Global and regional water security: the need for a holistic approach

Overview

The presentation will introduce some of the general challenges of global water security {i.e., water availability and quality), highlighting the challenges of climate change, increasing population growth, and pollution.

Professor Roger Falconer will introduce the concept of virtual water, and the necessity for society, industry, and governments to address water security in a global, holistic framework.

He will provide further examples as to how Western cultures can have a significant impact on water security for citizens living in many developing parts of the world. Some small changes in our behaviour could have a significant impact on water quality in so many developing countries, and we could have a marked impact on improving the quality of life and saving the lives of fellow citizens worldwide.

The need for a holistic approach to water security will also be considered at the regional scale, with detailed field data and hydro-bacteriological modelling study being undertaken to assess the causes of non-compliance of the bathing waters along the Ribble River Basin and the Fylde Coast. The estuary includes shellfish harvesting sites and the coast includes popular bathing waters, such as Blackpool.

Field data were collected from the catchments, civil society organisations, waste water treatment works, river networks and the coast, for both wet and dry conditions, with the results highlighting the need for a holistic approach from source to sea, with sediment interactions also proving to be an important bacteria transport mechanism.