Improved Method to Calculate a Water Poverty Index at Local Scale
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 11
Abstract
The Water Poverty Index (WPI) was created as an interdisciplinary indicator to assess water stress and scarcity, linking physical estimates of water availability with the socioeconomic drivers of poverty. This index has found great relevance in policy making as an effective water management tool, particularly in resources allocation and prioritization processes. Two conceptual weaknesses exist in the current index: (1) inadequate technique to combine available data and (2) poor statistical properties of the resulting composite. The purpose of this paper is to propose a suitable methodology to assess water poverty that overcomes these weaknesses. To this end, a number of combinations to create the WPI have been considered, based on indicators selection criteria, simple aggregation functions and multivariate analysis. The approach adopted has been designed for universal application at local scale. To exemplify the utilization of each alternative method, they have been piloted and implemented in the Turkana District (Kenya) as a case study. The paper concludes that the weighted multiplicative function is the most appropriate aggregation method for estimation of water poverty. It is least eclipsing and ambiguous free function, and it does not allow compensability among different variables of the index.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to extend thanks to UNICEF (Kenya Regional Office) and to Rural Focus Ltd. Consultancy, who has contributed and provided support for the assessment in various ways. Further thanks go to two anonymous referees for useful comments and suggestions. Financial support from the Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the Centre de Cooperació per al Desenvolupament (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 11 • November 2010
Pages: 1287 - 1298
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 16, 2009
Accepted: Apr 14, 2010
Published online: Apr 16, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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