Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas

As the world’s population approaches nine billion by mid-century and millions more people join the global middle class each year, water consumption will continue to rise. More water is required for drinking and domestic use, as well as agriculture, mining, energy, and industry. Water is frequently identified as a limit to growth and a potential crisis point.

Unlike many other risk indices, the atlas allows you to observe the variability of risks within a country at a very fine level. This serves to highlight the wide range of stress levels in countries such as China and India, as well as the localized stress that urbanization can have on water resources. Japan, for example, has a low total water danger, but Tokyo is at high risk.

Aqueduct: 

Aqueduct creates high-resolution, customizable global maps of water risk using a robust, peer-reviewed approach and the best available data. Its water risk assessment considers not just water supply challenges, but also water quality, regulatory pressure, governance, climate change impacts, and socio-economic dynamics, as well as population, industrial, and irrigated agriculture distribution.

The three main components of an aqueduct are:

• The Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas
• The Aqueduct maps of agricultural exposure
• The Aqueduct country and river basin rankings

World Resources Institute (WRI): 

WRI is a global non-profit organization that collaborates with leaders in government, business, and civil society to develop, test, and implement practical solutions that improve people’s lives while also ensuring the survival of nature. 

They concentrate on seven pressing issues: food, forests, water, oceans, cities, energy, and climate change. Its mission is to persuade human civilization to live in ways that conserve the environment and the planet’s ability to meet the needs and ambitions of current and future generations.

Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas (AWRA): 

• The World Resources Institute’s AWRA is a worldwide water risk mapping tool that helps businesses, investors, governments, and other users understand where and how water hazards and opportunities are emerging around the world.
• The majority of the tool’s water indicators and mapping functionalities are included in the Water Risk Atlas, which may be used to assess current and prospective water risk exposure. The Atlas creates high-resolution, customized global maps of water risk using a robust, peer-reviewed approach and the most accurate available data.
• Aqueduct currently has 13 water risk indicators, including new ones like groundwater availability and depletion, as well as weekly snapshots of water stress and fluctuation.

Key findings from the recent AWRA report: 

The World Resources Institute has produced the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, which describes various sorts of water stress around the world in an impressively thorough fashion.

• According to the report, Baseline water stress affects one-quarter of the world’s population implying that on average, irrigated agriculture, industries, and towns use more than 80% of their available water each year.
• The BWS layer, which was created as part of the WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, calculates the ratio of overall water withdrawals to annual renewable surface water resources.
• Water withdrawals have more than doubled globally since the 1960s, owing to increased demand for water.

• Another filter uses a computation of the amount of water used upstream and the number of protected areas around rivers and watersheds to demonstrate that the Middle East, India, northern China, and much of the United States are in high danger of poor water quality.
• The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area has 12 of the 17 most water-stressed countries, which can be linked to the region’s natural circumstances (hot and dry), which have caused a water supply and demand imbalance.
• Even in countries with minimal overall water stress, such as South Africa (SA) and the United States (US), localities in the Western Cape (SA) and New Mexico (US) may be under severe stress.
• Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, UAE, San Marino, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Oman, and Botswana are among the top 17 water-stressed countries.

Water Woes of India according to AWRA report: 

India is at number 13 on Aqueduct’s list of 17 countries that are very water-stressed. Northern India, which was just included in water stress estimates for the first time, is experiencing significant groundwater depletion. Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir are at the top of the list. The problems with India’s water crisis go beyond Chennai, which was recently reported to be running out of water.

List of steps to avoid water woes: 

1. Agricultural water productivity can be enhanced by employing better crops and nutrient applications.
2. Switching from flood irrigation to sprinklers or drip irrigation can improve irrigation efficiency.
3. Water use in domestic and industrial settings can be lowered by reducing distribution leaks and enhancing water recycling facilities.
4. Water demand can be reduced if the world’s population is kept below 8.5 billion by 2050, thanks to tax incentives and family planning.
5. Increasing reservoir storage capacity by expanding existing reservoirs, building new reservoirs, and minimizing sedimentation.

Conclusion: 

The Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas simultaneously highlights a developing concern and gives a tool to help navigate these risks in the years ahead by giving a deeply information-rich and aesthetically appealing approach to exploring the enormous number of strains on the world’s water.