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On May 9, 2022 at 4:08:29 AM UTC, Gravatar gletsos:

  • Updated description of Water exploitation index, plus (WEI+) (source: EEA) from

    The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation; which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal'. Among other things, SDG 6 calls for ensuring universal access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, and ending open defecation. It also aims at improving water quality and water-use efficiency and encouraging sustainable abstractions and supply of freshwater. Protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems such as forests, mountains, wetlands and rivers is essential for mitigating water scarcity, as is the implementation of integrated water resources management. Indicator can be considered as global SDG indicator 6.4.2 "Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources". The Water Framework Directive is the main European legislation aiming to prevent water pollution. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 supports the implementation of the Water Framework Directive’s objective by requiring Member States to restore freshwater ecosystems. The proposed 8th Environment Action Programme sets the environmental policy agenda for the years from 2021 to 2030 and explicitly mentions water-related issues in two of its six priority objectives. These two objectives are: (1) pursuing a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic free-environment, including for air, water and soil and protecting the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts; and (2) protecting, preserving and restoring biodiversity and enhancing natural capital, notably air, water, soil, and forest, freshwater, wetland and marine ecosystems.
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    The Water Exploitation Index plus (WEI+) is a measure of total fresh water use as a percentage of the renewable fresh water resources (groundwater and surface water) at a given time and place. It quantifies how much water is abstracted and how much water is returned after use to the environment. The difference between water abstraction and return is regarded as water use and illustrates the pressure on renewable freshwater resources due to water demand. In the absence of Europe-wide agreed formal targets, values above 20% are generally considered as an indication of water scarcity, while values equal or bigger than 40% indicate situations of severe water scarcity, i.e. the use of freshwater resources is clearly unsustainable. The indicator is presented as annual average values. Annual calculations at national level, however, cannot reflect uneven spatial and seasonal distribution of resources and may therefore mask water scarcity that occurs on a seasonal or regional basis. The indicator is a result of estimations by EEA based on data from the WISE SoE - Water quantity database (WISE 3) and other open sources (JRC, Eurostat, OECD, FAO) and including gap filling methods.


  • Changed the source URL of Water exploitation index, plus (WEI+) (source: EEA) from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_wasgen/default/table?lang=en to https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sdg_06_60/default/table?lang=en


  • Changed value of field Data timespan to 2000-2017 (previously 2004-2018) in Water exploitation index, plus (WEI+) (source: EEA)