Your search found 6 records
1 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Kafle, Kashi; Stifel, David. 2019. Increasing irrigation efficiency in Jordan: demand and supply side constraints and opportunities. Report prepared by the International Water Management Institute for Mercy Corps’ “Water Innovation Technologies” Project. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 58p.
Irrigation efficiency ; Water management ; Irrigation practices ; Supply balance ; Constraints ; Technology ; Farm management ; Water conservation ; Agriculture ; Water use ; Groundwater table ; Irrigation systems ; Irrigation equipment ; Pumping ; Maintenance ; Farmers ; Large farms ; Small farms ; Information needs / Jordan / Azraq / Mafraq
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049502)
(2.02 MB)
2 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Stifel, David; Horbulyk, Ted; Kafle, Kashi. 2020. Chronic kidney disease and household behaviors in Sri Lanka: historical choices of drinking water and agrochemical use. Economics and Human Biology, 37:100862. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100862]
Kidney diseases ; Chronic course ; Drinking water treatment ; Groundwater ; Public health ; Risk factors ; Households ; Behaviour ; Agricultural practices ; Agrochemicals ; Farmland ; Water supply ; Wells ; Water purification ; Reverse osmosis ; Socioeconomic environment ; Rural areas ; Models / Sri Lanka / Mullaitivu / Vavuniya / Trincomalee / Anuradhapura / Polonnaruwa / Kurunegala / Matale / Ampara / Badulla / Monaragala
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049541)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X19302576/pdfft?md5=493e1025b9a9e466cbbde1bcad6be90c&pid=1-s2.0-S1570677X19302576-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049541.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049541.pdf
(1.37 MB) (1.37 MB)
This paper examines whether there are systematic differences in the historical behaviors of households that are affected and unaffected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka pertaining to their water source choices, water treatment practices, and agrochemical use. This analysis is motivated by the Sri Lankan government’s largest policy response to this epidemic – to encourage communities to switch from untreated well water to publicly provided alternatives. We use recall methods to elicit information on the drinking water source and treatment choices of households over an 18-year period from 2000– 2017. Our analysis is based on a survey of 1497 rural ground-water dependent households in the most CKD-affected areas of the 10 districts of Sri Lanka with the highest prevalence of CKD. Our main findings are that (a) households that have ever used a pump to extract (typically deep) drinking water from a household well are more likely to be affected by CKD; (b) we fail to find a relationship between disease status and households’ use of buckets to extract (typically shallow) groundwater from their wells; and (c) those who have ever treated their shallow well water by boiling it are less likely to be affected by CKD. We also find that a greater share of CKD affected households historically used agrochemicals, used wells that were geographically removed from surface water sources, and displayed lower proxies of wealth. The implications of these findings are fourfold. First, since the systematic differences in the historical patterns of water sources and treatments used by CKD affected and non-affected households are modest, the sources of water and the treatment practices themselves may not be the sole risk factors in developing CKD. Second, although we find a negative association between boiling water and the probability of CKD, it is not obvious that a public policy campaign to promote boiling water is an appropriate response. Third, the hydrochemistry of deep and shallow well water needs to be better understood in order to shed light on the positive relationship between deep well water and disease status, and on why boiling shallow but not deep well water is associated with a lower probability of CKD. Fourth, there is a need for a deeper understanding of other risk factors and of the efficacy of preventative programs that provide alternative sources of household drinking water.
3 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Stifel, David. 2020. Viewpoint: water, agriculture and poverty in an era of climate change: why do we know so little? Food Policy, 93:101905. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101905]
Agricultural water use ; Poverty ; Nexus ; Climate change adaptation ; Groundwater extraction ; Water quality ; Water management ; Water use efficiency ; Irrigation water ; Irrigation efficiency ; Water productivity ; Water pricing ; Water rights ; Farmers ; Economic aspects ; Technology ; Developing countries
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049664)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919220301093/pdfft?md5=73af5eea85ee71b890a6faac3a394103&pid=1-s2.0-S0306919220301093-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049664.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049664.pdf
(0.64 MB) (651 KB)
Understanding the complex relationship between water, agriculture and poverty (WAP) is essential for informed policy-making in light of increasing demand for scarce water resources and greater climatic variability. Yet, our understanding of the WAP nexus remains surprisingly undeveloped and dispersed across multiple disciplines due to conceptual (biophysical and economic) and measurement issues. We argue that water for agriculture will need to be better managed for it to contribute to reductions in poverty and vulnerabilities. Moreover, this management will need to consider not just quantities of water, but the quality of the water and the multiple agricultural and non-agricultural uses. For this reason, expanding research in WAP needs to involve interdisciplinary efforts. We identify three key knowledge gaps in WAP that are particularly pressing in light of greater climatic variability. These are climate change adaptation, over-abstraction of groundwater, and water quality.
