UN Documentation Centre on Water and Sanitation (UNDCWS)

This virtual library provides access to recent water and sanitation related publications produced by the United Nations system.

It is available in English www.unwaterlibrary.org and in Spanish www.bibliotecaonuagua.org but publications are accessible in different languages when available (including the 6 official UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).

You can search by theme, region/country, basin, publisher, main purpose, target audience and publication type. You can combine these search criteria using the advanced search function, which also includes a language filter.

UNDCWS is an initiative of the United Nations Office to support the International Decade ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015/UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC) . It was developed with the support of the Municipality of Zaragoza in Spain and launched on the occasion of UN Day and the World Development Information Day on 24 October 2012.

Managing climate extremes and disasters in the water sector

This thematic brief summarises the key findings of the SREX report relevant to water resources and water management. The Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) was commissioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The brief includes material directly taken from the SREX report but it also presents synthesis messages that are the views of the authors of this brief and do not necessarily those of the IPCC.

Aimed primarily at water sector policy-makers and planners, the brief discusses three main questions:

1. Why are extreme events a critical issue for water management?
2. How is the water sector affected by the risk and impact of extreme events?
3. What actions can be taken to manage these risks?

Back, E., Cameron, C., Norrington-Davies, G. and Mitchell, T., 2012. Managing climate extremes and disasters in the water sector : lessons from the IPCC SREX Report. [online] London, UK: The Climate and Development Knowledge Network, CDKN. 30 p.; ill.; tab.; fig.
Available at: <cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SREX-Summary-WATER_web.pdf>

Water security framework

Casey, V., Carter, R. and Yeo, D., 2012. Water security framework. London, UK: WaterAid. 64 p. : 17 fig., 2 tab. Includes appendix with definitions, a glossary and 83 references
Available at: <
http://washurl.net/c4jxeo
> [Accessed 25 July 2012]

WaterAid have published a water security framework which links sustainable WASH services to livelihood, environmental and food security water uses. It is to be used together with WaterAid’s previously published Sustainability Framework.

The document sets out fundamental priorities for improving the water security of poor and marginalised people as part of a community based approach to water resource management. It describes the nature of the global water crisis as it affects those who do not have access to improved services and calls for Water Resource Management plans and policies to reflect realities on the ground. It puts forward minimum commitments that WaterAid will implement as part of its service delivery work ensuring that it meets with high quality standards.

The framework document has five parts.

Part 1 introduces WaterAid’s definition of water security and how it can be measured.

Part 2 elaborates on the multiple threats to communities’ water security. Besides climate change, these include serious near-term challenges such as population growth, weak political will, low institutional capacities, environmental degradation, intense seasonality, inadequate management of water resources, inadequate disaster risk reduction planning, and poor siting, design and construction of water sources.

Part 3 discussed the four main dimensions of water security: reliable access, quantity, quality and risk of water-related disasters.

Part 4 presents community-based water resource management (CBWRM) approaches to improve water security, based on the ABCDE framework, which stands for Assessment, Bargaining, Codification, Delegation and Engineering.

Part 5 lists WaterAid’s minimum commitments to ensuring water security. They are divided into overriding minimum commitments that apply to all interventions, plus specific additional commitments for drilled water wells, hand-dug wells, spring/river-fed gravity schemes, water treatment and for drought-prone areas.

United Nations world water development report 4

World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) and UN-Water, 2012. United Nations world water development report 4 : managing water under uncertainty and risk. (World Water Development Report / United Nations; no. 4). [online] Paris, France: UNESCO. 3 vol. (xii, 867 p.; ill.; tab.; fig.; boxes; maps). ISBN 978-92-3-104235-5
Available at: <
http://washurl.net/7e1itc
>

The fourth edition of the World Water Development Report (WWDR4) is a comprehensive review of the world’s freshwater resources and seeks to demonstrate, among other messages, that water underpins all aspects of development, and that a coordinated approach to managing and allocating water is critical. The Report underlines that in order to meet multiple goals water needs to be an intrinsic element in decision-making across the whole development spectrum.

Meeting the water reform challenge

Despite progress on many fronts, governments around the world are still confronted with the need to reform their existing water policies in order to meet current objectives and future challenges identified by the OECD Environment Outlook to 2050. Population growth, urbanisation, and changing lifestyles as a result of economic growth are key drivers of these challenges, while increasing spatial and temporal water variability resulting from climate change will exacerbate these pressures.

Building on these water challenges, this report examines three fundamental areas that need to be addressed whatever reform agendas are pursued by governments: financing of the water sector; the governance and institutional arrangements that are in place; and coherence between water policies and policies in place in other sectors of the economy. The report provides governments in both OECD and non-OECD countries with practical advice and policy tools to pursue urgent reform in their water sectors.

After framing the water reform challenge, the book examines the policy challenges surrounding the financing of water supply and sanitation and presents a policy toolkit that can underpin policy dialogues to stimulate much needed reform. The chapter also addresses the growing problem of financing the broader water resources management functions of government.

The next chapter highlights the key governance challenges confronting water policy reform, focusing on the issues arising from the multi-level governance structure that generally characterises water resources management.

