Indicator 6.4.2 Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources

Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Target 6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity

Indicator 6.4.2: Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources

May 2024

6.4.1: Change in water-use efficiency over time

6.1.1: Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services

6.3.1: Proportion of wastewater safely treated

6.6.1: Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time

6.5.1: Degree of integrated water resources management implementation (0-100)

2.4.1: Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture

15.3.1: Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area

1.5.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people [a]

11.5.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people [a]

Kenya National Burau Of Statistics

Senior Manager

Food Monitoring, Nutrition and Environment Statistics

Compilation of Environment and Natural Resources statistics

+254-735-004-401, +254-202-911-000, +254-202-911-001

P.O. Box 30266–00100 GPO NAIROBI

dps@knbs.or.ke

Definition:

The level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources is the ratio between total freshwater withdrawn by all major sectors and total renewable freshwater resources, after taking into account environmental flow requirements. Main sectors, as defined by ISIC standards, include agriculture; forestry and fishing; manufacturing; electricity industry; and services. This indicator is also known as water withdrawal intensity.

Concepts:

This indicator provides an estimate of pressure by all sectors on the country’s renewable freshwater resources. A low level of water stress indicates a situation where the combined withdrawal by all sectors is marginal in relation to the resources, and has therefore little potential impact on the sustainability of the resources or on the potential competition between users. A high level of water stress indicates a situation where the combined withdrawal by all sectors represents a substantial share of the total renewable freshwater resources, with potentially larger impacts on the sustainability of the resources and potential situations of conflicts and competition between users.

Total renewable freshwater resources (TRWR) are expressed as the sum of internal and external renewable water resources. The terms “water resources” and “water withdrawal” are understood here as freshwater resources and freshwater withdrawal.

Internal renewable water resources are defined as the long-term average annual flow of rivers and recharge of groundwater for a given country generated from endogenous precipitation.

External renewable water resources refer to the flows of water entering the country, taking into consideration the quantity of flows reserved to upstream and downstream countries through agreements or treaties.

Total freshwater withdrawal (TFWW) is the volume of freshwater extracted from its source (rivers, lakes, aquifers) for agriculture, industries and services1. It is estimated at the country level for the following three main sectors: agriculture, services (including domestic water withdrawal) and industries (including cooling of thermoelectric plants). Freshwater withdrawal includes fossil groundwater. It does not include non-conventional water, i.e. direct use of treated wastewater, direct use of agricultural drainage water and desalinated water.

Environmental flow requirements (EFR) are defined as the quantity and timing of freshwater flows and levels necessary to sustain aquatic ecosystems, which, in turn, support human cultures, economies, sustainable livelihoods, and wellbeing. Water quality and also the resulting ecosystem services are excluded from this formulation which is confined to water volumes. This does not imply that quality and the support to societies which are dependent on environmental flows are not important and should not be taken care of.2 Methods of computation of EFR are extremely variable and range from global estimates to comprehensive assessments for river reaches. For the purpose of the SDG indicator, water volumes can be expressed in the same units as the TFWW, and then as percentages of the available water resources

percent

· The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water: SEEA-Water for water resources and withdrawals (Available at https://seea.un.org/content/seea-water

· The World Census of Agriculture 2020: WCA (Volume 1), for irrigation definitions (Available at: http://www.fao.org/world-census-agriculture).

Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, UN Water , FAO-

Data collection is done through FAO's global information system on water and agriculture (AQUASTAT) and the AQUASTAT questionnaire on water and agriculture. The data collection process relies on a network of National Correspondents, officially nominated by their respective countries, in charge of the provision of official national data to AQUASTAT

Data are collected every year through the AQUASTAT network of National Correspondents

Data are released every year, usually in February following the UNSD collection schedule.

Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, UN Water , FAO

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is mandated to collect, compile, analyze, publish and disseminate official statistics for public use.

The purpose of this indicator is to show the degree to which water resources are being exploited to meet the country's water demand. It measures a country's pressure on its water resources and therefore the challenge on the sustainability of its water use. It tracks progress regarding “withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity.

The indicator shows to what extent water resources are already used, and signals the importance of effective supply and demand management policies. It indicates the likelihood of increasing competition and conflict between different water uses and users in a situation of increasing water scarcity. Increased water stress, shown by an increase in the value of the indicator, has potentially negative effects on the sustainability of the natural resources and on economic development. On the other hand, low values of the indicator indicate that water does not represent a particular challenge for economic development and sustainability.

However, extremely low values may indicate the inability of a country to use properly its water resources for the benefit of the population. In such cases, a moderate and controlled increase in the value of the indicator can be a sign of positive development.

This indicator provides an estimate of pressure by all sectors on the country’s renewable freshwater resources. A low level of water stress indicates a situation where the combined withdrawal by all sectors is marginal in relation to the resources, and has therefore little potential impact on the sustainability of the resources or on the potential competition between users. A high level of water stress indicates a situation where the combined withdrawal by all sectors represents a substantial share of the total renewable freshwater resources, with potentially larger impacts on the sustainability of the resources and potential situations of conflicts and competition between users.

Freshwater withdrawal as a percentage of renewable freshwater resources is a good indicator of pressure on limited water resources, one of the most important natural resources. However, it only partially addresses the issues related to sustainable water management.

Supplementary indicators that capture the multiple dimensions of water management would combine data on water demand management, behavioural changes with regard to water use and the availability of appropriate infrastructure, and measure progress in increasing the efficiency and sustainability of water use, in particular in relation to population and economic growth. They would also recognize the different climatic environments that affect water use in countries, especially in agriculture, which is the main user of water. Sustainability assessment is also linked to the critical thresholds fixed for this indicator. Although there is no universal consensus on such thresholds, a proposal is presented below.

