Skip to content

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Read our Science Bulletin
Conference material

Framework for Water Security Assessment at City Scale

The world’s water resources are increasing severe pressure from many sources: population growth, migration, industrialization, pollution of water bodies, over-abstraction of groundwater, and climate change (Ait-kadi and Arriens, 2012). This has an adverse impact on water security, more so in urban areas. In 2012, approximately 50% of the world population lived in cities, and by 2030 this will be 60%(Van Leeuwen et al., 2012). Water is, therefore, becoming a critical resource for world’s growing urban areas (Bahri, 2012). The challenge with water security has been that it not easy to measure (Sinyolo et al., 2014). However, we cannot manage what we cannot measure and so measurement will be fundamental in increasing the water security (Beek and Arriens, 2014). The objective of this research is to propose a methodology for developing a framework for assessing water security at city scale.