A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting

Wang, Dan; Hubacek, Klaus; Shan, Yuli; Gerbens-Leenes, Winnie; Liu, Junguo

doi:10.3390/w13020201

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceReview

A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting

by

Dan Wang

¹,

Klaus Hubacek

^1,*

,

Yuli Shan

^1,*,

Winnie Gerbens-Leenes

¹

and

Junguo Liu

²

¹

Integrated Research on Energy Environment and Society (IREES), Energy Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG), University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands

²

School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Water 2021, 13(2), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020201

Submission received: 28 October 2020 / Revised: 11 January 2021 / Accepted: 12 January 2021 / Published: 15 January 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In Memory of Prof. Arjen Y. Hoekstra)

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Abstract

Production and consumption activities deplete freshwater, generate water pollution and may further lead to water stress. The accurate measurement of water stress is a precondition for sustainable water management. This paper reviews the literature on physical water stress induced by blue and green water use and by water pollution. Specifically, we clarify several key concepts (i.e., water stress, scarcity, availability, withdrawal, consumption and the water footprint) for water stress evaluation, and review physical water stress indicators in terms of quantity and quality. Furthermore, we identify research gaps in physical water stress assessment, related to environmental flow requirements, return flows, outsourcing of water pollution and standardization of terminology and approaches. These research gaps can serve as venues for further research dealing with the evaluation and reduction of water stress.

Keywords: water footprint; water stress; water scarcity; water quality

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MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, D.; Hubacek, K.; Shan, Y.; Gerbens-Leenes, W.; Liu, J. A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting. Water 2021, 13, 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020201

AMA Style

Wang D, Hubacek K, Shan Y, Gerbens-Leenes W, Liu J. A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting. Water. 2021; 13(2):201. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020201

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Dan, Klaus Hubacek, Yuli Shan, Winnie Gerbens-Leenes, and Junguo Liu. 2021. "A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting" Water 13, no. 2: 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020201

APA Style

Wang, D., Hubacek, K., Shan, Y., Gerbens-Leenes, W., & Liu, J. (2021). A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting. Water, 13(2), 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020201

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting

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