As a result of limited resources in low-and middle-income countries, most communities use the same water source for both domestic and productive uses.
These uses include drinking water, irrigation and watering livestock.
Matt Stellbauer, a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University and research specialist at the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), coauthored a research review of this strategy around the world.
The political reality in many low-and middle-income countries is that water for domestic and productive uses is managed separately and does not support and reflect the ways communities are managing and using the water resources available to them.
“MUS is an approach to water service delivery at the community level. Through MUS, communities design, implement, and pilot water delivery system that complement and align with their multiple water needs and uses,” Stellbauer said. “These local systems supply a range of water services that support multiple economic activities and livelihood strategies characteristic of low- and middle-income countries."
Coauthored by Wendy Jepson, Ph.D., from Texas A&M University, Nicole Lefore, Ph.D., from the University of Nebraska and Patrick Thomson, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford, the research was recently published in WIREs Water.
Importance of multiple-use water services
While studies on MUS have not been conducted since the mid-2010's, Stellbauer sees this niche area of research as essential in water management.
"Multiple-use water services demonstrate the role of water across diverse livelihood strategies and underscores the significant potential these systems have in improving water productivity, health and nutrition, gender empowerment, and economic development in low- and middle-income countries,” Stellbauer said.
Though this practice is well-known across the globe, this review focused primarily on the concept of MUS in small community-based approaches.
Aiming for advancement
To expand knowledge in this area of study, Stellbauer worked with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to conduct household surveys in two regions of Mali.
“I conducted these surveys in Mali to better understand the relationship between multiple uses of water and household water insecurity.”
With this data, he found that households who invest in targeted water interventions that match ways in which they use and manage water have significantly better water security outcomes and can contribute to better overall health of the household, higher income and gender empowerment.
Stellbauer aims to share this impactful research with other experts to enable further support for MUS-dependent communities.
With plans to publish future research on his recent survey studies in Mali, Stellbauer remains passionate about the livelihood benefits of communities using MUS.
“The benefits from MUS are born out of communities' everyday water needs and leverage the ways communities use context-specific resources to create efficiencies within a water management structure,” he said. “Yet to advance the research, there is a need to look beyond piped water systems and instead investigate the various local models that are working.”
