Articles in this edition span the spectrum of actions needed to contribute to water security in the face of widening and deepening concerns around drought. 

Monitoring provides the essential foundations for action. In the case of drought, another report, from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (see News), reviews current practices of drought impact monitoring. Water quantity monitoring covers how volumes present compared to historical records. This core need has to be connected with monitoring of the impacts of drought across sectors such as domestic water supply, agriculture and the environment. Drought is a complex, slow-onset issue and an understanding of impacts is key to reducing vulnerability. 

There is a broader need for institutional strengthening and coordinated action across the sector. Dealing with drought in this context is part of wider national ambitions and outlook. Here we see the importance of initiatives such as Indonesia’s National Water Self-Sufficiency Initiative. This aims to almost double the number of households with access to piped water over a five-year period. Investment is important here, but so too is a focus on operational excellence. 

Other aspects can be layered on top of this sector outlook. This includes diversifying water sources. A changing climate and therefore prospect for drought is a long-term concern, but, as the UNCCD report makes clear, needs are very real today. Rainwater harvesting (see p26)can quickly enhance security locally. It also provides a focus for education and awareness-raising. 

Specific tools and approaches can also help the sector navigate the path from the current day into the localised, uncertain future. Here we see the value in the use of scenarios, such as the approach being deployed in Sydney (p37). There, scenarios are helping make clear the value in pursuing different strategies, such as increasing investment in catchment management, implementing use of green, blue and grey features in urban areas and agriculture, and envisioning the local bulk water supplier as a manager of a carbon-positive catchment. 

Another opportunity is to draw on the wisdom of Indigenous knowledge – as is explored on p13, looking at the case of New Zealand. Indeed, this article sets out an approach that actively builds partnerships to bring together the best of what science and Indigenous knowledge have to offer. 

Alongside that spectrum of options, a further key to unlocking water security is to exchange experiences on advancing our sector. As the articles on the Water and Development Congress & Exhibition (p30), ASPIRE (p13) and Water Horizons (p44) events show, IWA is certainly playing its part in delivering a drought response. 

Keith Hayward, Editor 

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Overplaying the connections risks undermining the case for water – an otherwise well-put argument can seem less than convincing if any weaknesses are apparent. 

At the same time, there are aspects of development that do go hand in hand. The vital connection between water and health is one such example. Several of the news articles in this edition underline how evidence of the importance of this connection is still emerging. 

One example is the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with the World Health Organization (WHO) recently having published its research agenda on this theme (see News and Analysis). 

At the core of the publication is a set of recommended research priorities that WHO has been working to advance. It includes fuller understanding of the contribution of WASH to, for example, reducing the need for antibiotic use, and strategies for WASH in health-care facilities. (See Analysis). 

The research priorities that WHO highlights also include wider cross-cutting concerns, such as the need to gain a better understanding of how, for example, limited access to water and sanitation might contribute to infection with AMR. 

In another dimension of the water-health connection, recent research has shed light on the impacts of flooding on human health (see News). The connection with direct impacts, from drowning to electrocution, is intuitively clear. However, this research has taken a broader approach than this. 

One study, believed to be the world’s largest and most comprehensive of the long-term health impacts of flooding, looked at post-flood hospitalisations over a 20-year period for almost 750 communities in eight countries around the world. Looking overall and at 10 specific health issues, evidence of wider health impacts emerged. 

Another study looked at the impact of floods on death rates over the last 20 years, again revealing evidence of wider impacts. 

Faced with concerns around the prospects for more intense flooding due to climate change, such research points to growing relevance of this type of water-health connection on top of the more direct impacts. 

Given such widening of the concerns around water-health connections, it is fitting that the recipient of last year’s IWA Global Water Award was Professor Joan Rose. Her views are shared in this issue (p25). She highlights in particular the prospect of a growing global microbial load – of both human and animal origin – on the water environment, as part of wider pressures on water quality. 

Her expertise and passion reflect a deep connection within IWA between water and health – seen not least in our Specialist Group and our journal on these entwined themes. It is clear that this is a deep connection that will be of huge relevance in the years ahead. 

 Keith Hayward, Editor 

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One is the article on p14 exploring the reuse of wastewater – or, more accurately, used water – in agriculture. Concerns about the pressures on water resources are forever increasing, not least because of climate change. Planned reuse of wastewater then becomes a policy option to pursue in response, with a need to find agriculture’s place in that planned reuse.

