Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis

Damania, Richard; Desbureaux, Sébastien; Rodella, Aude-Sophie; Russ, Jason; Zaveri, Esha

doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1459-4

Cited by 180 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 153 publications

(167 reference statements)

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“…In much of Europe and the UK, the two storm and sanitary pipe systems are combined and stormwater mixes with wastewater, requiring relief when flows exceed the pipe conveyance capacity through combined sewer overflows into water bodies (figure 1). The wastewater that discharges from overflows is polluting [35], and the stormwater, even in separate pipes, also conveys a variety of heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other pollutants into water bodies, termed diffuse pollution [36]. Traditional responses to the problems that these arrangements bring are to add capacity to the piped networks to prevent overflows and reduce pollution from urban runoff.…”

Section: Traditional Water Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing flooding: from a problem to an opportunity

Ashley

Gersonius²,

Horton³

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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The paper argues that the concept and practice of sustainability have proved too difficult to achieve within traditional water management, and there is a lack of political will to move towards truly sustainable water services. Instead, compromised concepts, including resistance, resilience, ecosystem services, natural capital and adaptation are defining approaches; each of which may contribute partially to sustainability. Pressures due to the changing climate, ecological degradation, human demands, urbanization and deteriorating assets are challenging sustainability and compelling changes to water management. Water is now seen less as a problem to be managed than as an opportunity, as wherever situated, water brings many opportunities to contribute to anthropogenic needs. New ideas are helping to frame the way in which water management is being approached: (i) waste is no longer waste, but a potential resource within a circular economy; (ii) the interconnectedness of infrastructure systems and services and circularity of the water cycle mean there is a need to integrate approaches; (iii) nature-based systems should be preferenced for water infrastructure. These issues and ideas are considered here, together with examples of schemes showing that managing flooding can lead to wider benefits, and potential longer-term sustainability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Urban flood resilience’.

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Section: Traditional Water Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing flooding: from a problem to an opportunity

Ashley

Gersonius²,

Horton³

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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“…The importance of groundwater as a resource is not very prominent in the discussion on how the world is to ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030 or meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as a whole. It is furthermore telling that when the World Bank made a systematic mapping of an under-researched aspect of the ongoing global water crisis in its "Quality Unknown" study in 2019 [17], the very big data gaps with respect to groundwater forced the authors to exclude this resource altogether [18]. This absence of attention to groundwater is reflected also in documents, reports and normative statements from the United Nations (UN), with references only rarely found in reports.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regarding Groundwater and Drinking Water Access through A Human Rights Lens: Self-Supply as A Norm

Grönwall

Danert

2020

Water

107

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Globally, some 2.5 billion people depend solely on groundwater to satisfy their daily drinking water needs. The reliance on this resource and its centrality to realize the human right to ‘safe’ drinking water has increased manifold, but this is yet to be fully acknowledged globally or by governments and political leaders at the national level. This paper analyses the interface of international human rights law, as corresponding to the obligations and responsibilities of different actors, regarding groundwater resources planning, management and protection. Drawing on the literature, we discuss the State’s duties to respect, protect and fulfil this right especially in relation to the freedom of end-users to self-supply from groundwater sources; the training and regulation of non-State service providers including drillers and private vendors; and health and safety concerns. Interpreting the State’s duty to ‘fulfil’ through direct water service provision ‘as a last resort’, this paper suggests that self-provision is the original norm for enjoying the right to water. This has significant implications for the State’s role in raising awareness concerning point source protection and aquifer recharge for water resources management and in decisions concerning water allocation. By ignoring self-provision, which is primarily from groundwater, the State is not only missing a tremendous opportunity but is jeopardizing the water security of future generations.

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“…Indeed, access to safe freshwater is such a significant challenge for much of the world's population that the UN has prioritized access to clean water and sanitation as Goal 6 of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1]. Poor water quality is a problem that is faced by high, middle and low-income countries alike [2]; for example, Australia's inland water quality is ranked among the worst of the advanced economies and it is getting poorer [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) blooms are a particular increasing concern in inland waters across the globe. Some species produce potent toxins that pose a major hazard to human health, livestock, wildlife and the aquatic environment [2]. Blooms result in significant economic impact to affected communities (e.g., [8,9]) in Australia, algal blooms result in >AU$250 million costs to affected communities per annum [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of a Satellite Based Inland Water Algal Bloom Alerting System Using Analysis Ready Data

Malthus

Lehmann

et al. 2019

Remote Sensing

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Water managers need tools to assist in the management of ever increasing algal bloom problems over wide spatial areas to complement sparse and declining in situ monitoring networks. Optical methods employing satellite data offer rapid and widespread coverage for early detection of bloom events. The advent of the Analysis Ready Data (ARD) and Open Data Cube concepts offer the means to lower the technical challenges confronting managers, allowing them to adopt satellite tools. Exploiting Landsat ARD integrated into the Digital Earth Australia data cube, we developed a prototype algal bloom alerting tool for the state of New South Wales, Australia. A visualization portal allows managers to gain insights into bloom status across the state as a whole and to further investigate spatial patterns in bloom alerts at an individual water body basis. To complement this we also proposed an algal alert system for trial based on chlorophyll and TSM levels which requires further testing. The system was able to retrieve the status of 444 water bodies across the state and outputs from the visualization system are presented. Time series of image acquisitions during an intense bloom in one lake are used to demonstrate the potential of the system. We discuss the implications for further development and operationalisation including the potential for augmentation with alternative algorithms and incorporation of other sensor ARD data to improve both temporal and spectral resolutions.

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Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis

Cited by 180 publications

References 153 publications

Managing flooding: from a problem to an opportunity

Managing flooding: from a problem to an opportunity

Regarding Groundwater and Drinking Water Access through A Human Rights Lens: Self-Supply as A Norm

Implementation of a Satellite Based Inland Water Algal Bloom Alerting System Using Analysis Ready Data

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