Hybrid Analysis of Blue Water Consumption and Water Scarcity Implications at the Global, National, and Basin Levels in an Increasingly Globalized World

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (10) ◽  
pp. 5143-5153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranran Wang ◽  
Julie Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Hybrid Analysis ◽  
Globalized World

scholarly journals WATER FOOTPRINT OF CROP PRODUCTION IN TEHRAN PROVINCE

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Somayeh Rezaei Kalvani ◽  
Amir Hamzah Sharaai ◽  
Latifah Abd Manaf ◽  
Amir Hossein Hamidian
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Severe Water Stress ◽  
Tehran Province

Evaluation of supply chain of water consumption contributes toward reducing water scarcity, as it allows for increased water productivity in the agricultural sector. Water Footprint (WF) is a powerful tool for water management; it accounts for the volume of water consumption at high spatial and temporal resolution. The objective of this research is to investigate the water footprint trend of crop production in Tehran from 2008 to 2015 and to assess blue water scarcity in the agricultural sector. Water consumption of crop production was evaluated based on the WF method. Evapotranspiration was evaluated by applying the CROPWAT model. Blue water scarcity was evaluated using the blue water footprint-to-blue water availability formula. The results demonstrate that pistachio, cotton, walnut, almond, and wheat have a large WF, amounting to 11.111 m3/kg, 4,703 m3/kg, 3,932 m3/kg, 3,217 m3/kg, and 1.817 m3/kg, respectively. Agricultural blue water scarcity amounted to 0.6 (severe water stress class) (2015–2016). Agricultural water consumption in Tehran is unsustainable since it contributes to severe blue water scarcity. Tehran should reduce agricultural water scarcity by reducing the water footprint of the agricultural sector.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic benefits of conserving Iran’s water resources through modifying agricultural practices and water management strategies

AMBIO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Karandish
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Consumption Pattern ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Current Consumption ◽  
The Status ◽  
On Farm

AbstractSustainable development requires modifying the current consumption pattern of natural resources. This study investigates efficient tactics for reducing the unsustainability and inefficiency of human’s food-related blue water consumption alongside improving national environmental and socioeconomic status. As a case study for Iran, 15 alternative management scenarios (AMS) were defined compared to the current on-farm management, and their effects were assessed on a monthly scale. Based on the results, 45.5 billion m3 y−1 (BCM) blue water is consumed within the croplands, 78% and 34% of which are unsustainable and inefficient, respectively. AMCs reduces the unsustainable and inefficient blue water consumption by 2–17 BCM and 2–13 BCM, respectively. The combination of yield gap closure, drip irrigation, soil mulching, and deficit irrigation has the largest effect on blue water saving; it releases or changes the status of monthly blue water scarcity in 11 provinces; increases field-employees by 132%, food security by 9%, international food-export by 87%, and gross domestic production by 54%. However, it doesn’t fully address blue water overconsumption in the summer period; hence, further measures are needed to reduce blue water scarcity to the sustainable level in these environmental hotspots.

scholarly journals WATER FOOTPRINT OF CROP PRODUCTION IN TEHRAN PROVINCE

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Somayeh Rezaei Kalvani ◽  
Amir Hamzah Sharaai ◽  
Latifah Abd Manaf ◽  
Amir Hossein Hamidian
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Severe Water Stress ◽  
Tehran Province

Evaluation of supply chain of water consumption contributes toward reducing water scarcity, as it allows for increased water productivity in the agricultural sector. Water Footprint (WF) is a powerful tool for water management; it accounts for the volume of water consumption at high spatial and temporal resolution. The objective of this research is to investigate the water footprint trend of crop production in Tehran from 2008 to 2015 and to assess blue water scarcity in the agricultural sector. Water consumption of crop production was evaluated based on the WF method. Evapotranspiration was evaluated by applying the CROPWAT model. Blue water scarcity was evaluated using the blue water footprint-to-blue water availability formula. The results demonstrate that pistachio, cotton, walnut, almond, and wheat have a large WF, amounting to 11.111 m3/kg, 4,703 m3/kg, 3,932 m3/kg, 3,217 m3/kg, and 1.817 m3/kg, respectively. Agricultural blue water scarcity amounted to 0.6 (severe water stress class) (2015–2016). Agricultural water consumption in Tehran is unsustainable since it contributes to severe blue water scarcity. Tehran should reduce agricultural water scarcity by reducing the water footprint of the agricultural sector.

scholarly journals Water Footprint, Blue Water Scarcity, and Economic Water Productivity of Irrigated Crops in Peshawar Basin, Pakistan

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1249
Author(s):  
Tariq Khan ◽  
Hamideh Nouri ◽  
Martijn J. Booij ◽  
Arjen Y. Hoekstra ◽  
Hizbullah Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Annual Consumption ◽  
Peshawar Basin

