This cost may be in economic (e.g. building new or replacing old water infrastructure), social (e.g. closing water allocations to cap demand) and/or environmental terms (e.g. deterioration of freshwater systems to reduce the risk of water shortage). Depending on the existing level of water security, incremental improvements may, in some cases, be disproportionally costly. By identifying the level of acceptability of risks, a risk-based approach fosters targeted and proportional policy responses and thus cost effectiveness.