Stress on water resources is an increasing concern as populations are growing, incomes are rising, and food demand is increasing. These resources are already over-committed. Water deprivation has consequences on people’s well-being. Access to water and the existence of poverty are often interlinked. Water management analyses often miss this connection because they operate at a scale that cannot capture socio-economic differences between groups. The poster below presents a study where we included social equality aspects in water planning analysis by dis-aggregating a technical model into smaller spatial units to capture inequalities on water-rights in a farming community of Bolivia. Two models were developed. A single object model (as would be typical in a watershed model) where agricultural demands are aggregated at the community level. A differentiated model by location in the canal system and water rights type. Results show that inequalities are often missed in typical watershed models – and could be missing the hardships of some farmers, and marginalized communities. The aggregated model shows that 60% of the water demand was satisfied. The dis-aggregated model shows that several groups receive less than 20% of their water demand, while others receive almost 100%. These inequalities are hidden in an aggregated model. An evaluation of future climate change scenarios showed that water demand coverage could decline by 15% in the dry season. The implementation of planned strategies, however, could counteract that decline by increasing supply and storage facilities; the model showed that implementing these strategies could raise water demand coverage up to 80% for some groups, despite this improvement, other groups would still face shortages. By showing inequalities in a dis-aggregated model, decision-makers can test out policies to ensure they are fair and effective.
