2.3 Dimensions, indicators, and sources
For the scope of this learning unit, we selected the dimensions availability, accessibility, safety and quality, and governance. You can download the key information about indices and data sources as PDF. Additionally, we provide you with some easy-to-calculate indicators, literature, and data sources.
2.3.1 Indices to measure water availability (view table)
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Typically, mean annual precipitation and aridity indices have been used as proxy-values for total availability in data-scarce regions (Dickson et al., 2016). Jensen and Wu (2018) assess the availability by measuring the total water resources per capita (lcd) but also including a dependency variable (imported water/total water resources), which introduces implicitly a political factor. Babel et al. (2020) measures availability with per capita use and imported water (%).
AQUASTAT provides data at national level for the following indicators:
- long-term average annual precipitation (mm);
- total internal renewable water resources per capita (m³/inhab./year);
- total external renewable water resources (m³/year);
- dependency ratio;
- SDG 6.4.2. water stress (%)
The WSI, “water scarcity index”, defined as the ratio of total water withdrawal to the water availability considering environmental flow requirements. Water withdrawal includes both surface water and renewable groundwater use for agriculture (irrigation and livestock), industry and households. For assessing hydrological droughts, the monthly 80-percentile flow, Q80, was used (i.e. the mean monthly stream flow that is exceeded 80% of the time accounting for seasonal streamflow variability).
Click on the toggle to see the equation to calculate the WSI.
WSI equation
Where Ww is the water withdrawal and Aw is the water availability. Ew is the environmental flow requirement. Groundwater depletion, defined as the persistent removal of groundwater from aquifer storage owing to abstraction, has been estimated for the benchmark year 2010 at a 0.5° grid. Drought frequency was derived by counting the occurrences of drought events, i.e. when stream flow falls below the threshold Q80, and drought index was calculated by dividing drought frequency by the average frequency over the period 1960–2010.
ADB (2013) follows a different approach which also related water availability with other securities (i.e. energy and food) by introducing the dimension economic water security. Here, indicators such as agricultural independency are introduced as well as agricultural use efficiency, industrial productivity or hydropower dependency. In the example of GWP (2012) the combination of these categories adds up to a overall productive economies index.
→ Exercise question: Which indicators best represent the dimension „Availability “ in your country/region?
2.3.2 Indices to measure water accessibility (view table)
See more data sources for water accessibility
The indicators selected for this dimension are straightforward and according to the authors calculated through percentage of population with improved sanitation and drinking water, were adopted to represent accessibility of water to people mainly due to varying socio-economic conditions.
Other authors, like GWP (2012) include similar indicators such as piped water access (%) and access to sanitation (%) but add another one called hygiene (age-standardised DALYs per 100,000 people for the incidence of diarrhea). Babel et al. (2020) also include similar indicators including access to piped water supply (%), service area or piped water supply (%), average distance travelled to fetch water (km) and safe drinking water inaccessibility(%).
Under another category called “Hygiene and sanitation”, they include number of people using improved sanitation facilities and water borne disease factor (%). Jensen and Wu (2018) follow a different approach using indicators for the dimension “Access” such as: water treatment capacity (demand/treatment capacity in %), coverage (households with piped water supply in %), sustainability of service quality (cost recovery ratio), and affordability (average bill as percentage of average income).
2.3.3 Indices to measure water safety and quality (view table)
See more data sources for water quality
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) published by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University includes a Water Quality Index (WATQI). The WATQI provides a first global effort at reporting and estimating water quality on the basis of five commonly reported quality parameters: dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, pH value, and total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations (Srebotnjak et al., 2012).
Babel et al. (2020) focus on the quality of the supplied water including perceptional indicators such as customer satisfaction with water quality and other related to sanitation such as type of water treatment employed. The other indicators focus on the physical and chemical quality of water: coliform count of supplied water, residual chlorine, turbidity and pH. Dickson et al. (2016) classify contaminants using WHO water quality indicators and identifies pollution sources. Under the dimension of environment, they also use a water quality index, BOD5, DO and subsistence fish as indicators. Jensen and Wu (2018) use a more direct metric and specific for cities which is the proportion of water intake at Grade 2 level (which is a Chinese standard).
GWP (2012) includes a so-called component risk management which is defined as the extent to which countries are buffered from the effects of rainfall variability through large dam storage. Differently, Babel et al. (2020) call this dimension water-related disasters and selected disaster mitigation and disaster preparedness as indicators to measure it. In turn disaster mitigation is measured quantifying the disaster budget factor (%), flood damage (USD) and proportional area of flooding (%). For disaster preparedness, they consider drainage factor (%), number of disaster workshops with vulnerable communities and flood risk mapping.
