Course summary
In this video, Professor Steve Ormerod summarising the four weeks of the course and provides a quick recap of the lessons learned. We hope you enjoyed this course on water …
Course: The Challenge of Global Water Security
A water governance example from the European Union
Water security problems are often the result of inappropriate governance. Integrated water resources management (IWRM), is a concept to improve the governance of water resources by considering together: river basin …
Water Governance: Beyond the Management of Water Supplies
Water security is about managing and distributing the supply of water over time and between places. This brings the question of water governance to the front of any discussion of …
Catchment management
The character of freshwater ecosystems is determined in large part by the character of the terrestrial catchments from which they drain. This is one of the most fundamental principles in …
Conclusions
Whilst there are many ways we can reduce our water demands as individuals the challenge is to maintain this over the longer-term. The installation of water-efficient technologies, such as low …
Water savings in Cape Town
In January 2018, Cape Town announced that without dramatic water conservation measures the dams it relies on for its water supply would run dry in April. Known as ‘Day 0’ …
Reducing water demand by domestic consumers
In this activity, we introduce the concept of reducing water demand by domestic consumers as one way of strengthening water security. We’ll do this through the example of Cape Town, …
Introduction to Week 4
In this video, Professor Steve Ormerod introduces the topics for this week. For the final week of the course, we’ll explore some of the solutions to the current and future …
Chemicals and Pollutants Within Freshwater Systems
The so called ‘emergent pollutants’ that arise from the production of synthetic chemicals are attracting increasing attention, often dominating environmental news. However, the array of complex chemicals that can pose …
Urbanisation and demographic change
In this video, Dr Adrian Healy discusses the impact of urbanisation and demographic change on water security and the resulting challenges that will need to be addressed in the future. …
Future climates
How do scientists predict future climates? Future climate change projections need information on greenhouse gas concentrations in decades and centuries to come and an understanding of how the earth system …
Climate change and water security
Climate change affects all aspects of the water cycle through: changing the water holding capacity of the atmosphere shifting weather patterns changing evaporation rates melting frozen water storages (glaciers and …
How bad can it get?
In this step we continue our discussions on freshwater ecosystems, and the risks to freshwater organisms and ecosystems around the world. Here are a number of graphs that illustrate their …
Freshwater ecosystems
In this video, Dr Adrian Healy talks about the characteristics and diversity of freshwater ecosystems present on Earth. Over to you Do you think that individuals can take action to …
Water infrastructure and innovation
In this video, we’ll hear from Professor Steve Ormerod and Professor Tony Harrington, Director of Environment at Dwr Cymru Welsh Water. They’ll be discussing water security from a water industry …
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How climate change is threatening human health
Climate change is currently one of the biggest threats to human health and survival, so … -
An introduction to business analysis
In this article, we define business analytics and introduce the tools and techniques required to … -
The latest developments in the edtech industry
We explore the world of education technology, looking at some of the latest developments in … -
OU launches package of free FCDO approved Safeguarding Leadership courses
The Open University (OU) has launched the first module in a package of free Safeguarding …
