Brief overview of Water Resource Management.

There is a fast-paced growth in the worldwide population, owing to which a lot of countries are facing unprecedented pressure on water resource. By 2030, the world will face a 40% water shortage. Some of the biggest threats to world prosperity and water resources are floods, tsunamis and other extreme weather problems that lead to hydrological uncertainty and chronic water scarcity.

By 2050, feeding 9 billion people would mean a 60% increase in agriculture and in turn a 15% increase in water withdrawal.

Even if we bring back our focus to present water resource scenario, we can see 40% of the world population under water scarcity, exposing approximately ¼th of the world GDP to this challenge. By 2025, approximately 1.8 billion people will be under absolute water scarcity.

Based on the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals), the World Bank is committed to reduction in poverty and growth in economical standards of many countries. SDG 6.5 tackles water resource management, but since other SDG goals need water resource management to achiever their own aims, the World Bank has a keen interest in the water security of countries through a robust water resource management.

The process of planning, developing and managing resources of water, both in terms of quality and quantity, across all usages of water, is called Water Resource Management (WRM).  The process seeks in harnessing the water benefits, through availability of adequate quantity of quality water for drinking and sanitation purposes, food production, energy generation etc.

Water Resource management gives solution through cutting edge knowledge and innovation which when integrated to water projects, strengthen their impact.

One of the innovative tools of water resource management is The Water Security Diagnostic tool which is an analytical tool, used in the examination of trends and status related to water resources, services and risks. Risks include climate change, transboundary waters and virtual water trade. This tool is of great use for the countries in determination of the extent to which the factors related to water impact the people, economy and the environment and also helps to determine the extent to which water related factors can help in providing opportunities for development and well-being of the society.