Abstract:
In recent years, water scarcity and water shortage have increased all over the world as a result
of high stress on water systems like rivers, lakes and streams. Sweden is a developed country
with plenty of available water resources but, due to droughts and less precipitation in recent
years, it has experienced enormous negative effects on their water resources. Many local
authorities have in the last years been forced to implement water irrigation prohibitions whilst
others urged their citizens to be frugal when consuming water distributed to their home in
order to not overexploit the resources. Scarce water resources is a local problem and
therefore, tools, measures and adaptive strategies needs to be implemented by municipalities. This thesis aim is to analyse what challenges Swedish municipalities face with water resource
management towards reducing the risk of water shortage and if they have implemented
adaptive strategies. To answer the research questions and to fulfill the purpose of this thesis, a
qualitative case study of two municipalities has been conducted. The theoretical framework is
based on adaptive management and the analytical tools used was a SWOT-analysis which
identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The SWOT characteristics were
further used to establish the challenges that municipalities face with water resource
management. This thesis is based on a qualitative case study analysis. The result is based on an analysis of
the municipalities water supply plans, their water and waste plans, and through semi
structured interviews held with the municipalities Head of the Water and Waste department
unit and project managers in the Water and Waste department. Challenges that municipalities face with water resource management are mostly threats that
are viewed as external elements. Municipalities implementation of adaptive management
strategies due exists in some extent in both cases but seem to be related to how affected they
are by water scarcity.
