Development and testing of the WaterGAP 2 global model of water use and availability
Open accessAbstract
Growing interest in global environmental issues has led to the need for global and regional assessment of water resources. A global water assessment model called “WaterGAP 2” is described, which consists of two main components'a Global Water Use model and a Global Hydrology model. These components are used to compute water use and availability on the river basin level. The Global Water Use model consists of (a) domestic and industry sectors which take into account the effect of structural and technological changes on water use, and (b) an agriculture sector which accounts especially for the effect of climate on irrigation water requirements. The Global Hydrology model calculates surface runoff and groundwater recharge based on the computation of daily water balances of the soil and canopy. A water balance is also performed for surface waters, and river flow is routed via a global flow routing scheme. The Global Hydrology model provides a testable method for taking into account the effects of climate and land cover on runoff. The components of the model have been calibrated and tested against data on water use and runoff from river basins throughout the world. Although its performance can and needs to be improved, the WaterGAP 2 model already provides a consistent method to fill in many of the existing gaps in water resources data in many parts of the world. It also provides a coherent approach for generating scenarios of changes in water resources. Hence, it is especially useful as a tool for globally comparing the water situation in river basins.
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About 10% of contiguous impervious area within a catchment typically causes observable and probably irreversible river degradation and loss of ecosystem functions.
“Several studies on urbanization and rivers show consistently that about 10% of contiguous impervious area within a catchment typically causes an observable and probably irreversible river degradation and loss of ecosystem functions ( 53-55 ).”
From Mapping the world’s free-flowing rivers (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
WaterGAP is calibrated to estimate discharge from major river systems, meaning that while renewable groundwater is considered, fossil groundwater is omitted.
“Furthermore, WaterGAP is calibrated to estimate discharge from major river systems (Alcamo et al., 2003;Müller Schmied et al., 2014).This means that while the renewable part of groundwater is considered, fossil groundwater is omitted.”
From Life cycle assessment and water use impacts of lithium production from salar deposits: Challenges and opportunities (2024) · cites this paper as Alcamo et al., 2003
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- Authors
- ALCAMO, J., DÖLL, P., HENRICHS, T., KASPAR, F., LEHNER, B., RÖSCH, T., & SIEBERT, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Kassel (DE)
- Venue
- Hydrological Sciences Journal
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2003-06
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 317-337
- ISSN
- 0262-6667 (ISSN-L)
- 2150-3435
- OpenAlex
- W2113442858
- Cited by
- 877
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 55
- FWCI
- 19.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- fr
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Hydrological Sciences Journal (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Ocean Engineering › Water resources management and optimization
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Environmental Science and Water Management
- Keywords
- water resources assessment, water availability, irrigation water demand, climate change impacts on agriculture, surface runoff, groundwater recharge, soil water balance, river flow routing, model calibration, water use scenarios, river basins
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