Groundwater resources in deltaic regions are vulnerable to contamination by saline seawater, posing significant crisis for drinking water. Current policy and practice of building water supply infrastructure, without adequate hydrogeological analysis and institutional coordination are failing to provide basic drinking water services for millions of poor people in such difficult hydrogeological contexts. We apply a social-ecological systems approach to examine interdisciplinary data from hydrogeological mapping, a water infrastructure audit, 2103 household surveys, focus group discussions and interviews to evaluate the risks to drinking water security in one of 139 polders in coastal Bangladesh. We find that increasing access through public tubewells is common but insufficient to reduce drinking water risks. In response, there has been a four-fold growth in private investments in shallow tubewells with new technologies and entrepreneurial models to mitigate groundwater salinity. Despite these interventions, poor households in water-stressed environments face significant trade-offs in drinking water quality, accessibility and affordability. We argue that institutional coordination and hydrogeological monitoring at a systems level is necessary to mitigate socio-ecological risks for more equitable and efficient outcomes.

Urban water tariffs vary substantially across cities and regions, for reasons that reflect water scarcity conditions, local or regional objectives, and political considerations. Comparisons of average water prices across regions are not generally meaningful, as the prices are not weighted or adjusted to account for variation in socio-economic or political characteristics. This study endeavours to describe the observed variation in water tariffs, with the goal of highlighting key features and the degree to which some tariff programs achieve local objectives. To this end, the domestic and non-domestic water and wastewater tariffs in 60 cities across 43 countries were examined. The non-weighted average of the per unit domestic water and wastewater bills in the cities considered was USD 2.10/m³. The average per unit bills in Asia and Africa were generally lower than those in Western Europe, North America and Australia. On average, households spend about 1.5% of their monthly incomes on water and wastewater bills. In Asia and Africa, the average unit bills for the non-domestic sector were higher than those for the domestic sector, suggesting cross-subsidy. The study also analyzed the components of a metered tariff schedule with regard to the goals of cost recovery, demand management and affordability. The article also discusses the effectiveness of existing tariffs in addressing local challenges in the context of water pricing examples from Singapore, Los Angeles and Manila.

Social-ecological changes, brought about by the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and the increased occurrence of climatic stressors, have significantly affected the livelihoods of coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas. This paper explores the livelihood adaptation responses of households of different wealth classes, the heterogeneous adaptation opportunities, barriers and limits (OBLs) faced by these households and the dynamic ways in which these factors interact to enhance or impede adaptive capacities. A mixed methods approach was used to collect empirical evidence from two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Findings reveal that households’ adaptive capacities largely depend on their wealth status, which not only determine their availability of productive resources, but also empower them to navigate social-ecological change in desirable ways. Households operate within a shared response space, which is shaped by the broader socio-economic and political landscape, as well as their previous decisions that can lock them in to particular pathways. While an adaptive response may be effective for one social group, it may cause negative externalities that can undermine the adaptation options and outcomes of another group. Adaptation OBLs interact in complex ways; the extent to which these OBLs affect different households depend on the specific livelihood activities being considered and the differential values and interests they hold. To ensure more equitable and environmentally sustainable livelihoods in future, policies and programs should aim to expand households’ adaptation space by accounting for the heterogeneous needs and complex interdependencies between response processes of different groups.

Hoque, S. F., C. H. Quinn, and S. Sallu. 2017. Resilience, political ecology, and well-being: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh. Ecology and Society 22(2):45. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09422-220245

River pollution through the discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluent is a perverse outcome of rapid urbanisation and economic growth across Asia. To understand the socio-spatial and seasonal inequalities in pollution risks, we designed a direct observation method to record people’s daily river use activities across dry and wet seasons, complemented by monthly monitoring of river water quality, heavy metal and biotoxicity assessment a large-scale household survey along a 25km stretch of the Turag River and Tongi Khal in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We found very high ammonia and almost zero dissolved oxygen during the low flow season, further exacerbated by heavy metals from the annual Bishwa Ijtema gathering and downstream industrial zones. Pollution exposure through domestic activities prevailed throughout the year, particularly for women and girls along low-income settlements lacking adequate water and sanitation facilities. Swimming peaked among men and children in the monsoon, risking exposure to pathogen pollution. Recognising the social inequalities in risk can support the sequencing of policy action involving short-term adaptation (improved services, education, advocacy) and long-term mitigation (effluent treatment, regulation and enforcement) responses.