Water stress (WRI Aqueduct)
Measure of the imbalance between water demand and availability in a territory, mapped notably by the WRI Aqueduct tool.
Water stress measures the ratio between a territory's water demand and its renewable availability: high stress signals that withdrawals approach or exceed the available resource. The World Resources Institute's Aqueduct tool is the reference for mapping this risk globally, classifying basins by several indicators of quantity, quality and variability. For insurance, water stress illuminates several exposures: agricultural and drought risk, the industrial risk of water-intensive activities, and increasingly the risk of data centers whose evaporative cooling depends on the resource. A site located in a high water-stress area combines an operational risk, usage restrictions, and a growing regulatory and reputational risk. Integrating maps such as Aqueduct into underwriting helps objectify a dimension of physical climate risk distinct from flood or storm hazard.
Hypothetical case: an evaporative-cooled data center project in an area classified as extreme water stress by Aqueduct combines operational risk and regulatory exposure on the water resource.
water stress, WRI Aqueduct, water risk
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