Sustainable and resilient water infrastructure for water security of communities, their population, and economic assets

Abstract

Many water infrastructure systems are underdeveloped and are not always capable of ensuring water, food, or energy security, and may not be resilient to natural and man-made risks. This can be attributed to both managerial and financial reasons.

While the distribution of responsibilities for municipal water supply and wastewater disposal has been well studied, these issues remain insufficiently explored for other types of water systems critical to communities. These include multi-purpose water infrastructure (MPWI), rural water supply, and systems for protecting settlements and economic assets from the negative impacts of water (such as avalanches, mudflows, landslides, collector-drainage systems, and stormwater sewers).The methodological basis for addressing these questions is drawn from research on national water security indicators based on the “nexus” concept; the approaches and recommendations of authoritative international organizations, including the Global Water Partnership, UNECE, and the OECD (e.g., the “3Ts” concept and recommendations on private sector participation); as well as the authors’ analysis of the specific benefits provided by water infrastructure and the experiences of several countries. The article presents the author's vision of options for sustainable, systemic solutions to these issues. It proposes an appropriate distribution of responsibility among different levels of public authorities and other economic agents for financing the capital and operating costs of various types of water infrastructure.