Interpretation of units of water withdrawal and consumption

[danielhuppmann]

What is the right interpretation of the unit water withdrawal "km3/yr"; is this (kilometers) cubed, or kilo * m3? Ie 10^9m3 or 10^3?
[Question by @chrisdwells via email]

Looking at different scenarios in the Scenario Compass, values for global water consumption reported by modelling teams range from 2500 km3 (AIM) to 1500 (GCAM) to 100 (MESSAGE, WITCH).

This compares to 4 trillion m3 according to Our World in Data.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run

This indicates that km3 is intended as 10^9 m3, which is the right ballpark of value for AIM.

Suggestion: change unit to "km3/yr" to "billion m3/yr" for clarity.

Any comments?

@IAMconsortium/common-definitions-coordination @IAMconsortium/common-definitions-sdg-indicators

[VassilisDaioglou]

Good question. Aquastat also uses the unit km^3, but thankfully thier numbers are similar to those of OWiD. I agree that the intention is 10^9 m3.

Agree to change to "billion m3/yr". Perhaps "billion m^3/yr".