| Summary: | Globally, availability of water of acceptable quality is under stress and only less than half of the predicted demand is likely to be addressed by improvements in water productivity and new water supply systems. In addition, climate change is having a significant impact on water resources and could cause catastrophic water related disasters. Water security is thus becoming a major pressing issue within the emerging global resource crisis. However, significant inconsistencies with the definition of water security have halted its use in practice, impeding the formation of a consensus on many water related issues. Water Security as a concept needs to contain and highlight several features including economic and other related risks. This thesis investigated the dual (economic-physical) nature of water security and introduced Economic Water Availability (EWA) as a term to complement its definition. Findings indicated that EWA dominates water withdrawal under conditions of severe physical water scarcity. They also demonstrated that there is a range where strong relationships between water related disasters and two selected economic factors, GNI per capita and GINI index, exist. These selected indices, which have been commonly accepted and well established, are advantageous in achieving social consensus on water security issues as well as providing adaptation solutions. Several desirable features of water security indices were also proposed including consideration of catastrophic events which are aggravated by climate change, simplicity ensuring effective communication, physical and economic variability, economic considerations and inequality. A simplified framework for water security assessment has been developed by adopting all those desirable features. The proposed framework is practical, simple and as it is based on research trend and requirements for interpreting current issues, it aims to allow policy makers to communicate these effectively to the general public. The findings of this study will also help many countries uncover critical areas in terms of water security and change their political priority.
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