Physical water scarcity metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG target 6.4: An evaluation of indicator 6.4.2 “Level of water stress”

Vanham, Davy; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Wada, Yoshihide; Bouraoui, F.; Roo, Ad de; Mekonnen, Mesfin; Bund, Wouter van de; Batelaan, Okke; Pavelic, Paul; Bastiaanssen, W.G.M.; Kummu, Matti; Rockström, Johan; Liu, Junguo; Bisselink, Berny; Ronco, Paolo; Pistocchi, Alberto; Bidoglio, G.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.056

Cited by 274 publications

(209 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…In the EU, the Water Exploitation Index plus (WEI+) is often used to compute WS for consumptive water use. WS differs both spatially and temporally [57].…”

Section: Blue and Green Water Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blue water stress [56] quantifies the ratio between water use and environmentally available water, the latter being total water availability minus environmental flows. In the SDG framework, this value is monitored with indicator 6.4.2 [57]. When environmental flows are not met any more, this leads to serious disruptions in important ecosystem services [28,57,58].…”

Section: Blue and Green Water Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the SDG framework, this value is monitored with indicator 6.4.2 [57]. When environmental flows are not met any more, this leads to serious disruptions in important ecosystem services [28,57,58].…”

Section: Blue and Green Water Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The consumptive water footprint of the European Union energy sector

Vanham

Medarac

Schyns

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Energy security for the EU is a priority of the European Commission. Although both blue and green water resources are increasingly scarce, the EU currently does not explicitly account for water resource use in its energy related policies. Here we quantify the freshwater resources required to produce the different energy sources in the EU, by means of the water footprint (WF) concept. We conduct the most geographically detailed consumptive WF assessment for the EU to date, based on the newest spatial databases of energy sources. We calculate that fossil fuels and nuclear energy are moderate water users (136-627 m 3 /terajoules (m 3 TJ -1 )). Of the renewable energy sources, wood, reservoir hydropower and first generation biofuels require large water amounts (9114-137 624 m 3 TJ -1 ). The most water efficient are solar, wind, geothermal and run-of-river hydropower (1-117 m 3 TJ -1 ). For the EU territory for the year 2015, our geographically detailed assessment results in a WF of energy production from domestic water resources of 198 km 3 , or 1068 litres per person per day. The WF of energy consumption is larger as the EU is to a high level dependent on imports for its energy supply, amounting to 242 km 3 per year, or 1301 litres per person per day. The WF of energy production within the 281 EU statistical NUTS-2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) regions shows spatially heterogeneous values. Different energy sources produced and consumed in the EU contribute to and are produced under average annual and monthly blue water stress and green water scarcity. The amount of production under WS is especially high during summer months. Imported energy sources are also partly produced under WS, revealing risks to EU energy security due to externalisation. For the EU, to decarbonise and increase the share of renewables of its energy supply, it needs to formulate policies that take the water use of energy sources into account. In doing so, the spatial and temporal characteristics of water use and water stress should particularly be considered.

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“…In the EU, the Water Exploitation Index plus (WEI+) is often used to compute WS for consumptive water use. WS differs both spatially and temporally [57].…”

Section: Blue and Green Water Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Blue and Green Water Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The consumptive water footprint of the European Union energy sector

Vanham

Medarac

Schyns

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Hoekstra [16]; Smakhtin [52]; Vanham et al [33] Pros: is eco-centric, explicitly considers EWR.Cons: it is often difficult to determine appropriate EWR for individual regions.…”

Section: Use-to-resource Ratiomentioning

confidence: 99%

A First Estimation of County-Based Green Water Availability and Its Implications for Agriculture and Bioenergy Production in the United States

Hui

2018

Water

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Green water is vital for the terrestrial ecosystem, but water resource assessment often focuses on blue water. In this study, we estimated green water availability for major crops (i.e., corn, soybean, and wheat) and all other users (e.g., forest, grassland, and ecosystem services) at the county level in the United States. We estimated green water resources from effective rain (ER) using three different methods: Smith, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Soil Conservation Service (USDA-SCS), and the NHD plus V2 dataset. The analysis illustrates that, if green water meets all crop water demands, the fraction of green water resources available to all other users varies significantly across regions, from the Northern Plains (0.71) to the Southeast (0.98). At the county level, this fraction varies from 0.23 to 1.0. Green water resources estimated using the three different ER methods present diverse spatiotemporal distribution patterns across regions, which could affect green water availability estimates. The water availability index for green water (WAI_R) was measured taking into account crop water demand and green water resources aggregated at the county level. Beyond these parameters, WAI_R also depends on the precipitation pattern, crop type and spatially differentiated regions. In addition, seasonal analysis indicated that WAI_R is sensitive to the temporal boundary of the analysis.

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“…Blue water scarcity has been assessed at numerous spatial and temporal resolutions (Vanham et al, 2018). Most development has been in the temporal resolution.…”

Section: Blue and Green Water Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable and efficient allocation of limited blue and green water resources

Schyns

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Physical water scarcity metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG target 6.4: An evaluation of indicator 6.4.2 “Level of water stress”

Cited by 274 publications

References 74 publications

The consumptive water footprint of the European Union energy sector

The consumptive water footprint of the European Union energy sector

A First Estimation of County-Based Green Water Availability and Its Implications for Agriculture and Bioenergy Production in the United States

Sustainable and efficient allocation of limited blue and green water resources

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