Better local water management is the way to keep pace with escalating demands, not pumping water across the country, warn Jon Barnett and colleagues.

Global freshwater vulnerability is a product of environmental and human dimensions, however, it is rarely assessed as such. Our approach identifies freshwater vulnerability using four broad categories: endowment, demand, infrastructure, and institutions, to capture impacts on natural and managed water systems within the coupled human–hydrologic environment. These categories are represented by 19 different endogenous and exogenous characteristics affecting water supply vulnerability.

With the rapid population growth, ecological pressure caused by human activities on rivers is growing. Decision makers are often faced with the dilemma of how to maintain economic growth while also maintaining the resources of a river and its environment. In this study, a model has been proposed for the assessment of river–human relationship. The method establishes a complete index system to quantify the abstraction of river–human relationship and evaluation.

The law and policy frameworks for allocation or reallocation of water to different uses, or within a category of use, remain underdeveloped in India. This paper intends providing a starting point for a conversation on the law and policy dimensions of inter-sectoral water allocation. Focusing on a specific inter-sectoral water allocation conflict in Rajsamand District, Rajasthan, it illustrates gaps in the existing law and policy frameworks and highlights multiple issues that need to be addressed.