Management of Drinking Water Source in Rural Communities under Climate Change

Abstract

In rural communities where central public water supply systems can hardly reach, the acquisition and management of safe drinking water sources are challenging due to population growth, environmental pollution, and climate change. Numerous endeavours have been made over the past several decades to help rural communities manage drinking water sources and obtain safe drinking water under climate change, which are summarized in this review. Firstly, the crises of rural drinking water safety under climate change are overviewed based on the extensive investigation of recent studies on rural water security. Second, the sustainable management of rural drinking water sources are systematically reviewed, mainly focusing on issues of water quality assessments, drinking water quantity and quality improvement, system maintenance and community management, and decision making in rural regions across the world. Finally, knowledge gaps of recent endeavors are highlighted, emerging threats and complications to water security under climate change are identified and perspectives for future works are discussed.

Keywords: drinking water safety, drinking water source management, rural communities, climate change