4 Vorosmarty, C. J.; Stewart-Koster, B.; Green, P. A.; Boone, E. L.; Florke, M.; Fischer, G.; Wiberg, David A.; Bunn, S. E.; Bhaduri, A.; McIntyre, P. B.; Sadoff, C.; Liu, H.; Stifel, David. 2021. A green-gray path to global water security and sustainable infrastructure. Global Environmental Change, 70:102344. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102344]
Water security ; Water resources ; Water management ; Infrastructure ; Natural capital ; Ecosystem services ; Sustainable Development Goals ; Environmental degradation ; Forecasting ; Investment ; Frameworks ; Economic aspects
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050666)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378021001230/pdfft?md5=ca672c3daa45eeb798d8a5cf9a93f3bb&pid=1-s2.0-S0959378021001230-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050666.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050666.pdf
(11.20 MB) (11.2 MB)
Sustainable development demands reliable water resources, yet traditional water management has broadly failed to avoid environmental degradation and contain infrastructure costs. We explore the global-scale feasibility of combining natural capital with engineering-based (green-gray) approaches to meet water security threats over the 21st century. Threats to water resource systems are projected to rise throughout this period, together with a significant expansion in engineering deployments and progressive loss of natural capital. In many parts of the world, strong path dependencies are projected to arise from the legacy of prior environmental degradation that constrains future water management to a heavy reliance on engineering-based approaches. Elsewhere, retaining existing stocks of natural capital creates opportunities to employ blended green-gray water infrastructure. By 2050, annual engineering expenditures are projected to triple to $2.3 trillion, invested mainly in developing economies. In contrast, preserving natural capital for threat suppression represents a potential $3.0 trillion in avoided replacement costs by mid-century. Society pays a premium whenever these nature-based assets are lost, as the engineering costs necessary to achieve an equivalent level of threat management are, on average, twice as expensive. Countries projected to rapidly expand their engineering investments while losing natural capital will be most constrained in realizing green-gray water management. The situation is expected to be most restrictive across the developing world, where the economic, technical, and governance capacities to overcome such challenges remain limited. Our results demonstrate that policies that support blended green-gray approaches offer a pathway to future global water security but will require a strategic commitment to preserving natural capital. Absent such stewardship, the costs of water resource infrastructure and services will likely rise substantially and frustrate efforts to attain universal and sustainable water security.
5 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Stifel, David; Alvi, M.; Ringler, C. 2022. The role of social identity in improving access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and health services: evidence from Nepal. Development Policy Review, 40(4):e12588. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12588]
Water, sanitation and hygiene ; Social status ; Inclusion ; Drinking water ; Hand washing ; Public health ; Health services ; Toilets ; Households ; Economic indicators / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050673)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dpr.12588
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050673.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050673.pdf
(0.47 MB) (484 KB)
Motivation: COVID-19 has revived focus on improving equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health services in developing countries. Most public programming tends to rely on economic indicators to identify and target vulnerable groups. Can expanded targeting criteria that include social status help to improve not only targeting, but also equity in access to WASH and health services?
Purpose: This paper assesses the role of social identity in mediating access to WASH and health services, controlling for economic disadvantages such as household wealth, income sources and assets.
Methods and approach: We use regression analysis applied to the 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to estimate the relationships between social identity and access to WASH and health services, controlling for wealth (using wealth index quantiles), and remittances (using indicator variables for domestic and international remittances).
Findings: We find that differences in access are mediated in large part by caste, and religious and ethnic identity, especially in rural areas; suggesting that the supply of such services is lower for historically disadvantaged communities. In addition, communities with lowest access are not necessarily the most economically disadvantaged, indicating that relying solely on traditional economic indicators to target programs and interventions may not be sufficient to improve equity in access to public health services.
Policy implications: The results make a case for broadening indicators beyond the economic criteria for improving targeting of public funds for more inclusive development.
Purpose: This paper assesses the role of social identity in mediating access to WASH and health services, controlling for economic disadvantages such as household wealth, income sources and assets.
Methods and approach: We use regression analysis applied to the 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to estimate the relationships between social identity and access to WASH and health services, controlling for wealth (using wealth index quantiles), and remittances (using indicator variables for domestic and international remittances).
Findings: We find that differences in access are mediated in large part by caste, and religious and ethnic identity, especially in rural areas; suggesting that the supply of such services is lower for historically disadvantaged communities. In addition, communities with lowest access are not necessarily the most economically disadvantaged, indicating that relying solely on traditional economic indicators to target programs and interventions may not be sufficient to improve equity in access to public health services.
Policy implications: The results make a case for broadening indicators beyond the economic criteria for improving targeting of public funds for more inclusive development.
6 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Stifel, David; McDonnell, Rachael. 2022. Water shortages, irrigation frequency, and preference for technologies and agricultural services: the case of Jordan. Irrigation and Drainage, 71(2):437-451. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.2650]
Water shortage ; Irrigation efficiency ; Technology ; Advisory services ; Agricultural extension ; Water management ; Drip irrigation ; Groundwater ; Agricultural production ; Farmers ; Drought ; Highlands / Jordan / Zarqa / Mafraq
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050734)
(2.17 MB)
The use of improved technologies has been encouraged to improve irrigation on farms, especially in drought-prone areas. However, farmers' irrigation decisions may be rather motivated by a desire to reduce risk of crop loss than to reduce water use. Using the case of Jordan, we contribute to the water-saving debate by examining whether current irrigation frequency is influenced by past experiences of losses due to water shortage and whether preferences for technologies and irrigation advisory services are mediated by water shortage experiences. Our data are based on a survey of 304 fruit farms in the highlands that were all using drip irrigation, a popular way to “save” water globally. We find that farms that faced losses due to water shortages in the past are more likely to irrigate more frequently. More frequent irrigators who have such shortages are more likely to prefer receiving irrigation advisory information rather than upgrading technologies, while more frequent irrigators who have not faced such shortages are more likely to prefer upgrading irrigation technologies. Results suggest that irrigation management is motivated by risk reduction, not just by water conservation. Irrigation advisory services, hitherto neglected, may be an important component of agricultural water management in Jordan.
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