Water is our most valuable and precious resource, yet it is only available in a limited amount. Sustainable use of water can therefore only operate in a circular way; nonetheless, still today depletion of water resources proceeds at an accelerated pace. Here, we quantitatively assess the water circular economy and the status of water management across 132 countries distributed over six continents by introducing the water circular economy index, WCEI, based on the three pillars of water circular economy, i.e., decreasing, optimising, and retaining. This index relies on eight indicators such as water stress, tap water price, water use efficiency, the degree of water resource management, proportion of safely treated wastewater, population with access to safe drinking water, drinking water quality, and surface water changes in hydrological basins. It allows ranking 132 countries, and most importantly to identify criticalities and bottlenecks in the sustainable use of water resources across the six continents, pointing at possible directions and actions towards a fully circular economy of water.

中文翻译：

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六大洲的水循环经济

水是我们最宝贵的资源，但其数量有限。因此，水的可持续利用只能以循环方式进行；然而，时至今日，水资源仍在加速枯竭。在此，我们基于水循环经济的减少、优化、保留三大支柱，引入水循环经济指数WCEI，定量评估分布于六大洲132个国家的水循环经济和水管理状况。。该指数依托水资源压力、自来水价格、用水效率、水资源管理程度、废水安全处理比例、获得安全饮用水的人口、饮用水水质、地表水水文变化等8个指标盆地。它可以对 132 个国家进行排名，最重要的是确定六大洲水资源可持续利用的关键点和瓶颈，为实现完全循环水经济指明可能的方向和行动。