Adaptation – increasing resilience, reducing vulnerability
Water resources
Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting is simple technique to collects and store the rain water for various domestic use. The water is typically stored in a concrete or plastic container. May be an important measure to adapt to insecure water supply situations.
Runoff Rain water harvesting is large scale reservoir or public tank installations which collect rain water runoff from natural flow concentrations e.g. creeks, rivers, streams etc. By diversifying the sources of water for domestic and other consumption, less pressure is imposed on natural aquifers and other water sources. Vulnerability from climate change induced variability in water supply is reduced.
Deep well water extraction improves the supply of ground water by tapping into deep aquifers. May reduce vulnerability to situations of water shortage.
Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage is a varied collection of techniques and tools to ensure better sanitation of domestic water use. Typically it entails a multi-barrier approach of source protection, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection, and safe storage. Reduces vulnerability to water quality degradation e.g. in situations of water scarcity or flooding.
Recover and reuse of water entails central treatment of wastewater to be recycled as for used in e.g. industry and agriculture. Treated water can also be pumped into groundwater resources for recharging and preventing salt water intrusion. Diversifies water sources and hence reduces vulnerability to climate change indices water stress.
Controlling Water Leakage and Reduce Non-revenue Water (NRW). Loss of water due to old and badly maintained water distribution systems, represents in many countries a very large percentage of the water extracted from the sources. Water theft may also be a factor. For cities in SE Asia the average loss is 35% (Frauendorfer and Liemberger 2010). This so-called non-revenue water (NRW), which is defined as the difference between the water quantity put into the water distribution systems and the quantity billed to the consumers, can be minimised by replacing valves, meters and pipes and a number of other technologies. In some cases the systems improvement can be done as a private business venture in a ESCO-like contractual arrangement where the contractor undertaking the work receives part of the increased revenue from the water company as compensation. By reducing the proportion of NRW, vulnerability to situations of water stress is reduced, and energy used in pumping stations is reduced.
Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) comprises building infrastructures or changing the landscape to purposely increase water percolation into an aquifer. A typical example could be construction of a large pond over an aquifer where treated waste water or runoff would recharge the groundwater resource. The technique has several potential benefits including: storing water for future use, stabilizing or recovering groundwater levels in over-exploited aquifers, reducing evaporative losses, managing saline intrusion or land subsidence, and enabling reuse of waste or storm water. By reducing vulnerability to water stress MAR can be a significant adaptation measure.
Desalinization of Sea Water has been applied in several countries where access to fresh water is serious constraint. Often the process is based on distillation and is very energy intensive, but recently new technologies have been developed e.g. based on reverse osmosis which may enhance the feasibility of the technology. Often the technology can be used for treatment of both sea and waste water. The technology has the potential to reduce vulnerability to climate change induced water stress.
Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) is similar to Integrated Watershed Management (IWN see section on ICZM) and is a long-term, strategic, holistic, and cross-sectoral approach to improve land and water use planning in a river basin. Contributes to adaptation by making land and water management more sustainable and as such increases resilience and reduces vulnerability to climate change. May also have mitigation qualities e.g. trough forest conservation and reduces land degradation which may realise soil carbon stocks.
Blockchain technology can provide unprecedented and cost-efficient security in a variety of electronically based transactions. It is a decentralized digital ledger technology, creating a common digital history, which tracks the ownership of assets without the need for a central authority. This allows rapid processing and settlement of transactions while lowering the chance of fraud or data mismanagement. By eliminating the need for intermediary service providers such as banks, it can also reduce transaction costs. In relation to water management, blockchain can enable fast and secure peer-to-peer transactions of water rights without the need for a central (water) authority. This is useful when for instance one consumer has an unspent surplus of water that another consumer is willing to purchase. Smart contracts consists of code attached to a transaction specifying e.g. threshold conditions for a transaction to be implemented. This could be a useful tool in water management e.g. by initiating water right transfers based on water levels in a reservoir.
References:
Frauendorfer, Rudolf and Roland Liemberger. 2010. “The issues and challenges of reducing non-revenue water.” ADB. Manila.
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