News
A Cooperative Bank for a Precious Resource: Freshwater
A water bank that matches freshwater supply and demand - it’s becoming increasingly essential as climate change makes water availability less predictable. In the STURDI-Water research project, scientists and practitioners are joining forces to build just such a system. “We’re not short on technical solutions. It’s the legal, financial, and governance barriers that need our attention” say Hans Cappon (HZ), Dave Huitema (WUR, Public Administration and Policy Group) and Nick Hannewijk (Province of Zeeland) in the podcast ”Circulaire Versnellers” (note: podcast in Dutch).
“By aligning freshwater supply and demand, we gain flexibility in where we source water from,” explains Dave Huitema, “Think of a cooperative bank for money—but for freshwater, which is becoming increasingly scarce. Such a bank would store and monitor resources: you ‘deposit’ water when you don’t need it and ‘withdraw’ when you do.”
.