Global Water Scarcity in Relation to the International Energy Trade of Thailand

It is predicted that energy requirements in developing countries will increase global water consumption as a result of implementation of new power generation systems, and to population growth of the middle classes. Thus, it is anticipated that increased regional energy consumption will likely increase global water scarcity as a result of the consequent international energy trade. The degree of impact, however, depends on the degree of water scarcity in the energy‐export regions. Therefore, the impact on global water scarcity by the international energy trade of Thailand was evaluated, using virtual water flow, and considering water scarcity. First, the amount of natural gas, crude oil, coal, and electricity imported and exported by each country was determined from energy and trading statistics. Concurrently, a database of water withdrawn per unit of energy production was built using commodity and water scarcity indices by country. Next, standard, scarcity‐weighted, and region‐based scarcity‐weighted virtual water flows were calculated using a bottom‐up approach. From this, the net virtual water import (NVWI) was determined to be 1,267 to 7,353 million cubic meters (m3), whereas the stress‐weighted and region‐based stress‐weighted NVWIs were determined to be from −2 to 1,820, and −4 to 3,696 million m3, respectively, over the past 20 years. It was found that, although the amount of virtual water import for the power generation was significant, imported crude oil was the greatest contributor to global water scarcity. Finally, the implications of these results for policy to prevent global water scarcity are considered, with discussion of the usability and uncertainty, of the water scarcity index.