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| Titel |
The water footprint of human-made reservoirs for hydropower, irrigation,
water supply, flood prevention, fishing and recreation on a global scale |
| VerfasserIn |
Rick Hogeboom, Luuk Knook, Arjen Hoekstra |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250139141
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-2319.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Increasing the availability of freshwater to meet growing and competing demands is on many
policy agendas. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) prescribe sustainable
management of water for human consumption. For centuries humans have resorted to
building dams to store water in periods of excess for use in times of shortage. Although dams
and their reservoirs have made important contributions to human development, it is
increasingly acknowledged that reservoirs can be substantial water consumers as
well.
We estimated the water footprint of human-made reservoirs on a global scale and
attributed it to the various reservoir purposes (hydropower generation, residential and
industrial water supply, irrigation water supply, flood protection, fishing and recreation) based
on their economic value.
We found that economic benefits from derived products and services from 2235 reservoirs
globally, amount to 311 billion US dollar annually, with residential and industrial water
supply and hydropower generation as major contributors.
The water footprint associated with these benefits is the sum of the water footprint of dam
construction (< 1 % contribution) and evaporation from the reservoir’s surface area. The
latter was calculated as an ensemble mean of four different methods for estimating open
water evaporation.
The total water footprint of reservoirs globally adds up to ∼104 km3yr−1. Attribution per
purpose shows that, with a global average water footprint of 21,5 m3GJ,−1 hydropower on
average is a water intensive form of energy.
We contextualized the water footprint of reservoirs and their purposes with regard to the
water scarcity level of the river basin in which they occur. We found the lion’s share (55%) of
the water footprint is located in non-water scarce basins and only 1% in year-round scarce
basins. The purpose for which the reservoir is primarily used changes with increasing water
scarcity, from mainly hydropower generation in non-scarce basins, to the (more essential)
purposes residential and industrial water supply, irrigation and flood control in scarcer
areas.
The quantitative explication of how the burden of water consumption from reservoirs is
shared between its beneficiaries as proposed in this study, can contribute to reaching the
desired sustainable management of finite freshwater resources as proposed by SDG 6. |
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