Percentage of Developed Land covering Source Watersheds

The use of the land covering the watersheds have an enormous impact in the cost and treatment of the water, as well as for the availability and quality of the water supply. Globally, a watershed is covered by 40 percent of forestall area, 30 percent of cropland and 20 percent of grassland and pasture; but it will vary from country to country. This footprint analysis involve 534 cities, who draw water from 20 percent of the world’s land surface. For more information, access the Urban Water Blueprint report here: http://www.iwa-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Urban-Water-Blueprint-Report.pdf You can also visit the Urban Water Blueprint website here: http://water.nature.org/waterblueprint/#/intro=true

Data and Resources

Field Value
access_constraints ["Unless otherwise specified, no restriction applies."]
bbox-east-long 180
bbox-north-lat 90
bbox-south-lat -90
bbox-west-long -180
contact-email a.barranco-fabre@unesco.org
coupled-resource []
dataset-reference-date [{"type": "publication", "value": "2019-10-24T09:28:00Z"}]
graphic-preview-description Thumbnail for 'Percentage of Developed Land covering Source Watersheds'
graphic-preview-file http://ihp-wins.unesco.org/uploaded/thumbs/layer-b7f56b84-4a29-11e8-a93b-005056062634-thumb.png?v=3e9d1dc6
graphic-preview-type image/png
guid b7f56b84-4a29-11e8-a93b-005056062634
licence []
metadata-date 2020-12-10T20:08:02Z
progress completed
resource-type dataset
responsible-party [{"name": "UNESCO IHP", "roles": ["originator"]}]
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -90.0], [180.0, -90.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -90.0]]]}
spatial-reference-system 4326
spatial_harvester true
temporal-extent-begin 2015-01-01T15:46:00+00:00
temporal-extent-end 2015-12-31T15:46:00+00:00
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • basin
  • drinking-water
  • geo
  • geoss
  • global
  • groundwater
  • human-settlements
  • hygiene
  • sdg
  • supply
  • surface-water
  • unesco
  • water
isopen False
metadata_created 2025-11-24T19:27:04.602654
metadata_modified 2025-11-24T19:27:04.602658
notes The use of the land covering the watersheds have an enormous impact in the cost and treatment of the water, as well as for the availability and quality of the water supply. Globally, a watershed is covered by 40 percent of forestall area, 30 percent of cropland and 20 percent of grassland and pasture; but it will vary from country to country. This footprint analysis involve 534 cities, who draw water from 20 percent of the world’s land surface. For more information, access the Urban Water Blueprint report here: http://www.iwa-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Urban-Water-Blueprint-Report.pdf You can also visit the Urban Water Blueprint website here: http://water.nature.org/waterblueprint/#/intro=true
num_resources 18
num_tags 15
title Percentage of Developed Land covering Source Watersheds