Water shortages are a major risk in urban areas – including secondary towns and cities – around the world. This Guidance Note was created in response to that risk and describes the implications on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming for UNICEF staff and partners, with suggested interventions. It highlights the dynamic threat of urban water scarcity and the importance of assessing the resilience of urban WASH services by considering current and future available safe water against projected water demand. It also explores the impact of water scarcity on the affordability, sustainability and quality of urban WASH services.

This Guidance Note was created in response to that risk and describes the implications on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming for UNICEF staff and partners, with suggested programmatic interventions. This Guidance Note highlights the dynamic threat of urban water scarcity and the importance of assessing the resilience of urban WASH services by considering current and future available safe water against projected water demand.

The Guidance Note also explores the impact of water scarcity on the affordability, sustainability and quality of urban WASH services. Water scarcity in a variety of different urban contexts is illustrated in this note, with special attention given to Cape Town’s 2018 water crisis, including identifying what the most effective initiatives were in practice to reduce water demand and conserve available water resources. Finally, this Guidance Note summarises three types of actions grounded in these various roles, which can take place at different times. These are preparedness actions, immediate actions and long-term actions.