A loss of available water supply is one of the catastrophic risks of climate change that decisionmakers must confront. Cities around the world have already faced severe threats to their water supplies. In this report, the authors examine the experiences of five cities with severe or catastrophic water supply risks to identify steps that could be taken ahead of time to mitigate those risks and build urban water security.

Learning from Crises to Build Urban Water Security

Lessons from Five Cities

Sara Hughes, Michael T. Wilson, Jonathan Cohen, Rebecca Tisherman, Linnea Warren May, Jay Balagna, Sara Stullken

ResearchPublished Jan 15, 2025

Reliable access to safe and affordable drinking water is a core service provided by city governments around the world. These services are critical to people's health and well-being, local and regional economies, and environmental sustainability. As the climate changes, infrastructure ages, and populations grow, many cities are — or will be — facing serious threats to their ability to maintain or enhance the level of service that they can provide and ensure the long-term resilience of their water supplies.

In this report, the authors examine the experiences of five cities — Cape Town, South Africa; Melbourne, Australia; São Paulo, Brazil; and Las Vegas, Nevada, and New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States — facing severe or catastrophic water supply risks to identify steps that could be taken ahead of time to mitigate those risks and build urban water security. These case studies represent a variety of national and demographic contexts. Drawing on interviews with experts and decisionmakers and a review of reports and journal articles, the authors identify the key drivers of these water supply crises and detail firsthand accounts of how these crises could have been avoided. The authors identify the strategies available to decisionmakers — the people managing urban water systems and shaping the broader financial and regulatory environment in which they work — to proactively mitigate the possibility of catastrophic risk to urban water supplies. The insights provide key lessons for preparing for and ultimately avoiding water supply crises in the future by building urban water security.

Key Findings

  • Cities' experiences with water supply crises point to five key strategies for building urban water security: plan and invest proactively, take a systems approach to urban water security, strengthen collaboration between governments, embrace innovation, and build trust and communication with water users.
  • Urban water supply crises occur not only because of climate-driven stress to water supplies but also because of underinvestment in fiscal, social, and technical capacities.
  • Shifting from crisis response to proactively building urban water security provides opportunities for capacity-building and avoiding the worst effects of supply shortages; mobilizing the resources and expertise needed to make these shifts will require strong local leadership, public awareness, and intergovernmental support.
  • Cities have unique pathways to urban water security, which will depend on physical, infrastructural, financial, social, and political risks and opportunities.
  • Several important areas for additional research include examining the challenges faced by smaller cities, developing monitoring strategies that can effectively anticipate a crisis and track progress on building urban water security, and developing methods to evaluate trade-offs in efficacy and equity in the long and short terms.

Recommendations

  • Cities should plan and invest proactively. There is value in refining and improving emergency or crisis response models, but the more cities can work to avoid a crisis, the better. This requires rigorous monitoring, planning, and proactive investment. Scenario planning in particular would have value for helping envision and plan for a major supply disruption event before it occurs.
  • Cities should build capacity for taking a systems approach to urban water security. A systems-based approach emphasizes the importance of collaborating across departments and sectors, building data systems and technical capacities, and ensuring financial resilience. It also shifts thinking from a single emphasis on supply augmentation to a broader view of sustainable and adequate water availability.
  • Officials should strengthen intergovernmental collaboration. Urban water security — and effective crisis response — requires financing, regulation, and technical resources that are often best provided by other levels of government. National and subnational governments often have a strong stake in the development and resilience of urban water systems and the long-term sustainability of urban areas.
  • Cities should embrace innovation. Approaching urban water security in a new way and adapting to new challenges requires new ways of doing things. This might mean adopting new technologies or ways of communicating, collaborating, planning, and financing. Innovation is a central component of building urban water security and responding effectively to water supply crises.
  • Officials should build trust and effective communication. Building trust in the water system and in decisionmakers facilitates needed investments and helps ensure support for mitigation efforts.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 2025
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 61
  • Paperback Price: $37.00
  • Paperback ISBN/EAN: 1-9774-1485-0
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA3540-1
  • Document Number: RR-A3540-1

Citation

RAND Style Manual

Hughes, Sara, Michael T. Wilson, Jonathan Cohen, Rebecca Tisherman, Linnea Warren May, Jay Balagna, and Sara Stullken, Learning from Crises to Build Urban Water Security: Lessons from Five Cities, RAND Corporation, RR-A3540-1, 2025. As of April 30, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3540-1.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Hughes, Sara, Michael T. Wilson, Jonathan Cohen, Rebecca Tisherman, Linnea Warren May, Jay Balagna, and Sara Stullken, Learning from Crises to Build Urban Water Security: Lessons from Five Cities. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3540-1.html. Also available in print form.
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Funding for this research was provided by gifts from RAND supporters and income from operations. This research was conducted within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being, with support from the RAND Center for Climate and Energy Futures and the RAND Global and Emerging Risks.

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