It includes risks flooding and drought. These can lead to infrastructure failure and worsen hunger. When these disasters take place, they result in water scarcity or other problems. The potential economic effects of water risk are important to note. Water risks threaten entire industries. Examples are the food and beverage sector, agriculture, oil and gas and utilities. Agriculture uses 69% of total freshwater in the world. So this industry is very vulnerable to water stress.

Risk is a combination of hazard, exposure and vulnerability.