Identifying Water Supply Vulnerability

To aid the exploration of ways to reduce water system shocks, GFI is exploring a new approach to identifying regions with extremely vulnerable freshwater supplies.

We are developing a framework that examines how shocks to a regional system impact human-water resources. The approach first considers “drivers,” or factors that create rapid changes in supply and demand for water. The framework then quantifies a myriad of “characteristics” reflecting a given system’s ability to adapt to change. Finally, “outcomes,” or impacts on system health and human well-being, are calculated using process models of system behavior and response.

This framework is designed to be applied to individual regions or basins, but its generalized structure allows for comparisons across systems. To reduce the impact of water system shocks, related intervention strategies can be identified that improve outcomes in different regions with similar characteristics.

Team Members

Steven Gorelick

Steven Gorelick

Cyrus Fisher Tolman Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Barton Thompson

Barton Thompson

Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Scott Rozelle

Scott Rozelle

Helen C. Farnsworth Professor of International Agricultural Policy and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Scott Fendorf

Scott Fendorf

Terry Huffington Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Research, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor of Photon Science