The potential here is clear. As the article highlights, less than 20% of wastewater is treated to a usable level. Of this treated water, 2-15% is reused for irrigation.

At the same time, this issue’s article on the ‘slow pandemic’ of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) highlights the dilemmas of trying to provide solutions. On the one hand, wastewater in this instance is the interface where microbes are exposed to antimicrobials – so is seemingly part of the problem. But the article signals that wastewater treatment tends to improve prospects around dealing with AMR – and so is also seemingly part of the solution.

Climate change is compounding the challenges of balancing multiple interests and factors around water. The Analysis article opposite summarises the findings of a report drawing attention to the plight of the most vulnerable section of global society – refugees.

Climate change is just part of the fragility that underpins this vulnerability. Conflict and, within that wider picture, forcible displacement have complex roots. But the climate dimension is there – in terms of the fact that a very high proportion of people fleeing their homes do so in countries where there is exposure to climate-related hazards, and also in terms of the more specific evidence for climate-related hazards being a driver for displacement.

A more recent report, The Global Threat of Drying Lands: Regional and global aridity trends and future projections, published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification for its COP16 meeting in December, raises a wider-reaching concern. The report states that 77.6% of Earth’s land experienced drier conditions during the three decades leading up to 2020 compared with the previous 30-year period. Drylands expanded by about 4.3 million km2 and, as the planet continues to warm, the report’s worst-case scenario projections suggest up to 5 billion people could live in drylands by the end of the century.

This all emphasises the need for cohesive water sector strategies that have the buy-in of stakeholders.

In the article on p25, we see how Fiji, one of IWA’s newer Governing Members, is embarking on implementation of its 2050 water sector strategy. The strategy is built on a national collective planning exercise and we can see that IWA’s scope is of clear relevance to priorities highlighted. This includes core concerns such as addressing non-revenue water and regulatory matters such as tariffs. So too for the task of combining use of both centralised and decentralised approaches to wastewater treatment.

The water community around the world faces challenges in advancing sector strategies, especially given the scale of the task of balancing multiple interests and factors. Given such prospects, the need for solidarity and sharing of experiences is greater than ever.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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The top-line summary for the SDGs is that the world is on track for only 17% of the associated targets. There is minimal or moderate progress on almost half of them. That leaves more than one third where progress has stalled or where there has even been regression.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024 “sobering reading”.

For SDG 6, progress on target 6.2, access to sanitation & hygiene, is summarised as moderate but with acceleration needed. There has been marginal progress, with significant acceleration needed, for targets 6.1, safe drinking water; 6.3, water quality; 6.4, water use efficiency; and 6.b, participatory water & sanitation management. Meanwhile, targets 6.5, transboundary water cooperation; and 6.6, water-related ecosystems, have stagnated, with 6.a, international cooperation on water & sanitation, regressing.

At the current speed, there will still be 2 billion people without safely managed drinking water in 2030, 3 billion without safely managed sanitation, and 1.4 billion without basic hygiene services.

Recently released SDG 6 progress reports look deeper, giving further cause of concern.

For water-related ecosystems, covered by indicator 6.6.1, the aggregated data show, for example, that in around half of countries one or more water-related ecosystem types are in a state of degradation.

For integrated water resources management, assessed by indicator 6.5.1, at the current rate, sustainable management will be achieved no sooner than 2049, with at least 3.3 billion people likely to be lacking effective governance as of 2030.

Indicator 6.3.1 tracks wastewater treatment. While figures are given for the proportion of wastewater receiving some treatment (76%) and being treated ‘safely’ (60%), there is a glaring problem. Only 107 countries reported some wastewater statistics, and the figures for ‘some’ and ‘safe’ treatment could only be calculated for 73 and 42 countries respectively. This picture was worse for the industrial wastewater component, with data reported from only 22 countries.

Meanwhile, indicator 6.3.2 covers ambient water quality. The progress report here states that, by 2030, the health and livelihoods of 4.8 billion people could be at risk. Here, 120 countries reported on the indicator following a 2023 push. If 120 sounds low, the year before there was reporting by only 89 countries.

The message is that a huge amount still needs to be done to achieve SDG 6. This requires commitment and, as ever, investment. But the message is also that there are great gaps in our understanding.

