Natural Resources and Ecosystem Services, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan.
Environ Monit Assess. 2019 May 2;191(6):319. doi: 10.1007/s10661-019-7497-x.
Finite freshwater sources are facing huge threats both for quality and quantity from uncertain global changes, namely population growth, rapid urbanization, and climate change. These threats are even more prominent in developing countries where institutional capacity of decision-makers in the field of water resources is not sufficient. Attention of scientific communities to work on adaptation barriers is increasing as the need for global change adaptation becomes apparent. This paper presents a comparative study of assessing the current water quality as well as predicting its future situation using different scenarios in eight different cities of South and Southeast Asia. The idea behind this transdisciplinary work (integrated use of hydrological science, climate science, social science, and local policies) is to provide scientific evidence to decision-makers to help them to implement right management policies at timely manner. Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP), a numerical simulation tool, was used to model river water quality using two scenarios, namely business as usual (BAU) and scenario with measures. Water quality simulation was done along one representative river from all eight cities. Simulated results for BAU scenario shows that water quality in all the study sites will further deteriorate by year 2030 compared to the current situation and will be not suitable for fishing category as desired by the local governments. Also, simulation outcome for scenario with measures advocating improvement of water quality compared to current situation signifies the importance of existing master plans. However, different measures (suggested upgradation of wastewater handling infrastructure) and policies will not be sufficient enough to achieve desirable river water quality as evident from the gap between concentration of simulated water quality and desirable water quality concentrations. This work can prove vital as it provides timely information to the decision-makers involved in keeping inventory for attaining SDG 6.0 in their regions and it also calls for immediate and inclusive action for better water resource management.
有限的淡水资源正面临着巨大的威胁，无论是在质量还是数量上，这些威胁都来自于不确定的全球变化，包括人口增长、快速城市化和气候变化。在水资源领域决策者的机构能力不足的发展中国家，这些威胁更加突出。随着适应全球变化的必要性变得明显，科学界对适应障碍的关注正在增加。本文对南亚和东南亚 8 个不同城市使用不同情景评估当前水质和预测未来水质状况进行了比较研究。这项跨学科工作（综合利用水文学、气候科学、社会科学和当地政策）的背后的想法是为决策者提供科学证据，以帮助他们及时实施正确的管理政策。水评估和规划工具（WEAP）是一种数值模拟工具，用于通过两种情景（即现状和措施情景）来模拟河流水质。对所有 8 个城市的一条代表性河流进行了水质模拟。BAU 情景的模拟结果表明，与现状相比，到 2030 年，所有研究地点的水质将进一步恶化，并且将不适合当地政府所期望的渔业类别。此外，提倡改善水质的措施情景的模拟结果表明了现有总体规划的重要性。然而，与现状相比，不同的措施（建议升级废水处理基础设施）和政策将不足以实现理想的河流水质，这从模拟水质浓度与理想水质浓度之间的差距中可以明显看出。这项工作至关重要，因为它为参与实现其地区可持续发展目标 6.0 的决策者提供了及时的信息，同时也呼吁立即采取包容各方的行动，以改善水资源管理。
