Managing Water Scarcity - The Role of Sustainable Water Management

Water is a finite natural resource that is essential for our survival. Over the years, the freshwater reserve has been running low, and some regions face severe water stress. Climate change has impacted the pattern and amount of precipitations, and the water shortage has escalated with rapid population growth and urbanization. As a result, the human and natural environment are confronted with a severe water crisis. Sustainable water management is a strategy for maintaining future water resources that include increasing water supply and managing how we use freshwater to sustain economic growth for the current and future generations. This chapter discusses the current state-of-the-art management of water supply and demand as a natural resource, reviews the development of indicators to identify water scarcity worldwide, and examines international collaboration to address water scarcity. This chapter reviews the technologies developed to implement sustainable water management at a community scale and is demonstrated with case studies.