The final chapter examines the coherence issues raised by the linkages between water, energy and agriculture and presents a number of steps that governments need to take to address the water coherence challenge.

OECD (2012). Meeting the water reform challenge. (OECD studies on water). Paris, France: OECD Publishing. 172 p.: 17 boxes, 25 fig., 16 tab. ISBN: 9789264169999. Available at: <doi: 10.1787/9789264170001-en> [Accessed 18 May 2012]

Watch a video on the global water challenge and OECD’s response.

SamSamWater Library

The SamSamWater library is a small database of practical information, data and (GIS) maps on water and sanitation, managed by the SamSamWater Foundation, which was set up by a group of Dutch hydrologists. Topics covered include rainwater harvesting, microfinance, surface and groundwater hydrology, and water quality and treatment. As of 28 February 2012 there were 128 items in the library database.

Web site: 
http://www.samsamwater.com/library.php

Managing water locally : an essential dimension of community water development

Bunclark, L., Carter, R., Casey, V., Day, St J., and Guthrie, D. (2011). Managing water locally : an essential dimension of community water development. London, UK, Institution of Civil Engineers; Oxford, UK, Oxfam GB and London, UK, WaterAid. 95 p. : boxes, fig., tab. Includes glossary. 48 ref.
Oxfam Online ISBN 978-1-78077-011-6
Download full publication [2 MB]

Based on experiences from three continents, this publication provides practical guidelines for water sector practitioners, policy-makers and donors on Community-Based Water Resource Management (CBWRM).

SWITCH in the city: putting urban water management to the test

Butterworth, J. (ed.); McIntyre, P. (ed.); Da Silva Wells, C. (ed.) (2011). SWITCH in the city : putting urban water management to the test. The Hague, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. v, 413 p.; fig.; tab.; boxes.
Download full publication

With more than half the planet’s population living in urban areas, and rapid growth predicted, cities present a daunting test in water management. Their scale and concentrated populations provide a special challenge in providing water and sanitation services, creating a safe and pleasant environment, and handling wastes. As sustainability concerns have risen up the agenda, the challenge is for cities to do more, with less. To provide better services to all citizens, with less negative and more positive environment impacts on cities and their rural hinterlands. The SWITCH project was a five year experiment focused on some of the key sustainability challenges in urban water management. In a number of cities around the globe, it set out to test what was needed for a transition to more sustainable urban water management through a combination of demand-led research, demonstration activities, multistakeholder learning and associated training and capacity building. The book brings together the experiences of 12 cities involved in the SWITCH project from four continents (Accra, Alexandria, Beijing, Belo Horizonte, Birmingham, Bogotá, Cali, Hamburg, Lima, Lodz, Tel Aviv and Zaragoza) with a set of guidelines focused on promoting stakeholder engagement in such processes. It is targeted at people interested in undertaking demand-led research, promoting multi-stakeholder engagement, and scaling up research impacts, not only in urban water management but also in other areas where we find such complex and ‘wicked’ problems. [authors abstract]

Elixir: a history of water and humankind

Fagan, B. (2011). Elixir: a history of water and humankind. Bloomsbury. 416 p. ISBN-13: 9781608190034. ISBN-10: 160819003X
Price: US$ 28.00
More information

Publisher’s abstract:

Elixir spans five millennia, from ancient Mesopotamia to the parched present of the Sun Belt. As Brian Fagan shows, every human society has been shaped by its relationship toour most essential resource. Fagan’s sweeping narrative moves across the world, from ancient Greece and Rome, whose mighty aqueducts still supply modern cities, to China, where emperors marshaled armies of laborers in a centuries-long struggle to tame powerful rivers. He sets out three ages of water: In the first age, lasting thousands of years, water was scarce or at best unpredictable-so precious that it became sacred in almost every culture.

By the time of the Industrial Revolution, human ingenuity had made water flow even in the most arid landscapes.This was the second age: water was no longer a mystical force to be worshipped and husbanded, but a commodity to be exploited. The American desert glittered with swimming pools- with little regard for sustainability. Today, we are entering a third age of water: As the earth’s population approaches nine billion and ancient aquifers run dry,we will have to learn once again to show humility, even reverence, for this vital liquid. To solve the water crises of the future, we may need to adapt the water ethos of our ancestors.

Read book reviews in The Telegraph, Hydro-Logic (with map of locations mentioned in the book),

Read an article by the author Brian Fagan on the topic of his book in The Independent.

Related web sites:

• WaterHistory.org
• International Water History Association

 

Water ethics and water resource management

Liu, J. … [et al.] (2011). Water ethics and water resource management. Bangkok, Thailand, UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. 84 p.; 17 fig.; 3 tab. 81 ref.
Download full report

This report examines ethical issues associated with water resource utilization and management, including its uses in energy and other domains. Under the “Ethics and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific” (ECCAP) project, the Water Ethics working group has compiled a report with some case studies highlighting different ethical issues associated with water resource utilization and management. The report systematically discusses how water ethics can make a difference to water related practices and provides a cross-cultural review of the issues. The report reveals gaps in existing knowledge to researchers, policy makers and funders of research, which could be used to examine linkages between research and policy making, and presents areas of policy options to governments. [authors abstract]