Most Freshwater resources data were provided by AQUASTAT, a global database of water statistics maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). AQUASTAT collects its information from a number of sources--national water resources and irrigation master plans; national yearbooks, statistics and reports; FAO reports and project documents; international surveys; and, results from surveys done by national or international research centers. In most cases, a critical analysis of the information was necessary to ensure consistency among the different data collected for a given country.
AQUASTAT was developed by FAO in 1993; data have been available on-line since 2001. Most freshwater data are not available in a time series, and the global data set contains data collected over a time span of up to 30 years. AQUASTAT updates their website as new data become available, or when FAO conducts special regional studies. Studies were conducted in Africa in 1994, the Near East in 1995-96, the former Soviet republics in 1997, selected Asian countries in 1998-99, and Latin America & the Caribbean in 2000. Data from the Blue Plan on Mediterranean water withdrawals were last updated in 2002.
Most data updates include revisions of past data.When possible, cross-checking of information among countries was used to improve assessment in countries where information was limited. When several sources gave different or contradictory figures, preference was always given to information collected at the national or sub-national level. This preference is based on the assumption by FAO that no regional information can be more accurate than studies carried out at the country level. Unless proven to be wrong,official rather than unofficial sources were used. In the case of shared water resources, a comparison among countries was made to ensure consistency at river-basin level.
For more information on the methodology used to collect these data, please refer to the original source or: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Water Resources, Development and Management Service. October, 2001. Statistics on Water Resources by Country in FAO's AQUASTAT Programme (available on-line at http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/aglw/aquastat/water_res/index.stm). Rome: FAO.
