Baseline Water Stress: China

This technical note describes the development of the China-specific baseline water stress indicator (BWS-China) by the World Resources Institute (WRI). BWS-China integrates prefecture-level water withdrawal data for over 300 cities into the Aqueduct global baseline water stress indicator to provide more granular and geographically specific results than aggregated country-level statistics.

• The World Resources Institute (WRI) created the BWS-China indicator to address the need for more granular water stress maps by using water withdrawal data at the prefecture level for more than 300 cities.
• BWS-China represents the first instance of integrating detailed, country-specific water withdrawal data into Aqueduct's global baseline water stress indicator, serving as a potential model for other nations.
• While BWS-China and the global baseline water stress indicator show similar overall spatial patterns, the use of detailed sectoral withdrawal data in BWS-China reveals new spatial patterns and differences in specific catchments.
• The BWS-China tool is intended for Chinese government officials and national or international companies operating in China to evaluate investment opportunities, analyze supply chain water risks, and support policy decisions at local or central levels.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Baseline Water Stress: China. https://www.wri.org/research/baseline-water-stress-china

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Baseline Water Stress: China. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/baseline-water-stress-china.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Baseline Water Stress: China |url=https://www.wri.org/research/baseline-water-stress-china |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendbaseline, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Baseline Water Stress: China}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/baseline-water-stress-china}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }