Assessing climate change vulnerability of water at household level

The Climate Vulnerability Index for Water (CVIW) was developed and applied to assess the climate related water vulnerability of households in mountainous region. The CVIW provides a realistic approach to recognize social and natural factors contributing to climate change water vulnerability at the household level. CVIW comprises of three components-exposure (Exp.), sensitivity (Sen.) and adaptive capacity (Adap.Cap.)-and 14 sub-components: four for Exp., five for Sen. and five for Adap.Cap. An indicator-based approach was used to assess the components of the index whereas a composite-index approach to estimate the index value. The CVIW was then applied for mountainous households in Uttrakhand, India. The study area was classified under rural and urban areas. Random sampling was adopted to select the households. The CVIW value in urban areas was found to be higher (0.767) than in rural areas (0.686) suggesting less water vulnerability of urban households. This comparatively higher water vulnerability of rural, forest-dependent, households is attributed to the heightened sensitivity and exposure of the rural region in comparison to the urban region. The major contributor to water vulnerability of rural households is the low standard of health facilities, the existing water problems and agricultural issues. Along with remoteness, the edaphic factors of mountainous region coupled with infrastructural issues are responsible for the present condition, all of which are addressable if future programs and policies include and implement regulations to remedy attributive factors.