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Water scarcity is determined primarily by (1) water demand, which largely depends on population and socio-economic activities; and (2) climatic conditions, which control water availability and the seasonality of supply. Assessing water scarcity conditions across Europe at river basin level from season to season is more informative, compared to aggregated annual estimates at European or even country level, which masks the extent or intensity of the problem for certain areas or seasons. The water exploitation index plus (WEI+) measures water consumption as a percentage of the renewable freshwater resources available for a defined territory and period: values above 20 % indicate that water resources are under stress; values above 40 % indicate that stress is severe and freshwater use is unsustainable (Raskin et al., 1997).
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Previous comments
Austrian comment (Helga Lindinger, Ernst Überreiter):
Last sentence: The treshold values for water stress are fine for us but note: the 20% and 40% threshold values were originally developed for WEI (as described on page 6 below). Although WEI+ delivers lower values than WEI the threshold values for water stress were kept.
Please add the definition for "water consumption"
Thank you for your comment. We are aware of the issue. As there is no agreed trehsolds values available for the EU assessment, we indicatively keep the same threshold values, until any new are proposed.
Consequently the qualification of classes should be reviewed, as the impact on aquatic environment is greater for the same WEI or WEI+ value.
Thank you for your comment. We are aware of the issue. As there is no agreed trehsold values available for the EU assessment, we indicatively keep the same threshold values, until any new are proposed.
The water resources listed for Slovakia are very significantly increased by counting Danube water in. Therefore the WEI+ values for Slovakia are very low (0,3 both in 2018 and 2019). However, Danube is creating the part of the state border in South-West of the Slovakia, so the possibility of use of this water is limited for smaller part of the country. The sub-basin of Danube directly influenced by water use is covering only about 3% of the whole territory of Slovakia. Therefore, the WEI+ for Slovakia is NOT REPRESENTING the real status of the country, as the real WEI+ for the rest of the country is much higher.
Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately, the computation system we use for the WEI+ is not capable to distinct the volume of water received as inflow from upstream territory for Danube. In the case you kindly provide us the reference WEI+ for Slovakia, we would happily to replace the EEA calculation with that.
Italy:
We agree with previous comments related to WEI+ thresholds and water consumpution definition
Thank you for your comment, we will make proper adjustments in the indicator's text
Hungary:
It is recommended that the WEI+ be calculated for smaller catchments. The WEI+ result of these catchments should be aggregated, weighted by area ratio, so it can be better demonstrated how water-deficient (or not) a country is.
The NUTS-2 regions were demarcated on the basis of administrative boundaries and not according to hydrological units (catchments), so it is difficult to assign water resources to their territory. In addition, in the case of Hungary, Budapest is a separate region within the territory of Pest county, which further complicates the quantification. Water uses can be more easily broken down by region, while quantifying water resources in such a division is difficult.
Thank you for your feedback and proposal of further improving the WEI+ indicator. The NUTS-2 calculation was marked as exploratory for this purpose.
Malta:
It should also be noted that water scarcity is also determined by geographic conditions related to location.
Thank you for your comment, we will make proper adjustments in the indicator's text integrating this note