Water Security: Principles, Perspectives and Practices

The purpose of this book is to present an overview of the latest research,

policy, practitioner, academic, and international thinking on water security—

an issue that, like water governance a few years ago, has developed much

policy awareness and momentum with a wide range of stakeholders. As a

concept it is open to multiple interpretations, and the authors here set out the

various approaches to the topic from different perspectives.

Key themes addressed include:

• Water security as a foreign policy issue

• The interconnected variables of water, food, and human security

• Dimensions other than military and international relations concerns

around water security

• Water security theory and methods, tools and audits

The book is loosely based on a Master’s level degree plus a short profes￾sional course on water security both given at the University of East Anglia,

delivered by international authorities on their subjects. It should serve as an

introductory textbook as well as be of value to professionals, NGOs, and

policymakers.

Bruce Lankford is Professor of Water and Irrigation Policy in the School of

International Development at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Karen Bakker is a Professor in Geography, Canada Research Chair in Political

Ecology, and Director of the Program on Water Governance at the University

of British Columbia, Canada.

Mark Zeitoun is a Reader in the School of International Development at the

University of East Anglia, UK, and Co-Director of the UEA Water Security

Research Centre.

Declan Conway is Professor of Water Resources and Climate Change in the

School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK.

Water Security

This page intentionally left blank

Water Security

Principles, Perspectives, and Practices

Edited by Bruce Lankford,

Karen Bakker, Mark Zeitoun,

and Declan Conway

First published 2013

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,

an informa business

© 2013 Bruce Lankford, Karen Bakker, Mark Zeitoun, and Declan

Conway, selection and editorial material; individual chapters, the

contributors

The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial

material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been

asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or

reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,

or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including

photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or

retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks

or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and

explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Water security : principles, perspectives and practices / edited by

Bruce Lankford, Karen Bakker, Mark Zeitoun and Declan Conway.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Water supply—Government policy. 2. Water security.

3. Water resources development. I. Lankford, Bruce A.

HD1691.W3646 2013

333.91—dc23

2013015504

ISBN: 978-0-415-53470-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-53471-0 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-11320-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Preface ix

