Criticality of Water: Aligning Water and Mineral Resources Assessment

The concept of criticality has been
used to assess whether a resource
may become a limiting factor to economic activities. It has been primarily
applied to nonrenewable resources, in particular to metals. However,
renewable resources such as water may also be overused and become
a limiting factor. In this paper, we therefore developed a water criticality
method that allows for a new, user-oriented assessment of water availability
and accessibility. Comparability of criticality across resources is
desirable, which is why the presented adaptation of the criticality
approach to water is based on a metal criticality method, whose basic
structure is maintained. With respect to the necessary adaptations
to the water context, a transparent water criticality framework is
proposed that may pave the way for future integrated criticality assessment
of metals, water, and other resources. Water criticality scores were
calculated for 159 countries subdivided into 512 geographic units
for the year 2000. Results allow for a detailed analysis of criticality
profiles, revealing locally specific characteristics of water criticality.
This is useful for the screening of sites and their related water
criticality, for indication of water related problems and possible
mitigation options and water policies, and for future water scenario
analysis.