Department Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development

Climate resilience of WASH & Water Flow Diagram

 

Small towns in mountainous regions in low-income countries are increasingly struggling with climatic changes and unpredictable weather patterns. This poses an additional burden on already existing challenges in water management.

In this project we are developing and testing a methodological approach to visualize challenges of the water management including the vulnerability due to climate risks in the two municipalities of Panchkhal, Kavre District and Bidur, Nuwakot District, Nepal.

In collaboration with Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST), the Kathmandu University and University of Bristol we plan to expand the methodology of the WFD to include climate resilience assessments along the entire water cycle.

The WFD will be complemented with the “How tough is WASH framework” (HTIW) developed by the University of Bristol, Kathmandu University, and Haramaya University. The HTIW is a participatory tool that allows local actors to self-identify the vulnerability and resilience of WASH systems considering infrastructure and the environmental setting, but also management practices, supply chains and institutional support. The HTIW will be adapted to identify vulnerabilities and resilience of the different components of the WFD and to visualize the results in the same diagram.

The method is being developed using a co‐creation approach with local stakeholders. Key opportunities for better management and measures to improve climate resilience are being identified and discussed during a participatory process.

Research questions are:

  • How can the How tough is WASH (HTIW) framework be applied within the Water Flow Diagram (WFD)?
  • Is the proposed methodology simple enough to be applicable by local stakeholders?
  • Does the proposed methodology adequately reflect water management challenges as well as climate risk related vulnerabilities and resilience
  • How can the tool trigger a participative process to find and implement solutions to improve climate resilience?