Jensen and Wu (2018) name this dimension “Risk” assessing it also using floods as the main water-related hazard. However, they use differently metrics, namely, flood frequency (major flooding blackspots), and flood damage (number of casualties). Moreover, they also include health risks (coverage of sewerage network in %) and supply continuity (customers with 24-h supply).
Garrick and Hall (2014) propose a risk-based framework which differentiates hazard, exposure, and vulnerability as measurable quantities. In this approach, under the dimension “Risk” flood, droughts, risks to the environment of harmful water quantity/quality and risks of inadequate supply and sanitation are considered. Under the dimension “Resilience to water-related hazards”, the GWP (2012) quantifies a risk index considering floods/windstorms, droughts, and storm surges/coastal floods.
2.3.4 Indices to measure water governance performance (view table)
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To evaluate the governance dimension, we need to be innovative, as there is no quantitative information. The approach and indicators should be selected based on the water challenges in the region you look at. The ‘world governance index’ developed by World Bank is calculated at country scale considering six different aspects: (i) Voice and accountability; (ii) Political stability and absence of violence; (iii) Government effectiveness; (iv) Regulatory quality, (v) Rule of law, (vi) Control of corruption. In addition, transboundary governance status of (i) legal framework and (ii) hydro political tension for 286 river basins of the world was assessed.
Babel et al. (2020) used questionnaires under three indicators: (i) overall management of the water sector, (ii) potential to adapt to future changes, (iii) citizen support for water security. Jensen and Wu (2018) used indicators such as strategic planning, disaster management and regulation, also assessed using questionnaires.
→ Exercise Question: Which indicators best represent the dimension „Management (Governance)“ in your country/region?
Data Overview
Major data sources to evaluate Water Security and calculate respective indicators
- Water resources database: AQUASTAT
- World Bank: Open data
- Transboundary Water Indicators: TWAP RB
- Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: WHO/UNICEF
Click on the toggle below to see more data sources for the different Water Security Dimensions
Information about the data sources
AQUASTAT is the FAO's global information system on water resources and agricultural water management. It collects, analyses and provides free access to over 180 variables and indicators by country from 1960. AQUASTAT plays a key role in the monitoring of the SDG 6, and in particular indicators of target 6.4 on water stress and water use efficiency. Data about the following subjects can be found: (i) water resources: internal, transboundary, total, (ii) water uses: by sector, by source, wastewater, (iii) irrigation, (iv) dams, (v) water-related institutions, policies and legislation.
The World Bank Indicators is a database that contains a wide range of data for all its member countries. The available data covers themes such as (i) poverty and inequality, (ii) people, (iii) environment (which includes water, energy and food-related indicators), (iv) economy, (v) states and markets, (vi) global links.Much of the data comes from the statistical systems of member countries, and the quality of global data depends on how well these national systems perform.
The TWAP RB Indicators are based on the TWAP RB assessment. The latter derived from a number of indicators and methodology devised during the TWAP MSP (Medium Size Project) and is not intended to be a global ‘state-of-the-environment’ assessment, but rather a relative analysis of basins based on risks to societies and ecosystems. During this design phase, five ‘clusters’ of issues were identified as being of relevance to both populations and ecosystems: (i) water quantity, (ii) water quality, (iii) ecosystems, (iv) governance, and (v) socioeconomics.
WASH Database: the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) global database includes nearly 5,000 national datasets enabling the production of estimates for over 200 countries.
See More Data Sources for Water Availability
For more data go to: http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/query/index.html?lang=en
Global data set for human water stress can be downloaded here: http://www.riverthreat.net/data.html
Water Footprint Statistics: https://waterfootprint.org/en/resources/waterstat/
The worlds water data: https://www.worldwater.org/water-data/
See More Data Sources for Water Quality
GEMStat is a global database containing water quality data from 5,705 stations worldwide: https://gemstat.bafg.de/
An interactive tool to identify coastal and riverine flood risks, and analyze the costs and benefits of investing in flood protection: https://www.wri.org/applications/aqueduct/floods
And also a data set on global flood hazards: https://www.wri.org/resources/data-sets/aqueduct-floods-hazard-maps
See More Data Sources for Water Governance
The Worldwide governance indicators (WGI) project provides aggregated and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries over the period 1996-2018 for the above mentioned aspects: https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/
The Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme provides information for the 286 transboundary river basins of the world: http://twap-rivers.org/indicators/