Water is not alone, and this is why the wider SDG report calls for action on data. There is good data coverage for 68% of indicators and, in fact, SDG 6 overall compares quite well with other goals. The opportunity ahead is to evolve the role of national statistical offices, build data partnerships, including with municipal and city governments, and engage citizens in data production. Not only does the water sector have a part to play in this, but it can also demonstrate leadership in the move to harness the power of data.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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Global efforts on the two subsectors have been hindered by a lack of “comprehensive, accurate, current, and detailed information on how much, and how well, financial resources are being spent in the sector at the national, regional, and global levels,” the authors state. They add that, to the best of their knowledge, “no previous studies have succeeded in producing reliable estimates of the spending gaps in WSS and irrigation because of the dearth of comprehensive national spending information from budgetary sources.”

The aim of the report, Funding A Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, is to guide thinking on alternative ways to close the funding gaps. It notes recent assessments that have highlighted a need to at least quadruple current rates of progress to achieve universal coverage of safe water supply and sanitation by 2030. It also points to much that can be done by governments and the sector itself.

More than 90% of spending in the sector comes from the public sector, with less than 2% coming from private sector investments, and the rates are not likely to change soon. But while it will not be easy to increase public financing, the study found that most countries are not spending their full budget allocations. Indeed, almost 30% of allocations go unspent. Because of what the authors describe as “systemic constraints on the sector’s absorptive capacity”, spending is hindered by institutional, governance and project management issues.

On top of this, only 14% of water utilities in the Bank’s IBNET database cover their full costs. The study also assessed the ‘efficiency losses’ of utilities in the database, putting these at 16% of average total operating costs for a typical utility. Improving on this is imperative, but needs “drastic changes across the spectrum”, from engineering design to workforce motivation.

The report also highlights the extent to which government support is biased towards service provision for urban and non-poor segments of society. If governments really have the goals of universal access to water supply and sanitation in mind, then these biases need to be addressed.

While it is unlikely that rates of progress will quadruple to meet the 2030 deadline, the report offers grounds for optimism. Rather than being faced with a funding gap that is seemingly unlikely to be filled, there are hugely challenging issues, but ones we know can be addressed.

This is the lens through which to read the articles in this edition. From the technology focus of the opportunities to advance the design and operation of large wastewater treatment plants through to the essential need to support and build the human capacity in the sector. From the policy opportunities for connecting the climate agenda with a drive towards resilient services through to how we manage urban drainage assets. Greater funding is not a useful goal in isolation. A goal of well-run service providers, with institutional and governance set-ups that support them, is, and we know this is something that is achievable.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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At the same time, we still see that delivering on even the most basic of needs can represent a huge achievement, not least for access to a safe water supply. The article on p18 charts the transformation under way in India’s Odisha state, rolling out the 24/7 Drink from Tap initiative. Meanwhile, this edition’s cover story (p22) summarises China’s approach to meeting the water supply needs of its rural communities across the country’s expanse.

Water security should indeed be a longer-term goal. This year’s World Water Development Report highlights water’s role in peace and prosperity. Water security can be seen as the route to the fullest contribution to that peace and prosperity. But this security is inseparable from the basic needs. And whether it is access to a tap or a toilet, meeting these basic needs must not just be a case of connect and forget – the access needs to be sustained.

That means ensuring access to a safe water supply on an ongoing basis. Here, there is a huge task ahead with small water supplies.

The recent launch by the World Health Organization (WHO) of its new Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality: Small Water Supplies (see News) is vitally important here. Replacing WHO’s guidelines for community supplies that date back 27 years, the new document and supporting tool for sanitary inspections integrate the concept of water safety planning tailored to small supplies for the first time.

The other big change with the new guidelines is that they are framed around three ways that supplies are managed – by households, by communities, and those that are professionally managed. The guidelines aim at progressive improvement and, notably, one of their six key recommendations is to adopt regulatory approaches that promote a shift towards professionalised operation and management of these supplies.

WHO also notes that the challenges that many small supplies face are being exacerbated by the impacts of climate change on water quality and quantity.

Prospects for water scarcity are already hugely concerning. A recent study (see News) factored in and signalled the importance of water quality.

Looking at 10,000 sub-basins worldwide and incorporating nitrogen pollution, the number of sub-basins having clean water scarcity is 2.5 times that of the number with water scarcity as of 2010. In 2050, it is put at more than three times the number, with more than 3000 sub-basins facing clean water scarcity under the worst-case scenario considered. What is more, under this worst-case scenario sewage is projected as the main source of nitrogen pollution in rivers because of rapid urbanisation and insufficient wastewater treatment and infrastructure.

