Water poverty, measured by the Water Poverty Index (WPI), is traditionally applied at country and community levels. This study presents a livelihood-inclusive approach for measuring WPI at the livelihood group level. The specific objectives are to evaluate present and future WPIs for different livelihood groups, such as large and small male farmers, female farmers, male and female industrial workers and economically inactive women. Primary data are collected from three peri-urban areas around Dhaka using a mixed approach, including a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 260 respondents. The WPIs are calculated by using a weighted multiplicative function, and the component weights are assigned by principal component analysis. The results show that the economically inactive women are presently the most water-poor group, with a WPI value of 41, whereas the small male farmers would be the most water-poor group in the future, with a WPI value of 34. Environmental changes, such as high temperature, variability in rainfall and surface water, lowering of groundwater level, rapid population growth and unplanned urbanization, are found to be responsible for the dynamism in WPIs for different livelihood groups. The Resource and Environment components should be paid immediate attention in order to protect peri-urban livelihood groups from future water poverty.

The concept of water poverty integrates water stress, access to safe water and sanitation, socioeconomic capacity, water uses and environmental aspects. This study presents a new concept to demonstrate gender-differentiated impacts of water poverty for different livelihood groups in a peri-urban setting. The objective is to identify how gender and livelihood groups are affected by dynamic water poverty. A few peri-urban areas around Dhaka city were selected as the study area, and male and female industrial workers, small-scale male and female farmers, and economically inactive women were the target groups. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 220 respondents and using a number of participatory appraisal tools, such as focus group discussions, and semi-structured and key-informant interviews. Water poverty was assessed by its five components: resource, access, capacity, use and environment. Peri-urban water poverty is found not only to be limited to scarcity, or physical availability, of water resources, but also to encompass political, social, economic and institutional dimensions. The study found that inadequate availability and quality of water, restricted access and use, poor socioeconomic capacity and fragile environment affected every livelihood group, but these factors eventually led to extreme impoverishment for adolescent girls, and physically challenged and elderly women. Suggestions are provided as to how gender issues of water can be balanced at different levels to make water management decisions gender-sensitive.