Pathways to a Water Secure Community

Community-based water security, defined herein as “the sustainable access to affordable and reliable quantities of water of suitable quality to enable all persons to lead healthy, dignified, and productive lives, including neighbours and future users”, has not been paid a significant amount of attention to date. However, in light of current global access to drinking water and sanitation facilities, wastewater treatment coverage, the importance of water for food, energy and industry, and the impacts of climate change on the hydrological cycle, water (in)security is extremely important at the local scale and a potential threat to (de)development. While community water security can be difficult to incorporate into the water security continuum due to differences in scale, water secure communities are a building block for sustainable watersheds. After identifying the different aspects of water security at the community level, it is concluded that a comprehensive, systems approach coupled with capacity for sustainable local change is key for sustained and sustaining community water security.