As we look ahead, there is, on the one hand, a call for greater professionalisation of water supply management. But there is also a clear need to make sure the sanitation loop is closed. Then, together, supply and sanitation can provide the foundations needed for a water secure future.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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This puts utilities at the sharp end of climate change, dealing with the shifting impacts of flood and drought through practical actions and, increasingly, setting out and implementing ambitions that span both adaptation and mitigation measures.

With the latest COP meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change now done, this is a role that is becoming ever-more important. The water sector’s voice is – or should be – a crucial one and, at the same time, it offers a credible one. The sector can speak first-hand of the current and future challenges around coping with the impacts of climate change. This is alongside those opportunities to execute and share its own mitigation actions to help turn the tide on emissions.

The optimistic view of COP28 is that it at last marks the turning point on a transition away from fossil fuels. But given that 2023 is set to go down on record as the hottest year in history, to say that this turning point is long overdue is an understatement.

There were other positives, meaning COP28 marked progress on initiatives and action fronts that the water sector can engage with and champion.

To begin with, there was the adoption of the framework of a global goal on adaptation. With a focus on resilience and adaptive capacity, this includes access to water and protection of aquatic ecosystems as central aspects of an initiative aiming in particular at the billions of people vulnerable to climate change impacts.

There are also goals of tripling renewables and of doubling energy efficiency measures, in which every country has a part to play. There is operationalisation of the fund for loss and damage, marking a step towards this area as the third pillar of climate action. Another is the progress on actions to cut emissions of methane.

These are all areas in which utilities can respond to the need for climate action. Decisions on this will not be made in a vacuum; investment plans and expenditure need to be justified, as do any resulting tariff changes. This is as it should be. Indeed, a robust case for practical steps firmly grounded as contributions to a bigger picture is precisely what is needed from the sector to best open the way for action and commitments by others.

This all means utilities can be engines for climate action in two ways. One is a direct role, contributing to local and national climate policy and actions. The other is indirect, through interactions, partnerships, and the projection of their voices into the public domain. Both can contribute to the formulation of the next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are to be prepared in the run-up to COP30 in 2025. These NDCs will be vital in shaping prospects for climate security. The voice of water utilities needs to be heard.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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We also speak of water being the medium through which the effects of climate change are felt. This does not cover all effects. But it is clear water is central in what are huge impacts on humanity given that, between 1970 and 2021, there were almost 12,000 reported disasters attributed to weather, climate and water extremes. These caused more than two million deaths and $4.3 trillion in economic losses.

Completing this water, climate and SDG triangle is the link between climate and the SDGs. This connection is the focus of a recent report, United in Science, compiled by the World Meteorological Organization under the direction of the UN Secretary-General. It brought together the input of the leading agencies and organisations with a focus on weather-, climate- and water-related sciences and services. It highlighted the statistics above on disasters. Extreme events, ultimately, undermine sustainable development, so much so that the report states: “The impacts of extreme weather and climate change are undermining progress towards achieving all of the SDGs.”

The message of the report is not so much that climate undermines all of the SDGs; it is that, as a result, weather-, climate- and water-related sciences can contribute to progress on all of the SDGs.

This potential is explored for SDGs where the climate connection is greatest, including hunger (SDG 2), cities (SDG 11), climate action (SDG 13), and partnerships (SDG 16), as well as SDG 6.

As an example, changes in extreme events are disrupting food security. The suite of weather-, climate- and water-related sciences can significantly strengthen adaptive capacity and increase resilience in the agricultural sector. Gaps to address include ensuring local communities have understandable, affordable, applicable and real-time weather, climate and water information.

Similarly, for cities, these sciences have a huge role to play, especially in terms of improving cities’ resilience and supporting climate responsive design and planning.

The relevance of these sciences to SDG 6 is clear, especially as the report notes that more than 60% of countries are facing inadequate or declining hydrological monitoring capabilities.

The report highlights that there are barriers preventing the full, effective and equitable use of weather-, climate- and water-related sciences for sustainable development. Looking beyond those barriers, there are huge opportunities, especially for digital technologies.

This edition includes two features with a digital theme. One highlights the growing impact of artificial intelligence. The other showcases the success of the PrimeWater Earth Observation project, in which IWA has been a partner. The latter, in particular, shows the potential to contribute across the water, climate and SDG triangle.

