The blue water footprint of the world's artificial reservoirs for hydroelectricity, irrigation, residential and industrial water supply, flood protection, fishing and recreation

Rick J Hogeboom,Arjen Y Hoekstra,Luuk Knook

doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2018.01.028

Rick J Hogeboom, Arjen Y Hoekstra + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2018.01.028

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Abstract

Abstract For centuries, humans have resorted to building dams to gain control over freshwater available for human consumption. Although dams and their reservoirs have made many important contributions to human development, they receive negative attention as well, because of the large amounts of water they can consume through evaporation. We estimate the blue water footprint of the world's artificial reservoirs and attribute it to the purposes hydroelectricity generation, irrigation water supply, residential and industrial water supply, flood protection, fishing and recreation, based on their economic value. We estimate that economic benefits from 2235 reservoirs included in this study amount to 265 × 109 US$ a year, with residential and industrial water supply and hydroelectricity generation as major contributors. The water footprint associated with these benefits is the sum of the water footprint of dam construction (

Highlights

Increasing the limited availability of freshwater to meet ever growing and competing demands is on many policy agendas (WEF, 2017)
The water footprint related to artificial reservoirs
The Jensen-Haise method estimates higher evaporation rates in equatorial climates compared to other methods, possibly because the Jensen-Haise method was originally developed for more arid regions (Jensen and Haise, 1963)

Summary

Introduction

Increasing the limited availability of freshwater to meet ever growing and competing demands is on many policy agendas (WEF, 2017). Drivers for the growing concern include a growing world population, increasing wealth, a transition from fossilbased to renewable energy sources and climate change (UNWWAP, 2015). Humans have resorted to building dams to gain control over freshwater available for human consumption. Toward the middle of the 20th century, construction intensified. What started off mainly in the developed world, was soon followed by developing countries in the 1970–80s. When most suitable locations had been developed and most rivers regulated, construction slowed down. New reservoirs are being built mainly for the purpose of hydroelectricity generation (Shiklomanov and Rodda, 2003; Liu et al, 2015; Timpe and Kaplan, 2017 )

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