Electricity demands are likely to continue growing in the coming decades, due to population and economy growth. The electric growth could lead water demands to increase because some kinds of power generation methods such as thermal power generation require large amount of water. Many countries still rely on thermal power generation. Thus, we are concerned that electricity generation could be a big factor to accelerate water scarcity. In this study, to assess the electric-sector impacts on water demands, we estimated future electric-sector water withdrawal and consumption in 17 regions from 2010 to 2100. The water withdrawal and consumption are calculated by using electricity generation and water demand intensities. The data set of future electricity generation is derived by the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model. This model applied the latest scenarios for global climate change studies, the socio-economic scenario (SSPs) and the radiative forcing scenario (RCPs). We used the water demands intensity data set of Macknick et al. (2012). Water demand intensities for power plants considerably varies by power plant cooling systems. Therefore, we constructed cooling system share scenarios. Our results indicated that by 2100, the water withdrawal and consumption in current developing countries increased and caught up with that in current developed countries. We found that socio-economic scenarios (SSPs) has large impacts on the water withdrawal and consumption. Sustainable society (SSP1) and conventional development society (SSP5) have higher economic growth than fragmentation society (SSP3). The sustainable society needs smaller amount of the water withdrawal and consumption compared with fragmentation society. In contrast, the conventional development society needs larger amount of the water withdrawal and consumption compared with fragmentation society. Therefore, higher economic growth did not always lead less electric-sector water withdrawal and consumption. A shift of cooling system types significantly reduced water withdrawal, while it increased water consumption. Such results would be useful for implementing energy policy under water scarcity.
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