Contributors xi

PART I

Frameworks and Approaches to Water Security 1

1 Introduction: A Battle of Ideas for Water Security 3

MARK ZEITOUN, BRUCE LANKFORD, KAREN BAKKER,

AND DECLAN CONWAY

2 The Web of Sustainable Water Security 11

MARK ZEITOUN

3 The Water Security Paradox and International Law:

Securitisation as an Obstacle to Achieving Water

Security and the Role of Law in Desecuritising

the World’s Most Precious Resource 26

CHRISTINA LEB AND PATRICIA WOUTERS

PART II

Perspectives and Principles 47

4 Debating the Concept of Water Security 49

CHRISTINA COOK AND KAREN BAKKER

5 The Multiform Water Scarcity Dimension 64

MALIN FALKENMARK

6 Water Security in a Changing Climate 80

DECLAN CONWAY

Contents

vi Contents

7 The Role of Cities as Drivers of International

Transboundary Water Management Processes 101

ANTON EARLE

8 The Water–Energy Nexus: Meeting Growing Demand

in a Resource-Constrained World 115

ANTONY FROGGATT

9 Water Security for Ecosystems, Ecosystems for Water Security 130

DAVID TICKNER AND MIKE ACREMAN

10 From Water Productivity to Water Security: A Paradigm Shift? 148

FLORIANE CLEMENT

11 Transboundary Water Security: Reviewing the

Importance of National Regulatory and Accountability

Capacities in International Transboundary River Basins 166

NAHO MIRUMACHI

PART III

Water Security as Practice Debates 181

12 Easy as 1, 2, 3? Political and Technical Considerations

for Designing Water Security Indicators 183

NATHANIEL MASON

13 Water Security Risk and Response: The Logic

and Limits of Economic Instruments 204

DUSTIN GARRICK AND ROBERT HOPE

14 Corporate Water Stewardship: Exploring Private

Sector Engagement in Water Security 220

NICK HEPWORTH AND STUART ORR

15 The Shotgun Marriage: Water Security, Cultural Politics, and

Forced Engagements between Official and Local Rights

Frameworks 239

RUTGERD BOELENS

16 Infrastructure Hydromentalities: Water Sharing,

Water Control, and Water (In)security 256

BRUCE LANKFORD

Contents vii

17 The Strategic Dimensions of Water: From National

Security to Sustainable Security 273

BENJAMIN ZALA

18 Dances with Wolves: Four Flood Security Frames 289

JEROEN WARNER

19 Household Water Security and the Human Right to Water

and Sanitation 307

JONATHAN CHENOWETH, ROSALIND MALCOLM, STEVE PEDLEY,

AND THOKO KAIME

PART IV

Conclusion 319

20 Food-Water Security: Beyond Water Resources and

the Water Sector 321

J. A. (TONY) ALLAN

21 A Synthesis Chapter: The Incodys Water Security Model 336

BRUCE LANKFORD

Index 353

This page intentionally left blank

It is perhaps not surprising that the increasing use of the term water security

mirrors growing concerns over how society’s needs for resources will be met

and who will gain relative to others. Water security is a lens through which

to understand the risks of a lack of water, poor quality water, and inad￾equate flood protection, as well as how these are distributed. This contrasts

with a vernacular understanding of the notion of security, which for water

would imply that in facing these risks, it should be appropriated, annexed

and secured. What this book (and literature elsewhere) shows is that a ‘secu￾ritisation’ interpretation of water security is unhelpful in its framing of the

challenge of managing water.

Yet water security resonates with donors, countries, individuals, and

organisations. Water security invokes the ideas of risk but also action—that

water insecurities exist and can be managed—and in a much more acute way

than the rather more neutral term IWRM (integrated water resources man￾agement) ever did. While some water managers, politicians, CEOs, or indi￾viduals might see water security in its unilateral ‘securing’ way, many more

intuitively understand and witness the shared nature of the resource. This

collective, integrated, and action-oriented view of water and water security

is, arguably, common knowledge amongst water scientists, managers, and

users. Thus, although this new term has arrived, their experiences tell them

that the challenges of managing and sharing water remain considerable and

highly complex. In short, little has changed; it would be an absurdity for

water managers and scientists to be exhorted to rethink water in a new

securitising way.

Nevertheless, even when the intention is better management, appropria￾tive and securitising forces are generated continuously, sometimes subtly

and unwittingly, potentially exacerbating shortages and resulting in ineq￾uitable distribution of water and water benefits. For example, placing an

irrigation scheme above a small town can disrupt shares of river water dur￾ing droughts and dry seasons, or in another example, the introduction of

water charges for drinking water might marginalise the poorest in a com￾munity. To uncover and mitigate these appropriative forces for the benefit of

public and environmental goods and services requires an understanding of

many factors—entirely the ethos and concern of integrated water resources

Preface

x Preface

management. Therefore, perhaps what is interesting about water security is

that, by implying unilateral action to securitise a resource, it acts as guard

against this phenomenon reminding us that water is prone to capture, and

therefore is best managed when understood collectively and governed coop￾eratively. A balance exists; to reflect upon possible inequities and insecuri￾ties implied by water security combined with the use of integrative adaptive

frameworks (represented by IWRM) to deliver collective water solutions.

In this book, our chapter authors reflect on the idea of water security,

applying their own specific lenses and experiences. As editors, we sought out

authors that would cover the key themes in water and water security (e.g.,

law, climate change, domestic use, cities) and, without giving our contribu￾tors a strong predetermined interpretation of water security, we asked them

to write from their perspectives. The collective effort in this book may not

be a complete picture of the myriad dimensions of water and water security,

but they do reflect some of the tensions and difficulties faced by science in

accommodating the idea of water security (in terms of principles, perspec￾tives, and practice) while navigating political, economic, environmental, and

social concerns and demands for a sometimes limited and usually highly

variable resource.

We have been helped through the editing process by many people. We

warmly acknowledge the support of Earthscan, particularly Tim Hardwick

and Ashley Wright, and also their copyediting team.

Considerable thanks are also due to all our reviewers who provided com￾ments on drafts by our chapter authors: Maite Aldaya, Tony Allan, Henning

Bjornlund, Janosz Bogardi, Vincent Casey, Anton Earle, Marie Ekstrom,

Tom Franks, Dustin Garrick, Phil Hirsch, Holger Hoff, Guy Howard, Wil￾liam Howarth, Bryan Karney, Nicole Kranz, Tobias Krueger, Jamie Linton,

Bjørn-Oliver Magsig, Michael Mason, Owen McIntyre, Katharine Meehan,

Doug Merrey, Francois Molle, Jason Morrissette, Mike Muller, Peter New￾borne, Micheal Norton, Thomas Perreault, Jaimie Pittock, Brian Richter,

Chris Scott, Jan Selby, Afreen Siddiqi, Suvi Sojamo, Larry Swatuk, Erik

Swyngedouw, Dan Tarlock, and Govindarajan Venkatesh. Your insights

and diligence greatly improved this book’s exploration of the idea of water

security.

