5.3 Equity Revisited
79
a member under water poverty. This conservation action is priority for at least four
segments, namely Sg14, Sg15, Sg24 and Sg25.
Even under the conditions that water poverty does not exist, conservation is still
necessary. In segments Sg34, Sg35, Sg44, Sg45 and Sg55 conservation leaves more
water with better quality in nature, and promotes the use of less energy, land and
money. Consequently, water conservation minimizes harm to water and many other
resources.
Finally, water maximum thresholds, rationing, conservation and saving are all
different. While maximum thresholds may promote conservation, the idea of water
conservation is broader and is not about maximums, rationing or saving. On the other
hand, water conservation may promote water saving but their relationship suffers a
myth (Sect. 6.1). Rationing occurs under transitory, i.e., temporary conditions in
contrast to the other three words.
5.3.3 Sefficiency
After removing water poverty and water excesses, what remains is Sg33, meaning
that both M1 and M2 are operating in the Water Wise category. In this segment,
equality can be numerically established (i.e., along the line BC), however “the worst
form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal” (Aristotle, 384 BC-322 BC).
Consequently, equity brings fairness in diversity by using the Sefficiency framework
developed in Chap. 4. The best point to operate within the Sg33 segment can be
found by using the full Sefficiency, which depends on the amount of available water,
its quality and benefits. Furthermore, sometimes it is necessary to apply Sefficiency
to Sg13 and Sg23 as explained in Sect. 5.5 below.
We know that there may be various Sefficient scenarios for a WUS, but not all of
them are fair. In this regard, equity developed in this Chapter is necessary to single
out one Sefficient distribution or dramatically reduce the number of scenarios for
fair decision-making in accordance with bounded rationality introduced in Chap. 1.
In other words, there is an inherent priority among Equality, Conservation and Sefficiency, with the first two being constraints on the third. There are other limiting
factors, such as, water right (different from UN human right to water) that should be
considered in its due place in equity, e.g., in the IN/OUT flows of a WUS.
As a final note on Sequity, we should mention that in many circumstances such
as for public information, colour works better than numbers or symbols. Using three
colours, Table 5.4 presents an example.
The Sefficiency values, particularly the yellow-green frontier of 80%, depend on
sectors and types of Sefficiency (e.g., ic = 0 or 1) and some of the examples in
Chap. 6 demonstrate this.
79
a member under water poverty. This conservation action is priority for at least four
segments, namely Sg14, Sg15, Sg24 and Sg25.
Even under the conditions that water poverty does not exist, conservation is still
necessary. In segments Sg34, Sg35, Sg44, Sg45 and Sg55 conservation leaves more
water with better quality in nature, and promotes the use of less energy, land and
money. Consequently, water conservation minimizes harm to water and many other
resources.
Finally, water maximum thresholds, rationing, conservation and saving are all
different. While maximum thresholds may promote conservation, the idea of water
conservation is broader and is not about maximums, rationing or saving. On the other
hand, water conservation may promote water saving but their relationship suffers a
myth (Sect. 6.1). Rationing occurs under transitory, i.e., temporary conditions in
contrast to the other three words.
5.3.3 Sefficiency
After removing water poverty and water excesses, what remains is Sg33, meaning
that both M1 and M2 are operating in the Water Wise category. In this segment,
equality can be numerically established (i.e., along the line BC), however “the worst
form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal” (Aristotle, 384 BC-322 BC).
Consequently, equity brings fairness in diversity by using the Sefficiency framework
developed in Chap. 4. The best point to operate within the Sg33 segment can be
found by using the full Sefficiency, which depends on the amount of available water,
its quality and benefits. Furthermore, sometimes it is necessary to apply Sefficiency
to Sg13 and Sg23 as explained in Sect. 5.5 below.
We know that there may be various Sefficient scenarios for a WUS, but not all of
them are fair. In this regard, equity developed in this Chapter is necessary to single
out one Sefficient distribution or dramatically reduce the number of scenarios for
fair decision-making in accordance with bounded rationality introduced in Chap. 1.
In other words, there is an inherent priority among Equality, Conservation and Sefficiency, with the first two being constraints on the third. There are other limiting
factors, such as, water right (different from UN human right to water) that should be
considered in its due place in equity, e.g., in the IN/OUT flows of a WUS.
As a final note on Sequity, we should mention that in many circumstances such
as for public information, colour works better than numbers or symbols. Using three
colours, Table 5.4 presents an example.
The Sefficiency values, particularly the yellow-green frontier of 80%, depend on
sectors and types of Sefficiency (e.g., ic = 0 or 1) and some of the examples in
Chap. 6 demonstrate this.