Intensive Water Use Research Articles

Hydrochemické vlastnosti zdrojů termálních minerálních vod v oblasti Pasohlávky – Laa an der Thaya

The South Moravian region of Pasohlávky and the Lower Austrian town of Laa an der Thaya belongs to the areas of intensive use of thermal mineral water for recreational and balneological purposes. Thermal mineral water is extracted from a deep-seated Jurassic aquifer, mainly composed of carbonates. These carbonates overlie the crystalline bedrock, which is dipping towards the southeast below the Outer Western Carpathians. Due to this trend, there are two developments of the Jurassic sediments that differ in their lithological composition and are vertically separated by the Mušov transition zone. To the northwest from this zone, there is a shallower carbonate development and in the southeast, there is a deeper development which is composed of permeable carbonates together with impermeable marls. The Neogene sediments of Carpathian foredeep are deposited on the top of the Jurassic carbonate structure. Thermal mineral water is exploited by two hydrogeological wells – Muš-3G (Pasohlávky, 1 455 m deep) and Laa Th N1 (Laa an der Thaya, 1 448 m deep) situated in the shallower carbonate part of the Jurassic aquifer. The aim of this study, that summarizes the important partial outputs of the cross-border project Interreg HTPO (Hydrothermal Potential of the Area, ATCZ167), is to specify and clarify the origin, genesis and the processes of water formation based on the hydrochemical evaluation of thermal mineral water. For this purpose, both the final reports of studied wells and especially results from newly performed analyses of stable isotopes of hydrogen δ2H and oxygen δ18O were used. The δ18O and δ2H values of water samples from the Muš-3G well varies from –12,77 ‰ to –12,03 ‰ and from –92,23 ‰ to –88,05 ‰, respectively, while water samples from the Laa Th N1 well are isotopically heavier with δ18O values ranging from –7,04 ‰ to –6,31 ‰ and with δ2H values ranging from –51,04 ‰ to –49,33 ‰. In the Pasohlávky region we suppose it is an isotopically depleted water that has infiltrated in the cold climatic period (glacial). Evaluation of the chemical composition revealed that although the thermal waters from both areas of the hydrogeological structure are of the same Na–Cl type, their total mineralization differs significantly. Lower total mineralization in the Pasohlávky area (approx. 2,2 g/L) is also associated with higher relative concentrations of bicarbonate ions (HCO3–) and atmogenic nitrogen, typically bound to infiltrated meteoric waters. The thermal water in this area is mostly of meteoric origin, mixed with primary marinogenic water. In the Laa an der Thaya region, there is water with higher total mineralization (approx. 11 g/L) and lower relative concentrations of HCO3–, which together with the results of isotope analyses indicates a higher content of primary seawater. The marinogenic origin of waters also confirms the presence of bromides and iodides. The process of mixing primary marine waters with infiltrated meteoric waters significantly contributes to the chemical composition of the studied waters in both areas, while the original marinogenic water type of Na-Cl is preserved.

The social wellbeing of irrigation water. A demand-side integrated valuation in a Mediterranean agroecosystem

Irrigation water is a vital input for agricultural production. The supply of irrigation water to crops enhances land productivity and affects the agroecosystem functioning. Agroecosystems co-provide a wide range of agroecosystem services and disservices, which contribute positively and negatively, respectively, to human wellbeing. Therefore, irrigated agroecosystems produce several positive and negative outcomes in relation to society, and agricultural water management is key to the provision of adequate incentives for the enhancement of social wellbeing. In such a context, the aim of this work was to value the contribution of water to the provision of agroecosystem services and disservices, as a way to summarise the contribution of irrigation to social wellbeing. To this end, a demand-side integrated valuation of agroecosystem services and disservices was carried out for both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture in two different agroecosystems of the Region of Murcia (south-eastern Spain), a semi-arid western Mediterranean region characterised by water scarcity. In addition, the intensity of the agricultural water use was considered by distinguishing traditional and highly-intensive irrigated agroecosystems. Almond and lemon, two woody crops, were employed to develop the economic valuation in rain-fed and irrigated agroecosystems, respectively. The assessment of biophysical indicators to quantify the provision of services and disservices and their economic valuation, using market and non-market methods, were used. The results show that the contribution of water to social wellbeing is valued at 9000–12,300 €/ha/year, being greater when the intensive use of agricultural water is promoted. The net economic value of all categories of agroecosystem services and disservices increases when irrigation water is supplied. Notwithstanding, the greatest contribution is due to the increase in provisioning services, mainly food provision in the case of the highly-intensive agroecosystem. Traditional irrigated agroecosystems make a greater contribution to regulating and cultural agroecosystem services. Hence, agricultural water management should focus on increasing the contribution of irrigated agroecosystems to human wellbeing.

