Proposal of an index to evaluate the ‘dewaterization’ of the urban water cycle and a practical application Alguacil Duarte, Fernando González Gómez, Francisco José Grigoryan, Karapet Dewaterization WFUWC Water–energy nexus Water footprint Urban water cycle Analyses of the relationship between water and energy do not account for the fact that the energy used in the urban water cycle is a consumer of water. To ensure the efficient use of water resources, the operator must know the raw water use associated with the energy input of the urban water infrastructure. The main contribution of this research is the proposal of an index that measures how much raw water is consumed by the energy used to produce 1 cubic m of water. The resulting index is a decision-making tool that enables the sustainable use of water resources. This article first explains the index, which is called the Water Footprint of the Urban Water Cycle. It then provides examples of how to apply the proposed method; among other applications, it can be used to establish a classification of energy sources based on their relative consumption of raw water, according to the electricity generation mix in each service area. The proposed method is useful for operators, policymakers and other stakeholders, enabling them to make decisions that contribute to the ‘dewaterization’ of the urban water cycle. 2023-12-13T11:52:46Z 2023-12-13T11:52:46Z 2024 journal article Alguacil-Duarte, F., González-Gómez, F. & Grigoryan, K. Proposal of an index to evaluate the ‘dewaterization’ of the urban water cycle and a practical application. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 10, 6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-023-00984-2 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/86154 10.1007/s40899-023-00984-2 eng LIFE16 ENV/ ES/000196 PID2022-136235NB-I00 P18-RT-576 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Springer Nature