Bruce Lankford, Karen Bakker, Mark Zeitoun, Declan Conway

10 April 2013

Mike Acreman is Head of Hydro-Ecology and Wetlands at the Centre for

Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK, and Visiting Professor at Uni￾versity College London. His expertise is in environmental flows in riv￾ers and wetland hydrology. In the UK, he is advisor to the Environment

Agency and Natural England, with recent work focusing on defining envi￾ronmental flows for the Water Framework Directive and impact assess￾ment of wetlands. He was a lead author on freshwater systems in the UK

National Ecosystem Assessment and he sits on the WWF-UK Programme

Committee. Internationally, he is an advisor to IUCN, the Convention on

Wetlands (Ramsar), and the World Bank advisory panel on environmen￾tal flows. He has recently edited a Special Issue of Hydrological Sciences

Journal on Ecosystem Services of Wetlands. He is currently leading work

for the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Wetlands (Ramsar) on

the role of biodiversity in the water cycle.

J. A. (Tony) Allan heads the London Water Research Group at King’s Col￾lege London and SOAS. He specialises in the analysis of water resources

in semi-arid regions and on the role of global systems in ameliorating local

and regional water deficits. He pointed out that water-short economies

achieve water and food security mainly by importing water-intensive food

commodities. He coined the concept of virtual water. His ideas are set

out in The Middle East Water Question: Hydropolitics and the Global

Economy and in a new book, Virtual Water. He is currently working on

why the accounting systems in the food supply chain are dangerously blind

to the costs of water and of misallocating it. In 2008, he was awarded

the Stockholm Water Prize in recognition of his contribution to water sci￾ence. In 2011, he became Académico Correspondiente Internacional of the

Academy of Sciences of Spain.

Karen Bakker is a professor in geography, Canada Research Chair in Politi￾cal Ecology, and Director of the Program on Water Governance at the

University of British Columbia (www.watergovernance.ca). Her research

interests span political economy, political ecology, and water manage￾ment, with a current focus on water supply privatization, delegated water

management, transboundary water governance, and access to urban

Contributors

xii Contributors

water supply in developing countries. She has published in development

studies, environmental studies, geography, urban studies, and interdisci￾plinary environmental science (including science, global environmental

change, and world development). Her two most recent book publications

are: Eau Canada (UBC Press, 2007) and Privatizing Water: Governance

Failure and the World’s Urban Water Crisis (Cornell University Press,

2010). Fluent in French and Spanish, Dr. Bakker regularly acts as an

advisor to governments and nongovernmental and international organi￾zations, including the OECD, various UN agencies, DfID, and the Con￾ference Board of Canada.

Rutgerd Boelens is Associate Professor in Water Management and Social

Justice, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and Visiting Professor

at the Catholic University of Peru. His research focuses on water rights,

legal pluralism, cultural politics, and political ecology in Latin America

and Spain. He directed the Water Law and Indigenous Rights (WALIR)

program; is coordinator of the international Justicia Hídrica/Water Jus￾tice alliance (comparative research on water accumulation and conflict

in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia); and directs the programs “Strug￾gling for Water Security” and “The Transnationalization of Local Water

Struggles” of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

Recent books include Liquid Relations: Contested Water Rights and

Legal Complexity (with Roth/Zwarteveen, Rutgers University Press,

2005); Water and Indigenous Peoples (UNESCO, 2006); Aguas Rebel￾des (IEP/Imprefepp, 2009); Out of the Mainstream: Water Rights, Poli￾tics and Identity (with Getches/Guevara, Earthscan, 2010); and Justicia

Hídrica: Accumulation, Conflict and Civil Society Action (with Cremers/

Zwarteveen, IEP, 2011).

Jonathan Chenoweth is a lecturer in natural resources management in

the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey. His

research focuses upon the institutional and policy dimensions of water

management and sustainable development in developed and developing

regions including in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, the Middle East,

and Africa. His recent work has focused on coping with water scarcity,

water resources management in the context of climate change, attitudes

to water supply services, and the role of the public versus private sector

in the management of water and sanitation services.