Intensification of water management during climate change

The current management of the world’s fresh water resources is not optimal. Due to the uneven distribution of water, many parts of the world are entering a passive water management balance due to climate change and the growth of the human population. The Czech Republic is one of the countries with a passive balance. With ongoing climate change, it will be difficult in many regions to maintain sufficient raw water for technological and technical purposes without intensification in the water management process. Scientific progress and current technical possibilities offer ways to increase the way water is treated and the possibilities of re-using the realized water in the area of its use for various purposes, from the water source to the final cycle. One of these possibilities and the way of intensive use of water is dealt with in the following article.

Water Footprint of soybean, cotton, and corn crops in the western region of Bahia State

ABSTRACT Water catchment to subsidize agricultural activities is estimated at 70% of world consumption. In the western region of Bahia, the main agricultural center of the state, there is intensive use of water for the production of agricultural commodities. In regions with high water demand, quantification of the use of this resource can be performed using anthropic pressure indicators, such as the Water Footprint. Thus, this work determined the Water Footprint of the soybean, cotton, and corn crops produced in the western region of Bahia State. In order to determine the Water Footprint, data of the environmental characteristics and crop production in the region were used, were obtained from different Brazilian public and private institutions. The calculation of Water Footprint of the crops was performed by the sum of the green, blue, and gray components. The average Water Footprint between 2012 and 2017 for soybean corresponded to 1,972.3 m3 t-1, with cotton at 1,825.2 m3 t-1, and corn 512.4 m3 t-1. The analyses of the results and the comparison with the values of the Water Footprint of other regions demonstrate that the edaphoclimatic conditions of the western region of Bahia are propitious to the development of these crops.

Environmental flow requirements largely reshape global surface water scarcity assessment

The inclusion of environmental flow requirements (EFRs) in global water scarcity assessments is essential to obtain a reasonable representation of the water scarcity status. However, at a global scale, the quantification of EFRs is subject to large uncertainties resulting from various methods. So far, it is unclear to what extent the uncertainties in EFRs affect global water scarcity assessments. In this study, we examined the differences between EFR estimation methods and quantified their effects on spatially explicit water scarcity assessments, based on reconstructed global water withdrawal data and naturalized streamflow simulations. The global mean EFRs estimated by different methods ranged from 129 m3 s−1 to 572 m3 s−1. Consequently, with the fulfillment of the EFRs, the area under water scarcity ranged between 8% and 52% of the total global land area, and the affected population ranged between 28% and 60% of the total population. In India and Northern China, 44%–66% and 22%–58% of the country’s land area, respectively, is affected by water scarcity; this percentage is higher than that found in other countries. The effects of different EFRs on water scarcity assessment are large in many regions, but relatively small in regions that experience intensive water use due to anthropological activities (such as Northern China and India). Through this study, we have put forth the need for the reconciliation of the estimates of EFRs to produce more reasonable and consistent water scarcity assessments.

Dilemmas in water use: How is the water resource distributed in the Colombian Amazon basin?

This paper contextualizes the economic environment of the productive sectors that depend on the intensive use of water resources in the Colombian Amazon basin (it is composed of the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Putumayo, Vaupes, La Bota Caucana and southern Nariño) through the collection and organization of information from official entities and consultations in the region carried out by the Amazon Scientific Research Institute (ASRI). Macroeconomic indicators of the Amazonian departments in each of the different sectors were analyzed considering the added value exposed in the annual average of the Gross Domestic Product (2000–2012 in constant values) and contrasted with the sectoral demand for water and the growth projection, both of the human population and the growth trends of the economic activities. As a relevant result, it was found that the departments with a mining-energy tradition base their economic growth on the intensive use of water (greater pressure on the resource in m3/year). An average annual value of $374.42 million dollars is reported in water use (economic cost for the department of Putumayo alone) for oil extraction, which will increase in the future. This value has not been offset by the department, let alone taken into account in the economic growth indicators. It is concluded that the policy guidelines for water resource management in Colombia should be differentiated by sectors and by departments, considering the economic dynamics in the demand for water use and the heterogeneity of the populations.

