Water scarcity: An alternative view and its implications for policy and capacity building

Abstract

This article focuses on the somewhat ambiguous concept of scarce water, or, more accurately stated, on the rather more ambiguous concept of scarcity. Still today, water scarcity in a region is defined largely in physical terms, typically gallons or cubic metres per capita if a stock or per capita-year if a flow. However useful purely physical measures may be for broad comparisons, they cannot adequately reflect the variety of ways in which human beings use water -neither to their wastefulness when water is perceived as abundant nor to their ingenuity when it is not. This article argues that water scarcity should be defined according to three orders of scarcity that require, respectively, physical, economic and social adaptations. It goes on to demonstrate that perceiving scarcity mainly in physical terms limits opportunities for policymaking and approaches for capacity building.

Food, Water, and Scarcity

“…First, the suggested definitions of food and water insecurity are large, allowing for a critical reflection on the differences in resource insecurity causes and consequences in the global North and South. Nevertheless, a more subtle distinction between the physical, economic, and social components of scarcity could facilitate operationalizing these definitions (Wolfe and Brooks 2003).…”

Water soft path analysis: from principles to practice

“…The core principles of water soft path analysis have already been described in other articles (Wolfe andBrooks 2003, Brooks 2005), and will not be repeated here. What does need emphasis is the ways in which water soft paths differ from soft energy paths.…”

Water Governance in the Middle East and North Africa: An Unfinished Agenda

“…Worse yet, in many cases, drinking water utilities in MENA countries explicitly disavow any interest in or responsibility for the efficiency of water use beyond the main valve-inside the house or building or factory. Experience with the parallel shift from supply to demand management for energy shows that committed agencies with explicit responsibility for developing demand management policies and with direct support from senior management are essential (Wolfe & Brooks, 2003;Brooks & Wolfe, 2007).…”

“…However, it is not physical scarcity that determines the level or privation. To the contrary, physical scarcity can be mitigated by institutions that are capable of ensuring that water is extracted in ways that are ecologically sustainable, used in ways that are economically efficient, and distributed in ways that are socially equitable (Wolfe & Brooks, 2003;Varis & Tortajada, 2007;Cook et al, 2009;Molle, 2009). To quote from the Human Development Report (HDR) (2006, p. 3):…”