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Water scarcity

About: Water scarcity is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 11579 publications have been published within this topic receiving 228756 citations. The topic is also known as: water shortage.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review and classify around 80 indicators of green water availability and scarcity, and discuss the way forward to develop operational green water scarcity indicators that can broaden the scope of water scarcity assessments.
Abstract: Research on water scarcity has mainly focussed on blue water (ground- and surface water), but green water (soil moisture returning to the atmosphere through evaporation) is also scarce, because its availability is limited and there are competing demands for green water. Crop production, grazing lands, forestry and terrestrial ecosystems are all sustained by green water. The implicit distribution or explicit allocation of limited green water resources over competitive demands determines which economic and environmental goods and services will be produced and may affect food security and nature conservation. We need to better understand green water scarcity to be able to measure, model, predict and handle it. This paper reviews and classifies around 80 indicators of green water availability and scarcity, and discusses the way forward to develop operational green water scarcity indicators that can broaden the scope of water scarcity assessments.

122 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the potential for beneficial reuse of wastewater in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, but few countries in the region have been able to implement substantial wastewater treatment and reuse programs.
Abstract: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the driest region of the world with only 1% of the world’s freshwater resources. The increasing competition for good-quality water has cut into agriculture’s water share but since the use of freshwater for domestic, industrial and municipal activities generates wastewater, the volume of wastewater used in agriculture has increased. About 43% of wastewater generated in the MENA region is treated; a relatively high percentage compared to other developing-country dominated regions. This is because of the perceived importance of wastewater as a water resource and several oil-rich countries with the resources to treat wastewater. The MENA region has an opportunity for beneficial reuse of wastewater but few countries in the region have been able to implement substantial wastewater treatment and reuse programs. The major constraints leading to seemingly slow and uneven reuse of wastewater are: inadequate information on the status of reuse or disposal of wastewater and associated environmental and health impacts; incomplete economic analysis of the wastewater treatment and reuse options, usually restricted to financial feasibility analysis; high costs and low returns of developing wastewater collection networks and wastewater treatment plants; lack of wastewater treatment and reuse cost-recovery mechanisms and lack of commitment to support comprehensive wastewater treatment programs; mismatch between water pricing and regional water scarcity; preference for freshwater over wastewater; and inefficient irrigation and water management schemes undermining the potential of wastewater reuse. However, some countries such as Tunisia, Jordan, and Israel have policies in place that address wastewater treatment through a range of instruments. Policymakers in these countries consider use of treated wastewater to be an essential aspect of strategic water and wastewater planning and management. With flexible policy frameworks addressing rapid demographic changes and increasing water scarcity in the MENA region, water reuse has great potential if integrated with resource planning, environmental management and financing arrangements.

122 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A 0.5-degree grid-based assessment of the scarcity of global water resources including virtual water trading has been made in this article, where three components of water availability considered for each grid were local runoff, routed flow from upstream and virtual water trade.
Abstract: A 0.5-degree grid-based assessment of the scarcity of global water resources including virtual water trading has been made. The three components of water availability considered for each grid were local runoff, routed flow from upstream and virtual water trading. Several assumptions were postulated to convert country-base estimations of virtual water trading to grid values. The results show that unequal spatial distribution of global water resources had been considerably neutralized by virtual water trading. A large proportion of people in the Middle-East, North-Africa and Sub-Sahara region are able to relieve their water stress through virtual water import. The paper also reports two hypothetical scenarios with extremes of natural flow availability based on the presence and absence of routed upstream flow.

121 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an integrated water-management model is proposed to evaluate the costs and effects of water management actions on the entire system, including overdrafting aquifers, using a case study of the Tulare Basin in California, USA.
Abstract: Groundwater overdraft occurs when extraction exceeds both natural and induced aquifer recharge over long periods. While ultimately unsustainable and invariably having detrimental effects, overdrafting aquifers is common and may be temporarily beneficial within a long-term water management strategy. Once a region chooses to end overdrafting, water management must change if increased water scarcity is to be avoided. Integrated water-management models allow aquifers and overdraft to be analyzed as part of a regional water-supply system. Incorporating economics into the model establishes a framework for evaluating the costs and effects of groundwater management actions on the entire system. This economic-engineering approach is applied in a case study of the Tulare Basin in California, USA, where previous economic studies showed optimal pumping depths have been reached. A hydro-economic optimization model is used to study the economic effects and water management actions that accompany ending overdraft. Results show that when overdraft is prohibited, groundwater banking using conjunctive-use infrastructure built between 1990 and 2005 largely annuls the cost of not overdrafting. The integrated economic-engineering approach quantifies effects of groundwater policies on complex regional water-resource systems and suggests promising strategies for reducing the economic costs of ending aquifer overexploitation.

121 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A literature review reveals that this crisis concerns definitional issues, issues of ownership and access, boundary issues, the multiple uses of water, and the levels at which water should be managed as mentioned in this paper.

121 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023562
20221,098
2021951
2020879
2019814
2018735