An Agent-Based Model for Simulating Irrigated Agriculture in the Samambaia Basin in Goiás

Agriculture is one of the main economic activities in Brazil. The intensive use of water for irrigated agriculture leads to water rise demand contributing to increase water stress. Agent-based models help assess this problem with promising applications entailing an organizing principle to inform us of how to view a real-world system and effectively build a model. In this work, agent-based modeling is applied to simulate water usage for irrigation in agricultural production in the Samambaia river basin in the municipality of Cristalina in the Goias state of Brazil. The use of real data enables analysis of resource availability in a scenario with high demand irrigation, allowing a greater understanding of the needs of the parties involved.

THE HYDROPOLITICS OF SOUTH ASIA: AN ANALYSIS

This paper gives a comprehensive analysis of hydropolitics of the region of South Asia. It discusses different types of water issues prevalent in the region. However, its primary focus is on the water disputes between India and Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and Pakistan and Afghanistan. This paper argues that water security has assumed great importance in South Asia because of the demand-supply gap of water. Such a regional water deficit is due to a number of factors which include climate change, over-population, intensive use of water in irrigation, and the changing lifestyle. This water crisis has resulted in regional co-riparian water disputes. These water disputes are gaining complexity due to different regional dynamics like power imbalances, upper-lower riparian syndrome, territorial disputes, and trust deficit. Keywords: South Asia, Hydro politics, Water, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra

Rising water pressure from global crop production—A 26-yr multiscale analysis

Crop production with intensive water use is burdening global water resources system. From the perspective of production, this study focuses on investigating world's water challenge from crop cultivation based on a 26-yr multi-scale analysis. Blue water footprint (BWF) dynamics covering 146 crops over 180 countries are examined during 1992–2017, applying a fast-track based BWF assessment and a modified dynamic decomposition analysis (DDA). Results show that global crop BWF has increased by 10.8% during 1992–2017 with increased growth rate after 2002, indicating rising water pressure from crop farming. About three-fifths of world's regions/nations have grown crop BWFs, especially in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North-Central-West Africa (grown by over 30% each). Absolute changing rates of national crop BWFs trend to increase along with the decrease of population and BWF scales, with developing countries presenting large crop BWF increases, especially India, Pakistan, and Egypt (> 9 billion m3 each). The crop BWF growths come mainly from the farming of fruits, cereals, and sugar crops, with contribution proportions of 32.4%, 19.6%, and 12.8%, respectively. Decomposition results show that world's growing crop BWF is dominantly driven by population (27.5%) and yield-improving technology (24.8%) while water-saving technology (-24.8%) and proportion of rural population (-18.9%) contribute to offsetting the BWF growth. Efforts towards water sustainable cropping should be made in technological development and planting structure adjustment, especially in those countries with high or largely grown BWFs. Based on these, we expect to provide useful and informative findings for building a better water conservation system on earth.

Ethiopia: The Environmental Aspects of Policy and Practice in the Ethiopian Floriculture Industry

The floriculture sector is booming in Ethiopia, making the country the second largest flower exporter in Africa and one of the largest suppliers of flowers globally. Despite the enormous advantages of the Ethiopian floriculture industry to the country’s economy, the industry’s unsustainability related to environmental and human rights is growing. Failure to protect the environment can have profound negative impacts on long-term economic development and human rights, including the right to life, adequate food, water and housing. The floriculture industry has been identified as having the potential to grow and contribute positively to the agricultural transformation and economy of Ethiopia. Policy, laws and regulations play a vital role in the implementation of any regulatory objective. During the last decade, Ethiopia has developed many policies and laws that link to improving the environment, and the flower farm industry itself has adopted self-regulation and standards, enhancing the protection of workers and the environment. But there is increasing evidence that the economic benefits of the flower industry come at the expense of the environment. So, what is the impact of these State and non-State regulations on a safe and clean environment? This paper aims to analyse how, why and under what circumstances environmental policy implementation might work or fail, by investigating the challenges for the floriculture industry relating to the intensive use of pesticides and water, and inappropriate waste disposal in the policy implementation process. It is safe to say that Ethiopia has developed a lot of legislation on the environment but the challenge of effective monitoring and enforcement remains. This paper concludes with recommendations, based on the fact that the principles of environmental rights, the right to life and the right to development cannot be realised in the absence of the right to a healthy environment.