The United in Science report notes that, in August, the UN adopted a resolution designating 2024-2033 the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development. Its message: now is the time to mobilise the scientific community to supercharge the SDG implementation. It is a signal of the contribution that water science can make on sustainability.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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A huge strength of both events is the extent to which they broker connections – connections across the themes and technologies covered, and between the participants, who are exposed to updates in their own focus areas and, importantly, beyond. 

This edition highlights the potential for connections, where ideas exist within a continuum, each having a reach and relevance beyond its immediate focus. It is a technological connectivity that brings an intellectual and practical opportunity, for those developing and implementing these options to grasp where and how their experiences and insights can help build solutions elsewhere. 

The article on p36 picks up some of the highlights of the recent IWA Specialist Group conference on water reuse. That was the event’s 13th edition – reflecting IWA’s authority in this area. The potential and value of reuse is growing. As a theme, it is of universal relevance. At the other end of the scale, the article on p13 is a prelude to what will be IWA’s first Specialist Group conference on non-sewered sanitation. Yet this event promises to follow a similar trajectory as, in time, the concept it champions also becomes a mainstream option. 

The non-sewered outlook connects with the rising need for water reuse and with the broader shift towards the circular economy, homing in on the value of the water itself and the materials and energy carried within it. This circular economy outlook permeates the promotion of the ‘blue water factory’ concept set out on p18.  

The frontiers of how we deal with used water continue to be pushed back. Regarding treatment, the article on p42 highlights potential for use of electron beam technology. Meanwhile, our capacity to identify and evaluate circular approaches at the plant or wider scale is growing thanks to progress with the modelling set out in the article on p39. 

In the parallel challenge of making best use of available water resources, there is an ongoing need to apply the knowledge we already have on how to address leakage and, more generally, water loss (p28). This need carries through to the potential for greater efficiency on the part of users (p25). Progress with both is being powered by digital developments. 

This is all why IWA’s Congresses are such a cauldron of opportunity, providing, as they do, a rich mix of people and ideas. No wonder, then, that Doulaye Kone, Programme Committee chair of the Kigali Congress (p16), expresses such anticipation for the coming event. 

Keith Hayward, Editor 

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Awareness and concern about these prospects is another matter. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report is built on survey-based findings. As such, it can be seen as a gauge of that awareness and concern. The latest edition, and the wave of other reports on risks and on climate change impacts and needs highlighted in this issue’s News, signals the extent to which the issue has taken hold.

We need thinking on water to inform the response that emerges from this awareness and concern. The pervasiveness of water and the myriad factors that need to be brought together to secure a coherent response mean that this response should not deal with climate change in isolation. Articles in this issue of the magazine articulate some of the ways that water can indeed inform the response.

One is to do with the bigger picture of what we are trying to achieve. The task of meeting needs – today and into the future – and of providing protection, both to humans and the world around us, is all about security. It is about our ability to draw on water resources, to remain safe from water-related threats, and to protect and preserve the natural world. The article on p16 explores this overarching picture of water security – beginning with how to define it and how to measure it.

The article on p13 highlights the importance of a systems-based approach. This is vital given the connectedness of water. Action – or failure to act – will have ramifications elsewhere.

The need is two-fold: firstly for a comprehension of the need for a systems-based approach; and then for an appreciation by individuals and organisations of their part in that systems-based approach.

Then there is resilience. A systems-based approach is needed and we want to achieve security; resilience is the characteristic that needs to be developed – in ourselves and our infrastructure – to connect the two. The article on p20 explores one city’s pursuit of resilience, in this instance that of New York, where author Rohit Aggarwala notably occupies the twin roles of chief climate officer and of commissioner of the department responsible for the city’s water and sewer system.

A further article, on p39, adds a philosophical outlook drawn from Korean traditions. ‘Mo’ is the sound of the Korean word for ‘all’. The philosophy combines three ‘alls’ – by all, for all, and all water – as ‘MoMoMo’. We live in a complex and highly connected world. There are no simple solutions, so simplistic views should be avoided. But our direction of travel needs to combine and integrate water security, systems-based approaches, resilience, and more – a complex mix by anyone’s standards. We need to be able to grasp and comprehend what our direction of travel should be if we are to make progress on these fronts. It is this need that gives power to the philosophical perspective.

Keith Hayward, Editor

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