Baseline Water Stress: China

The World Resources Institute (WRI) developed BWS-China to provide more granular water risk mapping by using prefecture-level water withdrawal data for over 300 cities. While BWS-China shares similar spatial patterns with Aqueduct's global indicator, the use of detailed country-specific data reveals more accurate spatial patterns and sector-specific risks in certain catchments. This approach serves as a model for other countries to develop detailed baseline water stress indicators to support corporate investment decisions and government policymaking.

• WRI developed the BWS-China indicator to address the need for more granular mapping by utilizing water withdrawal data at the prefecture level for more than 300 cities, which captures spatial patterns that are typically lost in aggregated country-level statistics.
• While the BWS-China maps and the global Aqueduct baseline water stress indicator show similar overall spatial patterns, the more detailed sector-specific withdrawal data in BWS-China reveal differences and new spatial patterns in some catchments.
• The BWS-China project represents the first integration of detailed, country-specific water withdrawal data into the global Aqueduct indicator, establishing a model for other nations and stakeholders to create their own baseline water stress indicators.
• BWS-China is designed for use by Chinese government officials and national or international companies to evaluate supply chain risks, investment opportunities, and sector-induced water stress 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} }