Water Dynamics Combined with a Supply of NPK Solutes and Urea in a 3-Layer Soil Profile under Drip Irrigation

The intensive and inappropriate use of water, fertilizers and phytosanitary products is sources of water and soil pollution. It is thus necessary to improve the management of irrigation water in order to optimize its use and productivity, especially in regions where water resources are becoming increasingly scarce. The water flow and non-reactive solutes’ transport simulation under drip irrigation were carried out in a 3-layered soil profile distributed from top to bottom i.e., sandy, sandy-silty, silty-sandy-clay. The aim of this study was thus, to provide a good practice of water management associated with solutes’ application, in order to retain as much solute as possible in the root zone, which will increase the residence time of the solutes. Three treatments of water flux corresponding to 100% ETc, 75% ETc, 50% ETc, combined with 100 mmol /L/ m2 of NPK and 246 mmol/L/m2 of urea applicable in two doses, were carried out over a period of 110 days corresponding to the duration of the cropping cycle for the intermediate variety of maize. The 100% ETc and 75% ETc treatments cause more loss of water and solutes, because of the sandy texture of the soil. However, a 50% ETc water flux would reduce more water loss through drainage, and solutes’ loss due to leaching beyond the root zone, which would increase the residence time of solutes in the soil profile. Application tests of the NPK solute on different days before the 15th day after sowing were also carried out according to the technical itinerary for maize production in Burkina Faso, in order to find a favorable day for application of the solute. For the different dates of solute’s application, there was more loss of the solute as we approach the 15th day after sowing. To limit this loss and increase the residence time of the NPK solute, one could apply the solute without first supplying water, the day before and the day after the date of solute’ injection. Or, one could amend the soil with organic matter to improve its retention capacity of water, and the solutes’ residence time in the soil.

Preface of 6th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2020)

The outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic has changed a lot in people’s living style, many cities are shutting down restaurants, shopping malls, gyms, and schools to try to stop the spread of this Pandemic virus, and people are needed to stay at home to avoid virus infection. However, water bodies, natural and built environment, and related sociological systems, have experienced significant impact from the economic slowdown and the reduction of pollutant loading from industries, vehicle emission, and other sources.WRE conference debuted in 2015, when the first WRE was held in Beijing. The WRE conference highlighted the needs to maintain the sustainability of indispensable water resources under increasing uncertainty and to protect the fragile water environments under the growing concern of intensive use of water we are facing today. As an annually held conference, this conference has been successfully held in Shanghai, Qingdao, Kaohsiung, and Macau in the past years.List of WRE2020 Scientific Committee Members are available in this pdf.

Construir la agricultura industrial como conflicto socioambiental

In our work, the objective is to reflect on what elements affect the social construction of industrial agriculture as a socio-environmental conflict. The foregoing, given that this type of agriculture has experienced a considerable increase since 2004 and its practices entail serious environmental consequences such as pollution, deforestation and the intensive use of water. We start from the idea that industrial agriculture is a process of slow looting (slow violence) and that this, in addition to other elements, make it difficult to conceive it as an environmental problem and, therefore, as a socio-environmental conflict.

Oil palm FFB dry heat sterilization through electromagnetic radiation

Sterilization processes in palm mills demand high energy, intensive water use, and excessive waste. Moreover, the process involves the use of a pressurizing chamber, and hence, extended the time required to complete the batch. Sterilization aims to deactivate the enzyme in the fruits Mesocarp and loosen the fruitlet to ease detachment from the bunch. This study proposes an alternate process with a similar aim and result while reducing the resources required, water in particular. The methods include exposing the oil palm Fresh Fruits Bunch (FFB) with electromagnetic radiation in different power and exposure time. The results showed by presenting the FFB with 180 Watt electromagnetic radiation in 16 minutes, the oil in the Mesocarp extracted as much as 66.71% of total weight. Furthermore, the properties of extracted oil (DOBI number, carotene content, and FFA level) were superior to the unmodified sterilization process. However, the cost of processing the FFB with electromagnetic radiation remains high, and further study required to economize the cost.

