Donate

← Maps

Water

Water stress

WRI Aqueduct: where demand for water is high relative to available supply, a model, not a well log.

World map of Aqueduct 4.0 baseline water stress scores, from low scores in pale yellow to high scores in red across dry and heavily used basins

Map: Fix Planet from WRI Aqueduct 4.0 baseline water stress, 2023. The number is the indicator score from 0 to 5. CC BY 4.0. Boundaries: Natural Earth.

Water 2023 WRI Aqueduct

The World Resources Institute Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas models baseline water stress and related risks (depletion, flood, drought) at basin scale. Version 4 (2023) is the current public atlas.

Source

World Resources Institute, Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas
Vintage: 2023
https://www.wri.org/aqueduct

License

Aqueduct 4.0 is CC BY 4.0 (World Resources Institute). The map is the baseline water-stress score for sub-basins, from 0 to 5. Cite Kuzma et al. 2023. Open the Water Risk Atlas for the interactive basins.

How to read it

High stress means withdrawals are large compared with renewable supply. Cities can import water; farms may still run dry. Climate scenarios on the atlas are projections, not weather forecasts.

Caveats

Models smooth local rights, illegal wells, and seasonal pulses. Political control of rivers is not in the hydrology alone. A red basin is not a prophecy of war.

Open source map →