Glossary:Surface- and groundwater abstraction
Surface and groundwater abstraction as a share of available resources - % of available surface and groundwater resources.
This indicator looks at total water abstraction as a percentage of available resources, separated into groundwater and surface water. Annual total gross abstraction from groundwater is presented as a percentage of Member States' renewable groundwater resources available for abstraction, which are defined as long-term annual average groundwater available for abstraction. Annual total gross abstraction made from fresh surface water is presented as a percentage of Member States' renewable surface water resources available for abstraction, which are calculated as total long-term fresh water resources (external inflow plus precipitation less evapotranspitration) less groundwater available for abstraction.
Water abstraction as a percentage of the freshwater resource provides a measure, at the national level, of the pressures on resources in a simple manner that is easy to understand, and shows trends over time. The indicators are in fact water exploitation indexes and assist in defining water-stressed countries. The warning threshold is set at around 20%, while over 40% denotes unsustainable water use. Water is essential for human life and activities, while economic development and growing people’s needs put increasing pressure on water quantity and quality. The indicator is related to the renewed sustainable development strategy which includes the operational objective of improving water resources management and avoiding overexploitation. The main legal instrument for European water policy is the water framework directive, which aims to achieve sustainable management of surface and groundwater resources in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. The indicator helps monitor whether rates of extraction are sustainable over the long term, an objective of the EU's Sixth Environment Action Programme (2001-2010). It should be noted that in different countries/regions the relative importance of surface and groundwater varies considerably and the interpretation of the indicators’ values should take into account the sources of water used in each country.(EUROSTAT)
Visualization of the fresh surfacewater abstraction data:
Visualization of the fresh groundwater abstraction data: