Climate change water vulnerability and adaptation mechanism in a Himalayan City, Nainital, India

Abstract

Urban water management is a growing concern in India's rapidly urbanizing cities. Population growth and climatic variability are further exuberating the impact on surface and underground water supply. Understanding the causes and the extent of water vulnerability is required for developing effective strategies for water insecurities. This study attempts to assess the water vulnerability across different wards of a touristic city of Himalaya -Nainital using IPCC approach considering the three dimensions exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Seven indicators, mostly spatial i.e. edaphic (aspect, elevation), climatic (land surface temperature) besides some water infrastructural (distance to water distribution) and population were considered for development of vulnerability index using Analytical Hierarchy Process for assigning weights. These indicators were simple to extract and easy to obtain and mostly available from secondary sources and were capable to account the variability at micro level.Moreover, the current adaptation mechanisms for water security were also derived through conducting surveys by randomly selecting households across the wards. Staff House and Harinagar wards were the most vulnerable. The survey results that the adaptation mechanism should be managed at individual and organisation level. Policy measures such as optimum use of water; grey water recycling, spring rejuvenation, rain water harvesting, leakage proof infrastructure with intervention of new technologies may be adopted and implemented for reducing the water vulnerability in the city along with the public participation.

Dynamics of Mountain Urbanisation: Evidence from the Trans-Himalayan Town of Kargil, Ladakh, India

“…Due to the largely unplanned urban development, many Himalayan towns have faced severe water crises and heavy pressure on water consumption [4,[16][17][18][19][20]. Examples along the Indian Himalaya include the cases of water crises in Mussoorie and Devprayag [17,21], ground water exploitation and unplanned urban growth in Nainital [21,22] and a massive increase in the built-up area in Shimla [23]. In all these cases, the main drivers of urban land cover change have been identified as rapid urbanisation, massive construction activities for housing and infrastructure, population growth and the ongoing tourism boom.…”

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