Trends in freshwater withdrawal show relatively slow patterns of change. Usually, three-five years are a minimum frequency to be able to detect significant changes, as it is unlikely that the indicator would show meaningful variations from one year to the other.

Estimation of water withdrawal by sector may represent a limitation to the computation of the indicator. Few countries publish water withdrawal data on a regular basis by sector.

There is no universally agreed method for the computation of incoming freshwater flows originating outside of a country's borders. Nor is there any standard method to account for return flows, the part of the water withdrawn from its source and which flows back to the river system after use. In countries where return flow represents a substantial part of water withdrawal, the indicator tends to underestimate available water and therefore overestimate the level of water stress.

Other limitations that affect the interpretation of the water stress indicator include:

• difficulty to obtain accurate, complete and up-to-date data;

• potentially large variation of sub-national data;

• lack of account of historical (e.g., due to climate change and population growth) and seasonal variations in water resources;

• lack of consideration to the distribution among water uses;

• lack of consideration of water quality and its suitability for use; and

• the indicator can be higher than 100 percent when water withdrawal non-renewable freshwater (fossil groundwater), when annual groundwater withdrawal is higher than annual replenishment (over-abstraction) or when freshwater withdrawal includes part or all the water set aside for environmental flow requirements.

Some of these issues can be solved through disaggregation of the indicator at the level of hydrological units and by distinguishing between different use sectors. However, due to the complexity of water flows, both within a country and between countries, care should be taken not to double-count

Method of computation: The indicator is computed as the total freshwater withdrawn (TFWW) divided by the difference between the total renewable freshwater resources (TRWR) and the environmental flow requirements (EFR), multiplied by 100. All variables are expressed in km3/year (109 m3/year).

𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 (%)= 𝑇𝐹𝑊𝑊(𝑇𝑅𝑊𝑅−𝐸𝐹𝑅)×100

Following the experience of the initial five years of application of the indicator, and consistent with the approach taken during the MDG program, the threshold of 25% has been identified as the upper limit for a full and unconditional safety of water stress as assessed by the indicator 6.4.2.

That means on one hand, that values below 25% can be considered safe in any instance (no stress); on the other, that values above 25% should be regarded as potentially and increasingly problematic, and should be qualified and/or reduced.

Data validation is done in a few steps.

- the AQUASTAT questionnaire embeds automatic validation rules to allow National Correspondents to identify any data consistency errors while compiling the data.

- Once the questionnaire is submitted, FAO thoroughly reviews the information reported, using the following tools:

o Manual cross-variable check. This includes cross-comparison with similar countries as well as historic data for the countries.

o Time-series coherency by running an R-script to compare reported data with those corresponding to previous years

o Verification of the metadata, especially the source of the proposed data. The critical analysis of the compiled data gives preference to national sources and expert knowledge.

- After this verification, exchanges between the National Correspondents and FAO take place to correct and confirm the collected data.

- The last validation step is an automated validation routine included in the Statistical Working System (SWS), which uses almost 200 validation rules.

A set of tools is available to countries for the compilation of the indicator. Among them, a step-by-step methodological guide, an interpretation paper, and an e-learning course. All the tools are available on the FAO web pages, at: http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/642/en/.

· During 2020,2021 and 2022, FAO has organized regional virtual trainings for Asia, Latin-America and the Caribbean and Africa on SDG 6.4. and contributed to global workshops on SDG 6.

· FAO’s AQUASTAT team provides continued guidance to the countries thought the National Correspondents during the data collection time to ensure data is duly and timely compiled.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is ISO certified based on 9001:2015 Standard requirements. The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control, are carried out following the methodological framework and standards established by the KNBS, in compliance with the Internationally acceptable standards

The KNBS adheres to Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KesQAF) that underlines principles to be assured in managing the statistical production processes and output.

Data consistency and quality checks are conducted through Technical Working Groups (TWGs) before publication and dissemination.

The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control are subjected to a set criteria and standards to ensure conformity.

Data needed for the indicator are collected through AQUASTAT for 168 countries worldwide.

Time series:

1961-2019 (Discontinuous, depending on country. Data are interpolated to create timelines.)

Disaggregation:

Sectoral disaggregated data are provided to show the respective contribution of the different sectors to the water stress level, and therefore the relative importance of actions needed to contain water demand

in the different sectors (agriculture, services and industry). The contribution of the different sectors to the water stress level is calculated as the proportion of sectoral withdrawals over total freshwater withdrawals, after taking into account the EFR. sectors are defined following the United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities ISIC 4 coding,

1. agriculture; forestry; fishing (ISIC A), hereinafter “agriculture”;

2. mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; constructions (ISIC B, C, D and F), hereinafter “MIMEC”;

3. all the service sectors (ISIC E and ISIC G-T), hereinafter “services”.

At national level, water resources and withdrawals are estimated or measured at the level of appropriate hydrological units (river basins, aquifers). It is therefore possible to obtain a geographical distribution of water stress by hydrological unit, thus allowing for more targeted response in terms of water demand management.

Geographical: For national estimates incoming freshwater is counted as being part of the country’s available freshwater resources, while global estimates can only be done by adding up the internal renewable freshwater resources (water generated within the country) of all countries in order to avoid double counting. Moreover, external freshwater resources are computed according to treaties, if present, which may lead to different values with respect to the actual freshwater resources assessed through hydrology.

Over-time: time series are comparable across time.

URL: http://www.fao.org/aquastat/en/