The Analysis and Research Team at the Ministry of Defence Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) is undertaking a study into the future of water and water security as part of the DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme.

The study will explore evidence of trends and drivers associated with water and water security out to the year 2050. Key areas of interest the study will cover include:

• Supply and demand: global and regional availability, demand for and withdrawals of, clean water by individuals, income-groups and industries (including agriculture); the impact of urbanisation and energy technologies on water and water security.
• Water security: looking at the global, regional and demographic profiles of those who have access to a clean, sufficient water supply that enables good standards of health and sanitation, water for economic activities, healthy aquatic systems, as well as profiles of those who are protected from water-related disasters.
• Water stress and scarcity: distribution and access rights to clean water; global and regional infrastructures and architectures for delivering clean water; patterns in access entitlements and attitudes concerning water as a commonpool resource.
• Water reserves: peak groundwater, groundwater charging and depletion, pollution and salinisation of groundwater; sinking deltas and other changing physical environments; the impact of climate change on rainfall patterns; water treatment technologies, including desalination and other technological advances that might enable access to clean water; the water-energy nexus.
• Water, defence and security: water hegemons, basin politics and the governing of trans-boundary water supplies.
• Water and technology: critical national infrastructure, distribution networks, cyber security and resilience.
• Game changers: political, societal, environmental and/or policy changes that may act as either game changers or blockers.
• Moving beyond resource limits through advances in: data collection and management; water treatment and desalination technologies; water saving technologies; energy automation; industrial efficiencies; distribution networks and infrastructures; Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems; and integrated catchment management.

The MOD is inviting submission of a short two page outline of papers on the subject(s), along with credentials and experience within the area of study to the DCDC Futures team at dcdc This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously.

Papers must consist of three parts:

• Historic trends and drivers;
• emerging future trends and drivers;
• and plausible outcomes from these and must be supported by historical trends and drivers based evidence.

DCDC will review submissions and will notify the authors if they wish to commission the paper.

Deadline for submissions is 6 March 2017 and authors will be notified by 13 March 2017. Final manuscripts will then be due on 8 May 2017.