Water Scarcity and Water Management. A comparative analysis of different water availability and demand assessments

Water availability remains one of the upmost crucial key factors for sustainable development. Integrated water resource management and water demand and availability assessments are important tools to adapt and mitigate water scarcity. Since the 1980s many different of these assessments were developed with different advantages and disadvantages. This paper aims to provide a comparative analysis of five different assessments, namely the Water Stress Index (WSI), Water Poverty Index (WPI),Availability to Consumption Ratio (AVCOR), Household Survey, and the Water Evaluation and Planning Model (WEAP). These five assessments are different approaches considering issues such as rather basic factors like availability and demand,to more holistic approaches acknowledging socio-economic aspects, information at acommunity level and a complex computer-based system with scenario options. Following the analysis of the assessments, the different approaches are evaluated based on five dimensions. These dimensions are (1) applicability after water-related natural disasters,(2) the consideration of water quality standards, (3) if it is IT-supported, and if it is used(4) in academia and (5) by policy makers. Firstly, the WSI, WPI, AVCOR and WEAP are applicable after natural disasters. WPI, Household Survey and WEAP acknowledge water quality standards. Only WEAP is seen as an IT supported assessment. In the dimension of academia and policy makers use, the WSI, WPI, Household Survey andWEAP were identified.