Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2018), pp. 223–238. DOI 10.3233/AJW-180035 WSI OC : The Water Sustainability Index for Offce Complexes Gaurav Chandra*, Manjari Chakraborty 1 and A.K. Sinha 2 Department of Architecture, Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Handicapped, Kanpur 208024, India 1 Department of Architecture, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi 835215, Jharkhand, India 2 Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi 835215, Jharkhand, India * gauravchandra1@gmail.com Received May 31, 2017; revised and accepted March 28, 2018 Abstract: Water as a natural resource although covering almost two-third part of the universe, a ffth of the global population is facing acute water scarcity and unavailability of fresh drinking water due to the increasing anthropogenic pressure worldwide. In the Indian sub-continent ~23% of the total population is classifed as under the class of absolute water scarcity, and ~54% people are facing high water stress condition. In spite of alluvial aquifers of the Indo-Gangetic plains water table has declined in the northern region of the country, which may lead to a disaster. Water sustainability so should be our priority. This study aims to assess the building water management systems with a relative importance of certain associated attributes. Thus, a water sustainability index (WSI OC ) is developed for offce complexes (e.g., 26 sampled buildings) of major cities of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) India, based on the framework of water sustainability attributes comprising water supply, consumption and fnancial aspects. The framework attributes were determined using Delphi technique followed by AHP and linear regression method. The (WSI OC ) absolute value ranges from 31 to 74, which represents the building water management performance as moderate and high, respectively. In order to revive the menacing scenario related to the water effciency in buildings, a need for priority action is evaluated accordingly. Certainly, the developed WSI OC will act as a guiding tool for the water policy makers, consultants and architects to formulate their ideas for sustainable urban environment. Key words: Water scarcity, water sustainability index (WSI), offce buildings, WSI OC . *Corresponding Author Introduction Nowadays, the water availability to every human on the earth is getting diffcult. In spite of the global availability of water and having renewable characteristics, a ffth of the world’s population is facing water scarcity (Hering and Ingold, 2012). The United Nations reports refect that 85% of the world population lives in the driest part of the earth, while ~6 to 8 million people die every year due to water related diseases (KPMG, 2012; UN-DESA, 2013). The international water management institute (IWMI) estimated that ~1.4 billion people of the world population will experience severe water scarcity in the frst quarter of the 21 st century (Seckler et al., 1999). Several studies show that due to the rapid population growth and climate change ~37 countries of the world are facing high water stress with a score > 80% stress index. The burgeoning industrial development and urbanization are the foremost reasons for the water crisis (Singh et al., 2002; Dixit and Tiwari, 2008). In the changing world, the water management practices should gradually be improved accordingly.