Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources

Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for industry are total withdrawals for direct industrial use (including withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric plants). Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric plants). Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes. Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for agriculture are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production. Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes. Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric plants). Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes.

Level of water stress (SDG 6.4.2) by major river basin (reference year 2018). This map provides a global representation of the level of water stress spatially disaggregated by major river basin. The indicator 6.4.2 is calculated as the ratio between (a) the amount of total freshwater resources withdrawn in the three economic sectors (Agriculture, Service and Industry) and (b) the total renewable freshwater resources after detracting the amount of water needed to support existing environmental services, also indicated as environmental flows. All the variables are expressed in million m3. The purpose of this indicator is to show the degree to which water resources are being exploited to meet the water demand and it measures the pressure on water resources at basin level. High values of water stress mean more water users are competing for limited water supplies. Low water stress indicates minimal potential impact on resource sustainability and on potential competition among users. Major river basins with an indicator's level lower than 25% have no water stress. Those basins with a water stress greater than 75% have a high or critical water stress. The spatial disaggregation of the indicator by river basin allow the identification of hotspots where actions can be prioritized and reveal that the area affected by a high or critical water stress spans across all continents with the only exception of Oceania. The analysis is based on the national water withdrawal data available in AQUASTAT for year 2018. The total renewable freshwater resources have been assessed using the GloBWat model (https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/19/3829/2015/) and the environmental Flows have been estimated applying the percentages available on the GEFIS portal 2021 (http://eflows.iwmi.org/). Further details on the methodology applied can be found at: https://ucl.scienceopen.com/document/read?vid=18caef6a-0b8f-4e0c-a3e6-807e55d075a2. **Data publication:** 2022-03-11 **Contact points:** Resource Contact: [Jippe Hoogeveen](mailto:jippe.hoogeveen@fao.org) Resource Contact: [Michela Marinelli](mailto:michela.marinelli@fao.org) Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Resource constraints:** Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) **Online resources:** Download - Level of Water Stress (SDG 6.4.2) by major river basin (ESRI shapefile)