Global‐scale gridded estimates of thermoelectric power and manufacturing water use

New global‐scale gridded estimates of industrial water use around 1995 are presented which, for the first time, distinguish between water use for cooling of thermal power stations and for manufacturing. Estimates of annual values of both water withdrawal and consumption are provided with a spatial resolution of 0.5° by 0.5°. Thermoelectric power water use is based on the geographical location of 63,590 thermal power stations. Manufacturing water use is computed by first estimating country‐specific water withdrawal values, which are then distributed as a function of city nighttime lights. A comparison to industrial water use in the 50 states of the United States and 89 regions in Russia shows that the developed data set represents thermoelectric power water use satisfactorily, while manufacturing water use remains highly uncertain.