Capacity of urban springs to support emergency water needs, a secondary city case study: Kharkiv, Ukraine

ABSTRACT

The twenty-first century is experiencing the emergence of secondary cities (small-to-medium-sized cities) as major growth areas, especially in low-and middle-income countries. Secondary cities experience rapid, unplanned, and informal growth patterns, creating water issues that influence human insecurity. The Department of State’s Secondary Cities Initiative generates geospatial data through field-based participatory mapping to assist secondary cities to prepare for sustainability issues such as water scarcity. This paper focuses on urban springs in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as an alternative water source during emergencies. These results show the spatial location and discharge of spring water aligns with the population distribution. Twenty-eight percent of people can meet minimum drinking-water requirements from spring water. These results demonstrate the importance of evaluating alternative water sources during times of emergency by using existing data, generating new data through field collection, and using remotely sensed data.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban water security
• urban springs
• secondary cities
• geospatial data
• Ukraine
• Kharkiv

Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by the American Association of Geographers and the Department of State’s Office of the Geographer. This research is a result of the Secondary Cities Initiative. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of the American Association of Geographers or the Office of the Geographer.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplementary data can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Association of Geographers.