Water Quality
Is freshwater supply more dependent on good
governance than geography?
S
cientists have analyzed 19
different characteristics
critical to water supply
management in 119 low per
capita income countries and
found that vulnerability is
pervasive and commonly arises
from relatively weak institutional
controls.
The study, conducted by
researchers based at Washington
State University (WSU), USA,
and Stanford University, USA,
sought to identify freshwater
supply vulnerabilities using four
broad categories; endowment
(availability of source water),
demand, infrastructure and
institutions (e.g. government
regulations).
The results are published today, 23rd October 2015, in the
journal Environmental Research Letters.
“We’ve spent years developing this framework that
addresses water vulnerability beyond just endowment
and demand” explains Julie Padowski, the lead author,
now at WSU. “Our team’s expertise spanned hydrology,
law, chemistry and economics, and this gave us a very
interdisciplinary view of water supply issues.”
The researchers used publicly available data to create
unique vulnerability ‘fingerprints’ for 119 lower per
capita income countries (less than $10,725 per person
GDP) based on 19 different endogenous and exogenous
characteristics affecting water supply vulnerability.
Their results showed that institutional vulnerability is
common -- occurring in 44 of the countries -- and that
23 countries showed vulnerabilities in all four categories.
Surprisingly, many geographically disparate nations have
similar water supply vulnerability ‘fingerprints’, suggesting
that sharing experiences could be useful for shaping actual
water supply management strategies within and across
nations.
“The common occurrence of institutional vulnerability
in our sampled nations is really interesting” continues
Padowski. “It’s something that hasn’t been well-quantified
at \