Floriane Clément worked as a postdoctoral fellow and researcher at the

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Hyderabad, India,

from 2008 to 2012. She is now posted at the IWMI Nepal Office. She

has a multidisciplinary background, with an engineering degree, an MSc

in environmental sciences, and a PhD in geography/political science

from Newcastle University (UK). In her pre-PhD life, she gained a solid

experience on industrial and public water issues while working at the

Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry Paris—Ile-de-France. Her

Contributors xiii

main research interest is the analysis of the gap between discourses and

practices/outcomes in government-led and donor-funded programmes in

the field of natural resource management. Her research has cut across

spatial scales and research perspectives, combining institutional analysis,

discourse analysis, and political economy. She has work experience in

France, Vietnam, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. She has published in inter￾national peer-reviewed geography and political science journals.

Declan Conway is Professor of Water Resources and Climate Change in

the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK.

His research concentrates on the interactions between climate, water

resources, and society, with extensive experience in developing countries.

He has a broad base of expertise that encompasses detailed knowledge

of climate models, scenario generation, climate impacts assessment, and

research and applied consultancy on policy and adaptation issues. He has

long-term research interests in Ethiopia, the Nile Basin, and China. He is

a founding member of UEA Water Security and is closely involved in the

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He enjoys interdisciplin￾ary research that links the biophysical and social contexts of climate and

water.

Christina Cook is a post-doctoral fellow in the department of geography

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her interdisciplinary train￾ing in resource management and sustainability, law, and biological sci￾ences grounds her sociolegal research in water governance. Her current

research interests include the politics of scale in water governance, inter￾sections between water and land governance, drinking water governance

and metagenomics, and water rights regimes.

Anton Earle is a geographer with an academic background in environmen￾tal management, specialising in transboundary integrated water resource

management, facilitating the interaction between governments, basin

organisations, and other stakeholders in international river and lake

basins. He is experienced in institutional development and policy forma￾tion for water resource management at the interstate level in the Southern

and East African regions, the Middle East, and internationally. In 2010,

he was the lead editor for the Earthscan book Transboundary Water Man￾agement: Principles and Practise, aimed at practitioners and advanced

students in that field. He is the Director of Capacity Development at the

Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and is completing a PhD

in Peace and Development at the School of Global Studies at the Univer￾sity of Gothenburg. His thesis investigates the role of nonstate actors in

transboundary water management processes.

Malin Falkenmark is Professor of Applied and International Hydrology, and

tied to both the Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University and

Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Her particular interests

are interdisciplinary, with focus on similarities and differences between

xiv Contributors

different regions, especially linkages between land and water and their

policy implications. She has worked on water scarcity and water security

issues for most of the last two decades, also studying the crucial role of the

global water cycle as the bloodstream of the biosphere, deeply involved

not only in human life support but also in generating environmental side

effects from human efforts to harvest water, energy, and biomass from the

natural landscape. She is a Global 500 Laureate and has been awarded

the Swedish KTH Great Prize, the International Hydrology Prize, the

2005 Crystal Drop Award of IWRA, the Volvo Environment Prize, and

the Prince Albert II of Monaco Award.

Antony Froggatt has studied energy and environmental policy at the

University of Westminster and the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex

University. He is currently an independent consultant on international

energy issues and a senior research fellow at Chatham House (also known

as the Royal Institute for International Affairs). While working at Cha￾tham House he has specialised on energy security and, in particular,

working in emerging economies with extensive work in China on the

establishment and methodologies of low carbon economic development.

He was also an associate fellow at Warwick Business School from 2006

to 2007 and gave lectures at the Ecole des Mines de Nantes in France. He

has worked as a consultant with environmental groups, academics, and

public bodies, including the European Parliament and Commission in

Europe and Asia, specialising in the development of policies, initiatives,

and capacity building.

Dustin Garrick is a research fellow at the University of Oxford specialising

in comparative water policy and economic analysis. His research exam￾ines the effectiveness of policy responses to water scarcity and climate risk

in large transboundary rivers, particularly in semi-arid basins within or

shared by federal countries. This research applies concepts and methods

of institutional economics and draws heavily on the Institutional Analy￾sis and Development Framework advanced by Elinor Ostrom and col￾leagues. Dr. Garrick has over a decade of experience at the intersection of

water research and policy, with a geographic focus in the Western United

States and Australia. Before joining Oxford in 2011, he was a Fulbright

Scholar in Australia (2010–2011), where he examined water trading and

river basin governance in the Murray-Darling Basin. He maintains an

active water policy and economics research programme in Australia, and

is a research associate with the Centre for Water Economics, Environ￾ment and Policy at Australia National University. He holds a PhD in

geography (University of Arizona) and master’s degree in environmental

science and policy (Columbia University).

Nick Hepworth has worked in water and environment management for

20 years in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. As a practitioner,

regulator, consultant, and researcher, he has helped governments,