District Water Security Score
Prioritise resources transparently without hiding indicators or shaming places.
Define the service failure before selecting infrastructure.
A single score can hide severe failure, missing data and arbitrary weights.
District rank may reflect reporting capacity more than actual performance.
Record state, district, city/block, village/ward or supply zone; season and date; source or asset; affected users; observed service; measurement or sample method; photo/document where safe; and uncertainty. Never imply 100-metre accuracy unless the evidence genuinely supports it.
Test the full source-to-service chain.
Weights chosen before decision purpose
Treat this as a hypothesis until records, field observation, seasonal evidence and credible alternatives are checked.
Incompatible indicators normalised together
Treat this as a hypothesis until records, field observation, seasonal evidence and credible alternatives are checked.
Missing data rewarded or imputed silently
Treat this as a hypothesis until records, field observation, seasonal evidence and credible alternatives are checked.
Rankings incentivise gaming
Treat this as a hypothesis until records, field observation, seasonal evidence and credible alternatives are checked.
Components that must work together.
Safe drinking water
Define the responsible actor, operating standard, input, handoff, maintenance requirement, failure trigger and evidence record.
Availability and reliability
Define the responsible actor, operating standard, input, handoff, maintenance requirement, failure trigger and evidence record.
Groundwater
Define the responsible actor, operating standard, input, handoff, maintenance requirement, failure trigger and evidence record.
Sanitation and sewage
Define the responsible actor, operating standard, input, handoff, maintenance requirement, failure trigger and evidence record.
Reuse and ecosystems
Define the responsible actor, operating standard, input, handoff, maintenance requirement, failure trigger and evidence record.
Flood, drought and infrastructure efficiency
Define the responsible actor, operating standard, input, handoff, maintenance requirement, failure trigger and evidence record.
Match intervention to hydrogeology, settlement and service capacity.
Show component dashboard before composite.
Publish definitions, weights, uncertainty and sensitivity.
Validate with experts and communities.
Use categories for resource priority, not moral judgement.
Diagnose, protect, pilot, measure and institutionalise.
Verify & protect
Confirm the location, affected users, service chain, immediate health or safety risk, responsible agency and existing evidence.
Controlled pilot
Prototype the score in diverse districts and test whether decisions remain stable under alternate weights.
Durable system
Fund operations, preventive maintenance, skilled teams, monitoring, public reporting, correction pathways and independent evaluation.
Measure service and outcomes—not assets alone.
Water interventions can transfer risk across people, places and time.
- RiskLeague-table shamingPrevention · accountable owner · trigger · remedy
- RiskGaming and suppressed reportsPrevention · accountable owner · trigger · remedy
- RiskFalse precisionPrevention · accountable owner · trigger · remedy