Damkjaer Simon, Taylor Richard
University College London Institute for Sustainable Resources, Central House, 14, Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0NN, UK.
Department of Geography, University College London, Pearson Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Ambio. 2017 Sep;46(5):513-531. doi: 10.1007/s13280-017-0912-z. Epub 2017 Mar 15.
Metrics of water scarcity and stress have evolved over the last three decades from simple threshold indicators to holistic measures characterising human environments and freshwater sustainability. Metrics commonly estimate renewable freshwater resources using mean annual river runoff, which masks hydrological variability, and quantify subjectively socio-economic conditions characterising adaptive capacity. There is a marked absence of research evaluating whether these metrics of water scarcity are meaningful. We argue that measurement of water scarcity (1) be redefined physically in terms of the freshwater storage required to address imbalances in intra- and inter-annual fluxes of freshwater supply and demand; (2) abandons subjective quantifications of human environments and (3) be used to inform participatory decision-making processes that explore a wide range of options for addressing freshwater storage requirements beyond dams that include use of renewable groundwater, soil water and trading in virtual water. Further, we outline a conceptual framework redefining water scarcity in terms of freshwater storage.
在过去三十年中，水资源稀缺和压力的衡量指标已从简单的阈值指标演变为表征人类环境和淡水可持续性的整体措施。这些指标通常使用年平均河流径流量来估算可再生淡水资源，这掩盖了水文变异性，并主观地量化了表征适应能力的社会经济状况。明显缺乏对这些水资源稀缺指标是否有意义的研究评估。我们认为，水资源稀缺的衡量应：（1）根据解决淡水供需年内和年际通量不平衡所需的淡水储量进行物理重新定义；（2）摒弃对人类环境的主观量化；（3）用于为参与性决策过程提供信息，这些过程探索了除大坝之外的广泛选项来满足淡水储存需求，包括使用可再生地下水、土壤水和虚拟水交易。此外，我们概述了一个根据淡水储量重新定义水资源稀缺的概念框架。
