Water resources in the Asian region

Renewed through the global water cycle, freshwater is unevenly distributed among and within the Asian countries (Table 1). 

Water resources availability and use in the Asian region vary widely between countries. The variation depends on the country s geographical conditions such as relief, climate and catchment size, accessibility of water resources and the level of economic development. 

In the Asian region water resources are correlated with precipitation, which has extremely uneven distribution. For example, the maximum average annual precipitation is recorded in the western slope of India (more than 10,000 mm) and vast areas in Indo-China and the Indonesian islands receive annually from 1,500 mm to excess of 3,000 mm. On the other hand, almost all the northwestern part of the Region is extremely dry, with the annual precipitation less than 200 mm. Precipitation also varies 

Country Population, Total area, million, mid-1999 km Water resource use  

In Southeast Asia, annual per capita internal renewable water resources range from 172 m- a year in Singapore to more than 21,000 in Malaysia. In South Asia, India, Pakistan and Iran, freshwater supplies are between 1,400 and 1,900 per capita per year. On the other hand, Bhutan and Laos have around 50,000 m- per capita per year. 

---