Water: Criticality
On no critical list, yet nothing can replace it
What this tab covers How exposed economies are to a supply disruption: the EU, US and India listings, the concentration score, and a quantified exposure for the US, EU, India, China, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia. Where the EU scored it, a chart of supply risk against economic importance, with import reliance, recycling input and substitutes.Water is on no critical minerals list, yet it has no substitute. WRI's Aqueduct (2023) finds that 25 countries, home to a quarter of humanity, face extremely high water stress: each year they withdraw more than four-fifths of the renewable water they have. About 4 billion people face high stress for at least one month a year. FAO puts water stress at 66% in India and 110% in Pakistan, against 18% for the world (2022). Risks are local: falling water tables, polluted aquifers and failed monsoons. Between 2017 and 2021, India lost 8.2 TWh of thermal power output for lack of cooling water (WRI).
EU 2023 Not assessed US 2025 list No India 2023 list No Production HHI 743 unconcentratedSubstitutes
None for most uses; efficiency, reuse of treated wastewater and desalination stretch supply at higher energy cost