Sectoral water allocation in countries and regions

Worldwide, agriculture accounts for more than two-thirds of the total water resources used. Industrial uses amount to 23 percent and domestic use 8 percent. Table 1 shows global water allocation by sector in the six regions of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, North & Central America, and Oceania.

Among the six regions, Africa takes the lead in allocating water to agriculture (88 percent), followed by Asia (86 percent). In this sense, both regions show a water use pattern that is strikingly different from the other regions. Industrial consumption dominates water use in Europe. This, in comparison to other regions, has led to a greater emphasis on reducing environmental pollution. South America and Oceania have the highest proportions of domestic water use.

Annex I (Table A1) presents information on sectoral water allocations in 145 countries. Data are obtained from the World Resources, 1990/91. Table A2 (a, b, c) ranks countries according to the share of water used in each sector.

Table A2a (agriculture): Most countries where agriculture uses more than 90 percent of water are in Asia and Africa. They include Pakistan, Sri Laruka, India and Nepal in Asia, and Sudan, Madagascar, Mali, Somalia and Senegal in Africa. A few South American countries, such as Guyana, Uruguay and Ecuador also have extremely high water allocations to agriculture. Countries which have allocated more than 60 percent of their water resources to agriculture are almost exclusively developing countries. Developed countries typically use less than 50 percent of their water resources in the agricultural sector.

Table A2b, A2c (industrial and domestic): Typically, countries with more than 70 percent of water distributed to industrial uses are developed rather than developing. Belgium and Finland have the highest percentage (85 percent) of water use in industry. Table A2c suggests that small states, such as Equatorial Guinea, Malta, Bahrain, Gabon, Kuwait and Togo, have a high share of water (more than 60 percent) allocated to domestic uses. This is due to the fact that agricultural activities are minor in such countries. While the complete data are given in Annex I, a few examples of countries with the highest (or the lowest) percentage of water use in each sector are shown in Table A2d.

Table 1 Global Sectoral Water Allocation (%)

Source: World Resources Institute, 1990/91

There has been a noticeable trend of water allocation away from agriculture to urban uses. However, agriculture will continue to dominate water use for the foreseeable future. Table 2 presents some estimates of changes over time (both past and projected) in sectoral water allocation for a small sample of countries.

Although agriculture dominates water demands, especially in developing countries, water use efficiency in agriculture has always been lower than in other sectors. In many countries, water resources are becoming a limiting factor in agricultural production and economic development. Therefore, examining and improving WUE in various sectors, especially agriculture, is of crucial importance.

Table 2 Sectoral Water Allocations - historical/prediction comparison

Sources:
a) Proceedings of the June Water Workshop, 1991.
b) World Resources, 1990/91