The rapid pace of climate and environmental changes requires some degree of adaptation, to forestall or avoid severe impacts. Adaptive capacity and water security are concepts used to guide the ways in which resource managers plan for and manage change. Yet the assessment of adaptive capacity and water security remains elusive, due to flaws in guiding concepts, paucity or inadequacy of data, and multiple difficulties in measuring the effectiveness of management prescriptions at scales relevant to decision-making. We draw on conceptual framings and empirical findings of the articles in this special issue and seek to respond to key questions with respect to metrics for the measurement, governance, information accessibility, and robustness of the knowledge produced in conjunction with ideas related to adaptive capacity and water security. Three overarching conclusions from this body of work are (a) systematic cross-comparisons of metrics, using the same models and indicators, are needed to validate the reliability of evaluation instruments for adaptive capacity and water security, (b) the robustness of metrics to applications across multiple scales of analysis can be enhanced by a “metrics plus” approach that combines well-designed quantitative metrics with in-depth qualitative methods that provide rich context and local knowledge, and (c) changes in the governance of science-policy can address deficits in public participation, foster knowledge exchange, and encourage the co-development of adaptive processes and approaches (e.g., risk-based framing) that move beyond development and use of static indicators and metrics.

As a consequence of climatic change, climate variability is expected to increase and climate extremes to become more frequent. Rising water and food demand are further exacerbating the risks to global water and food security. The variability but also the spatial inter-connectedness in our globalized world make our systems more vulnerable to shocks and disasters. To sustain the global water and food security, more knowledge about risks, especially risks of simultaneous shocks is needed. This thesis maps and quantifies risks to global water and food security from a water-food-climate perspective. It starts on a global scale looking at water security in major river basins and then concentrates on major food producing regions of three important crops. The thesis explores how storage can buffer inter- and intra-regional hydrological variability. A water balance model is developed and used to find hotspots of water shortages and to identify river basins where more investment in infrastructure is needed to improve and sustain water security. Looking at food security, global wheat, maize and soybean breadbaskets are identified and used to estimate risks of simultaneous production shocks. Focusing on wheat, I apply different copula approaches to model joint risks of low yields. It is shown quantitatively that (i) it is important to include spatial dependencies in risks studies and that (ii) inter-regional risk pooling could decrease post-disaster liabilities of governments and international organizations. The last part of the thesis focuses on climate impacts on food production. Relevant climate variables for crop growth in the breadbaskets are identified and joint climate risks are estimated using regular vine copulas. It is shown that so far, only wheat has experienced an increase in simultaneous climate risks. In maize and soybean production regions, positive and negative climate risk changes are offsetting each other on a global scale. Looking at future projections, however, it is shown that under a 1.5 and 2 °C global mean warming, simultaneous climate risks increase for all three crops, especially for maize where the return periods of all five breadbaskets experiencing climate risks decrease from 16 to every second year. The findings of this thesis can inform policy makers, businesses and international organizations about risks to global water and food security resulting from climate variability and extremes. It indicates where policies and infrastructure investments are needed to maintain water security, it can assist in building inter-governmental risk pooling schemes and contribute to current climate policy discussions.

The quality of South Africa's raw potable water resources is severely impacted by eutrophication (nutrient enrichment). As much as two-thirds of the reservoir impounded resource may be affected. Wastewater effluents and/or the integration of wastewater return flows as part of the water balances of many reservoirs constitute the primary source of this nutrient pollution. South Africa's historical awareness and understanding of the eutrophication threat to surface waters is comparable with that of other, similarly-afflicted, countries. In particular, the need to manage phosphorus was recognised as early as 1962 when South Africa promulgated one of the first (global) regulations for phosphorus in wastewater effluents. More recently, eutrophication has been ranked as a high priority by the the National Water Resource Strategy. Despite this background, phosphorus removal from wastewater effluents in South Africa remains virtually unregulated. Additionally, there is no resource-directed protocol for the accounting of all sources of phosphorus (or other pollutants) at a catchment level, rendering problematic, if not impossible, the fair and equitable allocation of levies on wastewater discharges. This dissertation examines how wastewater-originating eutrophication is regulated in the USA and Europe, with phosphorus as a central focus. A comparative assessment of the equivalent situation in South Africa is provided and the shortcomings of the latter highlighted. As a solution, I suggest an equitable and transparent scheme of pollutant accounting by individual source, ideally suited to the allocation of waste discharge levies. Applied against a specific resource requirement, for example an identified need to reduce phosphorus in a particular reservoir, this approach also provides a legally sound scheme for pollutant load regulation and permitting.

Using mixed methods and multiple sites, this thesis reflects on how water acts as a connective material through which socio-cultural, ritual, economic, and ecological relationships are formed and played out. By adopting a New Materialities approach the brute physicality of relationships is drawn into the foreground to illustrate the agency of materials and people as they co-produce each other together. By focusing on water's behaviours, this thesis demonstrates that distinctions typically placed between people and other materials are problematic and consequently require reconsideration. Therefore, in rejection of a human exceptionalist focus, this thesis attempts to level the representational 'playing field' between bodies and water so as to bring water into discourse as multi-species ethnographies have done for other entities. My research is geographically situated in both rural Wales and an outlying location in the Eastern Coastal Province of Kenya where creeping desertification is increasingly troubling subsistence for a group of Giriama horticultural-pastoralists. It examines the socio-economic, cultural and material consequences of regular piped water flowing into a community that until 2015 relied exclusively on a climatically governed water supply, alongside a series of phenomenological experiences had with water in Wales. I establish the role water plays in co-constructing Giriama authenticity and social life whilst simultaneously producing what can be loosely called an 'ethnography' of water. In combination, this thesis demonstrates how the material behaviours of water reveal it to be an active agent that co-produces the materiality, and the behaviours, of being human. The Wenner Gren Foundation supported the fieldwork for this research, under the title The Role of 'New' Water in Shaping and Regulating Futures in Rural Kenya.