Appraisal of Salt Tolerance under Greenhouse Conditions of a Cucurbitaceae Genetic Repository of Potential Rootstocks and Scions

Soil salinization due to climate change and intensive use of water and soil is increasing exponentially. Cucurbitaceae species are cultivated worldwide and the identification of salinity tolerant genotypes to be used as rootstock or scion for securing yield stability in salt affected agricultural areas is a research priority. In the present greenhouse study, we assessed the response to salinity (0 mM a non-salt control and 150 mM NaCl dissolved in the nutrient solution) in the seedlings of 30 genotypes of cucurbits grown in a floating hydroponic system. The species tested included 16 genotypes of Cucumis melo L. (CM1-16), 6 Citrullus vulgaris Schrad. (CV1-6), 2 interspecific hybrids of Cucurbita maxima Duch. × Cucurbita moschata Duch. (CMM-R1 and 2), 4 bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. (LS1-4)), 1 Cucurbita moschata Duch. (CMO51-17), and 1 luffa (Luffa cylindrica Mill. (LC1)) species. Results highlighted different morphological and physiological traits between the species and genotypes and a different response to salt stress. We identified C. maxima × C.moscata interspecific hybrid CMM-R2, melon genotypes CM6, CM7, CM10, and CM16 together with watermelon genotypes CV2 and CV6 and bottle gourd LS4 as salt tolerant genotypes and possible candidates as salt resistant rootstock to be introduced in grafting programs.

Climatic and anthropogenic influence on tree-ring growth in riparian lake forest ecosystems under contrasting disturbance regimes

In the Mediterranean region, the coupled effect of recent changes in climatic features and an increase in human-related water demand induced a progressive reduction in the water level of many lakes. Consequently, intense withdrawals for public supply can affect the health of lake ecosystems and increase trees’ vulnerability to predicted drought intensification effects.This study aimed to evaluate, through a dendroecological analysis of riparian trees, the strength of the climatic and hydrological signals retained in the tree-ring widths and to detect a critical water-level threshold affecting tree resilience and growth recovery. Our study area is located within the Regional Natural Park of Bracciano-Martignano in central Italy. In recent years, the lake water-level drop observed at Bracciano after intensive water withdrawals raised concerns about the ecological impacts on the ecosystem's vulnerability.The main distinctive pattern in the climate-growth relations was the influence of previous years precipitation and drought conditions up to five years at Bracciano. At Martignano, where lake water withdrawals are absent, long-term climatic signals disappeared after two years. The intensive human water use at Bracciano Lake most likely induced trees to be more dependent on groundwater raising or soil water content stored from the previous rainy periods especially on an annual scale. On the other hand, tree-ring growth was strongly correlated with short-term water-level fluctuations (monthly – seasonal).Tree-rings of riparian species appear to be a useful tool to detect critical water levels after the intensive water withdrawals and the increase in dry conditions occurred in the past few decades. Yearly values ranging from -108 to -139 cm may be considered as potential thresholds affecting riparian species. This finding may support lake water withdrawal regulation for riparian ecosystem protection and conservation under future drought intensification.

Understanding the Energy-Water-Land Flow Nexus in Transnational Trade of the Belt and Road Countries

Economic globalization and population growth have greatly challenged energy, water and land resources to meet demand at national and supra-national level. A growing share of this demand is met through trade. The Belt and Road, a major global initiative of China, with trade as one of its core fields is of particular importance due to greater potential of economic growth, substantial population size and varying degree of resource availability. The initiative reflects a new phase of globalization yet resources management with nexus thinking has received little attention. The increasing economic interdependence of national economies have contributed to rise in production and trade of goods and services, these activities require the input of energy-water-land and generate disturbances in the environment. The multi-regional input-output approach is utilized, to assess resources use by production as well as consumption (for the year 2010). A nexus strength indicator was developed to show the simultaneous use of multiple resources in economic system, conceived as resource nexus. The ternary diagrams were used for screening resources combinations along with concentration.Results revealed that China has strong nexus strength that indicates large usage of the three resources together. Besides China, the East European countries were also positioned mostly at the center of ternary plot suggesting somewhat equal contributions of energy, water and land to the resource nexus. On the contrary, countries that appeared at the margins of the plot indicated one or two stronger nexus components in the three resources system. For instance, Russia largely used land, South Korea was entirely driven by energy while India mostly used water in the ternary mix. Due to differences in industrial structure, trade policy priorities and technology use, the resource nexus matters are not the same among countries. The nexus strength indicator established that strong nexus caused by intensive use of energy, water and land results in low efficiency, which threatens resource security. With this approach, it is possible to evaluate the characteristics and behavior of economies relating to energy, water and land resource flows. As such the study is intended to serve as a reference work for policymakers and researchers primarily those working in Belt and Road countries that can build on to conduct more detailed nexus assessments in future to achieve sustainability.

