Analysis of the Water Exploitation Index (WEI) as an instrument for adjusting water supply and demand policy.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57883/thij9(2)2017.30470Keywords:
Water Exploitation Index, Sustainable Management, Water Resources, Water StressAbstract
Improved management water resources in order to maintain aquatic ecosystems and avoiding overexploitation maintaining an adequate long-term supply of freshwater quality, is one of the environmental objectives of the EU 2020. Although many countries show a sustainable use of water, there are areas facing scarcity problems, at least seasonal or local level. Given that water quality is closely linked to the amount of it, the relationship between water withdrawal and renewal of the stock is a matter of vital importance in sustainable management of resources. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyze the Water Exploitation Index (WEI) as an indicator able to assess the pressure exerted by water withdrawal on water resources allowing policies to adjust supply and demand. A WEI above 20% indicates the presence of water stress and 40% or more, strong competition for water with difficulty maintaining healthy ecosystems. The data study shows that while water is generally plentiful in Europe, the shortage continues to affect certain areas at specific times of the year. In winter about 6% of the total population of Europe lives in conditions of water stress, while in summer the figure stands at 14% reaching up to 53% in Mediterranean areas. Service sector has become one of the main pressures on renewable water resources with the 11% of total consumption. Small Mediterranean islands in particular are under severe water stress conditions due to receiving 15 times more tourists than they have local inhabitants. Therefore, we can conclude that water withdrawal as a percentage of total available resource reflects, in an understandable and easy way, a good picture of the pressure exerted on water resources over time.
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This work is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