No description available.

This dissertation aims to investigate how architecture can improve water literacy and, thus, water conservation and security, by bringing the user closer to the building’s water processes and systems. The programmatic function of the building is an urban living room. Here, the dwellers of the adjacent social housing development – about 3000 people – will be provided amenities for mostly recreational purposes. Furthermore, the tens of thousands of people who travel into Pretoria CBD daily for various government services, will be provided with a place to pause, linger, and perhaps have something to eat. The architectural exploration aims to empower the user through the provision of basic water services and surrounding secondary services, whilst at the same time enhancing the everyday user’s relationship with, and reverence of, water. The two main water resources that will be focused on are rain roof water and storm water. In an urban context where storm water runoff is currently treated as a destructive force and the water is discarded as quickly as possible from the city, the project will endeavor to harness this resource and utilise it to enhance the architecture. Similarly, roof rainwater will also be collected and utilised. The project will invite water into the building in various ways that enhance the climatic conditions within the building. Unlike in the traditional manner of waterproofing and keeping the water out of the building, these enhancing processes will be made visible to the users of the building in order to increase their understanding. This dissertation endeavors to add to the large body of research into the global quest for water security, underpinning itself in the context of the Marabastad, Pretoria. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

Globally, two-thirds of the population face significant water shortages and eighty percent of the U.S. states' water managers predict water shortages in the near future. Additionally, the current centralized system in the United States is facing significant problems of scarcity, groundwater depletion, high energy consumption and needs a trillion dollars investment in repairs, replacement, and expansion. Furthermore, due to increased urban/suburban development, runoff (stormwater) pollutes our waterways and is causing increased flooding. The status quo is unsustainable in its present form and the water security of the nation is at risk. Fortunately, in recent decades there has been a resurgence in the use of a millenniums old approach, rainwater harvesting (RWH), that if deployed broadly, will mitigate those issues created by the current centralized municipal water system and the expanding development of our cities, suburbs, and towns reducing permeable surface area and lower water security vulnerabilities. This study enlists Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) to examine the transitioning that is occurring from the current centralized municipal water system to one in which it is significantly complemented by an alternative water source, RWH. MLP posits that pressures originating in the broader landscape exerts pressures on the existing regime, as well as the community as a whole, creating an opportunity for the niche to emerge and either replace or change the regime. In the case of RWH, the myriad of pressures are only partially placed on the current centralized water supply regime providing them less pressure to change. Alongside water shortages another significant pressure being placed on the public and governing authorities is increased flooding and pollution resulting in the RWH niche emerging in the construction industry. In response to these pressures a RWH niche formed, largely outside of the existing water supply regime, and grew until it was joined by actors within the regime (e.g., plumbers, plumbing engineers, standards development organizations). This research is framed using MLP's three phases Start-up (niche), Acceleration, and Stabilization. This dissertation does three things. First it shows the internal processes occurring between the MLP levels (landscape, sociotechnical regime, and niche) and mechanisms created that foster the broader adoption of RWH. Secondly, it reveals that while the incumbent regime is not being significantly influenced by the RWH niche, the construction industry is embracing RWH (especially the commercial sector) and following the MLP pathway of Reconfiguration. Third, it looks at RWH in a phase of stabilization. / Doctor of Philosophy / Today the world, as well as the United States, faces significant water problems. These problems include scarcity, groundwater depletion, high energy consumption, and is in need of a trillion dollars to repair or replace US water infrastructure. Additionally, due to urban sprawl and diminishment of permeable surfaces, runoff is a problem causing flooding and pollution. One mitigation is the use of a millennium old technology, rainwater harvesting (RWH). This research uses Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework to examine the transition occurring today in the construction industry to build sustainable RWH into new construction, especially commercial buildings. This research examines the dynamic processes and the mechanisms used to grow the RWH niche and then accelerate its adoption. Those mechanisms include building demonstration projects, manuals, standards, and incentive programs. This research also looks at RWH in the U.S. Virgin Islands where RWH has been mandated since 1964. The practical value of this research is to provide policy makers insight into the useful mechanisms aiding a transition to sustainable infrastructure. The theoretical value is that it reveals a transition occurring outside of the dominate regime, the centralized water suppliers, in the construction industry. Additionally, it shows that the creation of RWH standards and the administration of building code has created a new form of water governance.

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京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第19874号 / 地環博第148号 / 新制||地環||30(附属図書館) / 32910 / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎地球環境学専攻 / (主査)教授 星野 敏, 准教授 西前 出, 准教授 中村 公人 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

The crucial role of groundwater and the centrality of water governance in accommodating growing water demands sustainably are becoming well recognized. We review 10 case studies of groundwater governance-representing diverse global regions and local contexts-from the perspective of four well-established elements: (1) institutional setting; (2) availability and access to information and science; (3) robustness of civil society; and (4) economic and regulatory frameworks. For institutional setting, we find that governing is often a thankless task that paradoxically requires popularity; legislation does not always translate to implementation; conflict resolution is central to governance; and funding is critical for governance. In terms of information access, we see: a need for research for natural systems, social systems, and institutions; trust as an essential element in research; and that urbanized landscapes are critical components of groundwater governance. Looking at civil society robustness, we observe that equity is an essential element for governance; community-based governance requires intention; and leaders can play a powerful role in uniting stakeholders. As for frameworks, the cases suggest that economic incentives sometimes yield unintended results; "indirect" management should be used cautiously; and economic incentives' effectiveness depends on the system employed. Collectively, the lessons speak to the need for shared governance capacities on the part of governments at multiple levels and civil society actors.