Machine learning based crop water demand forecasting using minimum climatological data

Rice is one of the world’s most popular food crops. Since its production is dependent on intensive water use, water management is critical to ensure sustainability of water resource. However, very limited data is available on water use in rice irrigation. In the present study, traditional machine learning methods have been used to predict the irrigation schedule of rice daily. The data of year 2013-2015 is used to train the models and to further optimise it. The data of 2016-2017 is used for testing the models. Correlation thresholds are used for feature selection which helps in reducing the number of input parameters from the initial 26 to final 11. The models estimated the crop water demand as a function of weather parameters. Results show that Adaboost performed consistently well with an average accuracy of 71% as compared to other models for predicting the irrigation schedule.

Improvements in the enzymatic degradation of textile dyes using ionic-liquid-based surfactants

The intensive use of water containing dyes by the textile industry, and consequently the contamination of soils and water, represents serious environmental concerns. Amongst the several processes applied in the treatment of textile effluents, biological-based processes, if designed to be cost-effective and ecofriendly, are promising alternatives to decolorize textile effluents. In this work we investigate and propose the novel use of ionic liquids (ILs) with surfactant characteristics to improve the degradation of the largely used and highly hydrophobic textile dye indigo carmine (IC) by laccase. An initial screening on the activity of laccase in aqueous solutions of twelve surfactant-based ILs from three different families, namely tetraalkylammonium- and imidazolium-based cationic surfactants and cholinium-based anionic surfactants, at different concentrations, was carried out. Significant improvements in the activity of laccase were observed with decyltrimethylammonium bromide, [N10111]Br, and 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, [C10mim]Cl, at 75 mM (above the critical micellar concentration of each IL). These ILs were then investigated in aqueous solutions to simultaneously encapsulate laccase and IC for the in situ enzymatic biodegradation of the dye. The use of ILs remarkably increases the degradation rate of the dye and decolorization efficiency; a degradation efficiency of IC of 82% is attained in 0.5 h using aqueous solutions of [N10111]Br, whereas without IL only 6% of IC is degraded. Furthermore, 93% of the dye decolorization was achieved with [N10111]Br. The overall gathered results show that it is possible to significantly improve the degradation of hydrophobic dyes by enzymes using appropriate surfactant-based ILs, while foreseeing the use of the treated water by the same textile industries in new dyeing steps and thus contributing to a substantial decrease of the economic input and environmental footprint of these industries.

“Quantifying spatiotemporal impacts of the interaction of water scarcity and water use by the global semiconductor manufacturing industry”

The high-tech semiconductor manufacturing sector is integral to the international electronics industry and was valued at over $400 billion USD in 2017. Intensive water use by this industry is well-documented and this work provides a spatially explicitly assessment of water use impacts by nearly 100% of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Both direct manufacturing water use and water use from electricity were considered as part of a facility’s total withdrawal. Manufacturing water withdrawals were estimated by using technology-specific water and electricity use data, reported at the semiconductor chip or wafer level from the life cycle literature and industry estimates. Electricity water use intensity (WUI) factors were gleaned from the literature and regional electricity WUI factors were derived for China and the U.S. Geolocation of semiconductor manufacturing facilities allowed for summation of water withdrawals at various spatial extents (i.e. watershed, country, and globally). This data was combined with calculated regional or country-level electricity water use factors to estimate total water withdrawals by a facility. Geolocation of data also allowed for calculation of watershed specific scarcity-weighted withdrawals. Scarcity-weighted withdrawals were ascertained by multiplying facility water withdrawal data by the AWaRE water scarcity characterization factor available for each of 202 watersheds associated with semiconductor manufacturing facilities. These data were used to identify and map hotspots of industry water use, which is especially important for areas of industry growth such as China. This analysis is useful as a benchmark for global semiconductor industry water withdrawals and may assist OEMs in decisions about supply chain sourcing. This could also guide semiconductor manufacturers in prioritizing locations and time periods to implement water-saving technologies or employ less water intensive electricity sources. Additionally, the spatially explicit water use data for the semiconductor sector can be used to improve existing databases of national and regional sector-specific water use coefficients that are often applied in LCA input-output studies.