Figure

Water exploitation index (WEI) — in late 1980s/early 1990s (WEI‑90) compared to latest years available (1998 to 2007)

Figure Created 24 Feb 2011 Published 24 Feb 2011 Last modified 24 May 2017

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Topics: Water and marine environment

WEI: annual total water abstraction as a percentage of available long-term freshwater resources.

https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/water-exploitation-index-wei-4/signals-cc-adaptation-fig2.eps/image_large

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Rights:: EEA standard re-use policy: unless otherwise indicated, re-use of content on the EEA website for commercial or non-commercial purposes is permitted free of charge, provided that the source is acknowledged (https://www.eea.europa.eu/legal/copyright). Copyright holder: European Environment Agency (EEA).
Owners:: European Environment Agency (EEA)
Figure type:: Graph

Additional information

The warning threshold, which distinguishes a non-stressed from a water scarce region, is around 20 %, with severe scarcity occurring where the WEI exceeds 40 %.

WEI (water exploitation index) divides the total water abstraction by the long-term annual average resource. However, this indicator does not fully reflect the level of stress upon local water resources: this is primarily because the WEI is based on annual data and cannot, therefore, account for seasonal variations in water availability and abstraction.

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