Researchers, policy makers and business leaders increasingly talk about water security. The term water security is fashionable, fitting in the current time spirit with its focus on all sorts of security issues, though it also reflects changing insights in water policy and management. Yet, there are many different focuses and perspectives of the water security concept. This talk first provides an overview of the different focuses and perspectives of water security in urban areas. In many cities, water security, is a major concern in the context of urbanisation, economic growth and climate change. We then take a systems perspective on urban water security, taking the pressure-state-impact-response structure as an analytical framework. Finally, we present a dashboard of 56 indicators to capture different characteristics of urban water security, and ranked ten cities based on their overall Water Security Index score.