Gopalan et al. (2026) The water available for industrial sector (WAIS) framework for assessing the industrial water deficit risk while securing downstream availability

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-27
• Authors: Saritha Padiyedath Gopalan, Naota Hanasaki, Harumichi Seta, Daikichi Ogawada, Taikan Oki
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae583a

Research Groups

Specific research groups, labs, or departments are not explicitly mentioned in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study introduces the Water Available for Industrial Sector (WAIS) framework to quantify the double materiality of industrial water withdrawal (IWW) by jointly assessing its impacts on downstream water availability and operational risks. Applied to Thailand's Chao Phraya River Basin, the framework revealed localized water conflicts and substantial impacts, emphasizing the need for context-sensitive allocation strategies.

Objective

• To introduce and apply the Water Available for Industrial Sector (WAIS) framework to quantify the double materiality of industrial water withdrawal (IWW) by jointly assessing its impacts on downstream water availability for other sectors and the operational risks from unmet industrial demand under withdrawal constraints.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Thailand’s Chao Phraya River Basin, focusing on 15 industrial estates (IEs).
• Temporal Scale: Annual and seasonal (dry season) patterns of water conflict and withdrawal, with results indicating monthly occurrences (one to two months annually).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: H08 global hydrological model.
• Data sources: Not explicitly detailed in the abstract, but implied by the application of a hydrological model (e.g., industrial and agricultural water demand, environmental flow requirements).

Main Results

• Water conflicts (financial materiality) between industrial and agricultural sectors occurred at most industrial estates for one to two months annually, predominantly during the dry season.
• Annual industrial water withdrawal under conflict ranged from 0% to 13%, indicating spatial disparities in resource pressure.
• Industrial water use had a minimal basin-wide impact on agricultural withdrawals (<0.2%), but localized effects were substantial, highlighting impact materiality concerns.
• Constraining industrial water withdrawal below WAIS thresholds increased water deficit days at several industrial estates, thereby elevating financial materiality through heightened operational risk.

Contributions

• Introduces the novel Water Available for Industrial Sector (WAIS) framework for dynamic water allocation.
• Operationalizes the concept of double materiality for industrial water withdrawal, providing a quantitative assessment method.
• Jointly assesses impact materiality (IWW effects on downstream availability) and financial materiality (operational risks from withdrawal constraints).
• Highlights the critical need to integrate double materiality into corporate water stewardship and align industrial water use with ecological and societal priorities through context-sensitive allocation strategies.

Funding

Not mentioned in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Gopalan2026water,
  author = {Gopalan, Saritha Padiyedath and Hanasaki, Naota and Seta, Harumichi and Ogawada, Daikichi and Oki, Taikan},
  title = {The water available for industrial sector (WAIS) framework for assessing the industrial water deficit risk while securing downstream availability},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae583a},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae583a}
}