About this Research Topic
With a rapidly growing population density and sprawl, most parts of the world are facing an increasingly uncertain water future. A host of problems threaten water security of these regions such as a water supply system suffering from both issues of quality and quantity. These include inadequate handling of sewage in drains, frequent flooding even from low intensity rainfall, pesticides and metals in the aquatic ecosystem, pharmaceutical and personal care products polluting both surface and ground water etc. The term 'security' encompasses issues of 'availability', 'accessibility to services', 'safety and quality', and 'effective management'. This topic relates to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in clean water, sanitation, sustainable cities, climate action and especially to the SDG-6 to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’.
Water security requires alignment of multiple factors. Adequate water infrastructure is critical to maintaining community health and socio-economic growth. However, just having access to a service (say, water supply) does not necessarily guarantee adequate quality. Finance and adaptive governance determine the equity and efficiency in water services, and balance water use between socio-economic activities and ecosystems. Existing infrastructure may become increasingly inadequate due to the impacts of climate, ageing facilities, and demographic change as well as other drivers. Capturing these issues is highly challenging as these processes interact across multiple scales; large scale modeling studies of river catchments, cannot always capture the local dynamics involved in storm water management and flooding. In addition, with climate change, the weather patterns are increasingly less predictable and extreme hydrological events become more frequent and intense. So, in this changing world, an inter-disciplinary and holistic approach, that considers different components and stakeholders, is called-on for developing technology/policy interventions to ensure water security. This research topic will focus on the innovations/modifications desired in the traditional frameworks to effectively handle/quantify these uncertainties, so as to address the issue of water security in this changing world.
This Research Topic seeks novel research contributions and valuable perspectives, taking a inter-/trans- disciplinary and holistic approaches to tackle water security in an uncertain world. In particular, the studies highlighting the modifications desired in the traditional approaches to effectively tackle the issue of water security considering the different uncertain factors are encouraged.
In general, the broad areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Integrated Water Management
• Sustainable Water Infrastructure
• Resilience to Water Risks, especially flood and droughts
• Water Quality and Health (Human and River Ecosystems)
• Water Values
• Policy and Governance
• Conflict Management
• Citizen Science for Water Security
• Decision-making under uncertainty
• Water resources allocation between major sectors and the environment
Water security requires alignment of multiple factors. Adequate water infrastructure is critical to maintaining community health and socio-economic growth. However, just having access to a service (say, water supply) does not necessarily guarantee adequate quality. Finance and adaptive governance determine the equity and efficiency in water services, and balance water use between socio-economic activities and ecosystems. Existing infrastructure may become increasingly inadequate due to the impacts of climate, ageing facilities, and demographic change as well as other drivers. Capturing these issues is highly challenging as these processes interact across multiple scales; large scale modeling studies of river catchments, cannot always capture the local dynamics involved in storm water management and flooding. In addition, with climate change, the weather patterns are increasingly less predictable and extreme hydrological events become more frequent and intense. So, in this changing world, an inter-disciplinary and holistic approach, that considers different components and stakeholders, is called-on for developing technology/policy interventions to ensure water security. This research topic will focus on the innovations/modifications desired in the traditional frameworks to effectively handle/quantify these uncertainties, so as to address the issue of water security in this changing world.
This Research Topic seeks novel research contributions and valuable perspectives, taking a inter-/trans- disciplinary and holistic approaches to tackle water security in an uncertain world. In particular, the studies highlighting the modifications desired in the traditional approaches to effectively tackle the issue of water security considering the different uncertain factors are encouraged.
In general, the broad areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Integrated Water Management
• Sustainable Water Infrastructure
• Resilience to Water Risks, especially flood and droughts
• Water Quality and Health (Human and River Ecosystems)
• Water Values
• Policy and Governance
• Conflict Management
• Citizen Science for Water Security
• Decision-making under uncertainty
• Water resources allocation between major sectors and the environment
Keywords: Water Security, Sustainable Water, Water Governance, Human Health, Environmental Sustainability, Water Infrastructure, Water Conflicts, Risks and Resilience, Floods and Droughts
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
