6 August 2019: The World Resources Institute (WRI) has updated its Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, which presents information about countries’ respective levels of water risk. The Atlas also provides web-based tools that can map water risks such as floods, droughts and stress, based on 13 indicators such as groundwater availability. The Aqueduct Tools on the Atlas website use open-source, peer-reviewed data to derive their rankings of water stress.

The Atlas identifies 17 countries with extremely high water stress, where up to 80% of available water resources, including groundwater, is being used up every year. It shows that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has the world’s highest level of water risk. Qatar emerges as the country with the highest level of water risk, followed by Lebanon and then Israel. India, one of the world’s most populous countries, is ranked 13th globally for water risk.

The Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and web tools were developed by WRI’s research partners and an alliance of companies, governments, and foundations working with WRI to improve sustainable water management. They are relevant to monitoring progress on SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation) targets, including target 6.4 on ensuring sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity by 2030, and target 6.6 on protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems, including rivers, aquifers and lakes by 2020.

Further information on water risk in agriculture and food security, and on flood risk in coastal zones is forthcoming. [WRI Press Release]