SDG 17 underscores the pivotal and interconnected role of water, including its energy implications, in addressing challenges related to human well-being and sustainable development. Solar water pumps (SWPs) offer an important technological innovation exemplifying this water–energy–food–society nexus. As a comparatively new and eco-friendly approach to irrigation, SWPs have the potential to substantially benefit millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). With costs for solar products steadily reducing, the small-scale SWP market is expected to grow in sales and expand into new territories. Overall, the region’s groundwater resources are known to be greatly underutilized and hence enable greater SWP adoption. This study assesses the possible risks to groundwater resources from SWP expansion to the year 2030. The current market environment is extremely heterogeneous across regions and countries. It is conservatively estimated that up to 10,000 units are sold each year, with the strongest markets found in East Africa. Around 100,000 SWP units are estimated to be in operation. For projected rates of annual growth spanning from 6% to 18%, along with intentionally high estimates of groundwater pumping, the upper limit on the quantity of available groundwater pumped by small SWP development to 2030 would vary from 0.4% to 0.6% at the SSA scale. Values in the regions vary from a low of <0.1% for Central Africa through to a high of 1.6%–2.1% for Southern Africa. Specific countries may generally support additional SWPs ranging from tens of thousands up to millions of units without negatively impacting on groundwater availability. Countries characterized by greater recharge and lower current groundwater use can accommodate greater numbers of SWP systems. Short-term threats to the availability of groundwater are assessed to be low over the short and medium terms. Over the long term, risks to groundwater may be greater than evaluated in this study should SWP growth rates exceed the projected range or if improvements in technology allow for stronger, small-capacity pumps to flood the market. To address long-term groundwater management challenges, key action areas have been defined that recognize the diverse conditions across the regions.

PR | IFPRI3 | EPTD

Ringler Claudia et al., 'Water supply and food security Alternative scenarios for the Indian Indo-Gangetic River Basin', The International Journal of River Basin Management 7, IFPRI, 2009 | Journal article

IFPRI-3; | PR | EPTD; | Journal article

Food- and water-borne pathogens exhibit spatial heterogeneity, but attribution to specific environmental processes is lacking while anthropogenic climate change alters these processes. The goal of this study was to investigate ecology, land-use and health associations of these pathogens and to make future disease projections.The rates of five acute gastrointestinal illnesses (AGIs) (campylobacteriosis, Verotoxin- producing Escherichia coli, salmonellosis, giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis) from 2000 to 2013 in British Columbia, Canada, were calculated across three environmental variables: ecological zone, land use, and aquifer type. A correlation analysis investigated relationships between 19 climatic factors and AGI. Mean annual temperature at the ecological zone scale was used in a univariate regression model to calculate annual relative AGI risk per 1 °C increase. Future cases attributable to climate change were estimated into the 2080s.Each of the bacterial AGI rates was correlated with several annual temperature-related factors while the protozoan AGIs were not. In the regression model, combined relative risk for the three bacterial AGIs was 1.1 [95% CI: 1.02–1.21] for every 1 °C in mean annual temperature. Campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis and giardiasis rates were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the urban land use class than in the rural one. In rural areas, bacteria and protozoan AGIs had significantly higher rates in the unconsolidated aquifers. Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli rates were significantly higher in watersheds with more agricultural land, while rates of campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis and giardiasis were significantly lower in agricultural watersheds. Ecological zones with higher bacterial AGI rates were generally projected to expand in range by the 2080s.These findings suggest that risk of AGI can vary across ecosystem, land use and aquifer type, and that warming temperatures may be associated with an increased risk of food-borne AGI. In addition, spatial patterns of these diseases are projected to shift under climate change.