource concerns within each country, using a systems thinking approach to assess how groundwater resource issues influence household water services. Findings support the case for governments and development agencies to strengthen engagement with groundwater resource management as foundational for achieving sustainable water services for all.
Journal Article
Reframing water demand management: a new co-governance framework coupling supply-side and demand-side solutions toward sustainability
Water demand management adopts economic and non-economic measures to reduce human water use. However, it is argued in this study that water use changes may cause idle water supply facilities and revenue losses, thereby challenging the sustainability of water supply systems in the context of climate change. A co-governance framework was established to inspire practical strategies of sustaining water supply systems by re-evaluating the long-term impacts of water demand changes. This framework adopts a broader view of water demand management by integrating the political, financial, and consumptive needs of the government, the market, and the users in the form of a collaborative strategy coupling both supply-side and demand-side solutions. The proposed framework was applied to the analysis of the sustainability of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. It is found that the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is not a simple water supply infrastructure but rather a synthesis of supply-side and demand-side water management solutions. Actively releasing water for ecological and cultural purposes is suggested in this study to maintain the socio-ecological benefits of the project in the context of human water use decline. The economic cost of the water supply could be recovered by ongoing revenues that include not only the water fees charged to users but also the benefits gained from cooperative investment in broader water-related businesses by both the state-owned water transfer company and local governments in water-receiving areas. The proposed framework and strategies are valuable for other water utilities around the world, especially those challenged by reduced water demand caused by climate change, high water prices, and economic depression.
Journal Article
Challenges and Prospects of Sustainable Groundwater Management in the Indus Basin, Pakistan
In Pakistan, on-demand availability of groundwater has transformed the concept of low and uncertain crop yields into more assured crop production. Increased crop yields has resulted in food security and improved rural livelihoods. However, this growth has also led to problems of overdraft, falling water tables and degradation of groundwater quality, and yields generally remain well below potential levels. Over the last three decades, Pakistan has tried several direct and indirect management strategies for groundwater management. However the success has been limited. This paper argues that techno-institutional approaches such as introducing water rights, direct or indirect pricing and permit systems are fraught with difficulties in Pakistan due to its high population density and multitude of tiny users. Therefore there is a need to develop frameworks and management tools that are best suited to Pakistani needs. Pakistan should follow both supply and demand management approaches. For demand management, adoption of water conservation technologies, revision of existing cropping patterns and exploration of alternate water resources should be encouraged. For supply management, implementation of the groundwater regulatory frameworks developed by Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities (PIDAs) and introduction of institutional reforms to enhance effective coordination between different organizations responsible for the management of groundwater resources should be given priority.
Journal Article
Evolving institutions of sustainability: a dynamic model of historical water governance transformations in Central Asia
This article introduces evolutionary game theory as an approach to stylised long-term analysis of water governance transformations in Central Asia. This world region has been strongly affected by natural hazards, political disruptions and historically diverse attempts to establish effective water management principles. Drawing on historical and contemporary evidence, we establish a game theoretical baseline model of a user community in which irrigation is efficiently governed by group sanctions. By allowing for drift in the evolutionary equilibrium, we model how a loss of traditional authorities over water management can erode established group norms. We then analyse a hypothetical scenario of privatised water rights, inspired by historical and current policy debates in Central Asia. Under the assumption that such rights can be technically implemented, we show that they can restore an efficient water use equilibrium of owners that is egalitarian and evolutionary stable. We discuss how future climate change scenarios or conflicts over transboundary water allocation may affect the model results, focusing on the effects of increased uncertainty and of decreasing water productivity on system resilience. Productivity shocks may make low-performing equilibria unsustainable and thus lead to disruptive change or extinction of certain equilibria. Policy should focus on local interaction as an arena of institutional change. We suggest empirical research questions emerging from our analysis and highlight the benefits of uncontested property rights as an institutional solution to water governance.
Journal Article
Irrigation water pricing: the gap between theory and practice
Much hope has been vested in pricing as a means of helping to regulate and rationalize water management, notably in the irrigation sector. The pricing of water has often been applied universally, using general and ideological policies, and not considering regional environmental and economic differences. Almost fifteen years after the emphasis laid at the Dublin and Rio conferences on treating water as an economic good, a comprehensive review of how such policies have helped manage water resources an irrigation use is necessary.The case-studies presented here offer a re-assessment of current policies by evaluating their objectives and constraints and often demonstrating their failure by not considering the regional context. They will therefore contribute to avoiding costly and misplaced reforms and help design water policies that are based on a deeper understanding of the factors which eventually dictate their effectiveness.
eBook
Multi-model coupled climate-land use-runoff feedback mechanism: analysis and prediction of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the transboundary watershed of the Tumen River
The repercussions of climate change and land use change on water resources are becoming increasingly evident, particularly in the context of transboundary water resources research. This field necessitates the integration of various factors into research methodologies to achieve sustainable development objectives. The Tumen River Basin, a paradigmatic transboundary basin in Northeast Asia, has been confronted with the challenge of stabilizing water resources in view of the increased frequency of hydrological disasters in recent years. Therefore, in this study, a coupled model (M-S-C) combining the Mixed Cell Cellular Automata (MCCA), Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) meteorological data was utilized to predict the annual runoff intervals from 2025 to 2070. Furthermore, the study sought to analyze the impacts of different factors on runoff in different countries, and to propose the concept of Contribution of Transboundary River Volume (CTRV). The findings indicate that the impact of climate is significantly more substantial than that of land use change within the study area. Forest land and cultivated land emerge as the predominant land types exerting influence on runoff. Geodetector q-statistics reveal interpretation rates of 58.21% and 48.85%, respectively. The runoff volume is estimated to range from 83.062 billion to 149.696 billion m
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, with a decrease on the Chinese side and an increase on the North Korean side, as indicated by the CTRV slopes of − 0.023 and 0.005, respectively. The M-S-C coupled model and the CTRV concept offer novel insights for the monitoring of water resources in transboundary basins and the adaptive regulation of water-ecological coupling systems. These models provide significant guidance for the sustainable development of water resources in transboundary basins.
Journal Article
\The Whole World Is Watching\: Intimate Geopolitics of Forced Eviction and Women's Activism in Cambodia
Through fourteen in-depth interviews
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conducted in February 2013 with women from Boeung Kak Lake-a high-profile community under threat in Phnom Penh-this article argues that the occurrence of, and activism against, forced eviction is an embodiment of \"intimate geopolitics.\" The article demonstrates the manifold relationship that forced eviction reflects and ferments between homes, bodies, the nation-state, and the geopolitical transformation of Southeast Asia. Forced eviction is framed as a geopolitical issue, one that leads to innermost incursions into everyday life, one that has spurred on active citizenship and collective action evidencing the injustices of dispossession to diverse audiences, and one that has rendered female activists' intimate relationships further vulnerable. In doing so, it charts how Boeung Kak Lake women have rewritten the political script in Cambodia by publicly contesting the inevitability accorded to human rights abuses in the post-genocide country.
Journal Article