Pakistan possesses the fourth largest irrigation network in the world, serving 20.2 million hectares of cultivated land. With an increasing irrigated area, Pakistan is short of freshwater resources and faces severe water scarcity and food security challenges. This is the first comprehensive study on the water footprint (WF) of crop production in Peshawar Basin. WF is defined as the volume of freshwater required to produce goods and services. In this study, we assessed the blue and green water footprints (WFs) and annual blue and green water consumption of major crops (maize, rice, tobacco, wheat, barley, sugarcane, and sugar beet) in Peshawar Basin, Pakistan. The Global Water Footprint Assessment Standard (GWFAS) and AquaCrop model were used to model the daily WF of each crop from 1986 to 2015. In addition, the blue water scarcity, in the context of available surface water, and economic water productivity (EWP) of these crops were assessed. The 30 year average blue and green WFs of major crops revealed that maize had the highest blue and green WFs (7077 and 2744 m3/ton, respectively) and sugarcane had the lowest blue and green WFs (174 and 45 m3/ton, respectively). The average annual consumption of blue water by major crops in the basin was 1.9 billion m3, where 67% was used for sugarcane and maize, covering 48% of the cropland. The average annual consumption of green water was 1.0 billion m3, where 68% was used for wheat and sugarcane, covering 67% of the cropland. The WFs of all crops exceeded the global average. The results showed that annually the basin is supplied with 30 billion m3 of freshwater. Annually, 3 billion m3 of freshwater leaves the basin unutilized. The average annual blue water consumption by major crops is 31% of the total available surface water (6 billion m3) in the basin. Tobacco and sugar beet had the highest blue and green EWP while wheat and maize had the lowest. The findings of this study can help the water management authorities in formulating a comprehensive policy for efficient utilization of available water resources in Peshawar Basin.

scholarly journals Agro-economic and socio-environmental assessments of food and virtual water trades of Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Karandish ◽  
Hamideh Nouri ◽  
Marcela Brugnach
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Food Trade ◽  
Water Limitations

AbstractEnding hunger and ensuring food security are among targets of 2030’s SDGs. While food trade and the embedded (virtual) water (VW) may improve food availability and accessibility for more people all year round, the sustainability and efficiency of food and VW trade needs to be revisited. In this research, we assess the sustainability and efficiency of food and VW trades under two food security scenarios for Iran, a country suffering from an escalating water crisis. These scenarios are (1) Individual Crop Food Security (ICFS), which restricts calorie fulfillment from individual crops and (2) Crop Category Food Security (CCFS), which promotes “eating local” by suggesting food substitution within the crop category. To this end, we simulate the water footprint and VW trades of 27 major crops, within 8 crop categories, in 30 provinces of Iran (2005–2015). We investigate the impacts of these two scenarios on (a) provincial food security (FSp) and exports; (b) sustainable and efficient blue water consumption, and (c) blue VW export. We then test the correlation between agro-economic and socio-environmental indicators and provincial food security. Our results show that most provinces were threatened by unsustainable and inefficient blue water consumption for crop production, particularly in the summertime. This water mismanagement results in 14.41 and 8.45 billion m3 y−1 unsustainable and inefficient blue VW exports under ICFS. “Eating local” improves the FSp value by up to 210% which lessens the unsustainable and inefficient blue VW export from hotspots. As illustrated in the graphical abstract, the FSp value strongly correlates with different agro-economic and socio-environmental indicators, but in different ways. Our findings promote “eating local” besides improving agro-economic and socio-environmental conditions to take transformative steps toward eradicating food insecurity not only in Iran but also in other countries facing water limitations.

scholarly journals Modelling global water stress of the recent past: on the relative importance of trends in water demand and climate variability

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 3785-3808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Wada ◽  
L. P. H. van Beek ◽  
M. F. P. Bierkens
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Global Population

Abstract. During the past decades, human water use has more than doubled, yet available freshwater resources are finite. As a result, water scarcity has been prevalent in various regions of the world. Here, we present the first global assessment of past development of water stress considering not only climate variability but also growing water demand, desalinated water use and non-renewable groundwater abstraction over the period 1960–2001 at a spatial resolution of 0.5°. Agricultural water demand is estimated based on past extents of irrigated areas and livestock densities. We approximate past economic development based on GDP, energy and household consumption and electricity production, which are subsequently used together with population numbers to estimate industrial and domestic water demand. Climate variability is expressed by simulated blue water availability defined by freshwater in rivers, lakes, wetlands and reservoirs by means of the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB. We thus define blue water stress by comparing blue water availability with corresponding net total blue water demand by means of the commonly used, Water Scarcity Index. The results show a drastic increase in the global population living under water-stressed conditions (i.e. moderate to high water stress) due to growing water demand, primarily for irrigation, which has more than doubled from 1708/818 to 3708/1832 km3 yr−1 (gross/net) over the period 1960–2000. We estimate that 800 million people or 27% of the global population were living under water-stressed conditions for 1960. This number is eventually increased to 2.6 billion or 43% for 2000. Our results indicate that increased water demand is a decisive factor for heightened water stress in various regions such as India and North China, enhancing the intensity of water stress up to 200%, while climate variability is often a main determinant of extreme events. However, our results also suggest that in several emerging and developing economies (e.g. India, Turkey, Romania and Cuba) some of past extreme events were anthropogenically driven due to increased water demand rather than being climate-induced.

scholarly journals Blue water scarcity and the economic impacts of future agricultural trade and demand

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 3601-3617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schmitz ◽  
Hermann Lotze-Campen ◽  
Dieter Gerten ◽  
Jan Philipp Dietrich ◽  
Benjamin Bodirsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Agricultural Trade ◽  
Blue Water

scholarly journals The WULCA consensus characterization model for water scarcity footprints: assessing impacts of water consumption based on available water remaining (AWARE)

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Boulay ◽  
Jane Bare ◽  
Lorenzo Benini ◽  
Markus Berger ◽  
Michael J. Lathuillière ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Available Water ◽  
Characterization Model

The Regulation and Management of Water Resources in Groundwater Over-extraction Area based on ET

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
fawen li ◽  
Wenhui Yan ◽  
Yong Zhao ◽  
Rengui Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Crop Water ◽  
Total Rainfall ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Crop Water Consumption

Abstract Because of the shortage of water resources, the phenomenon of groundwater over-extraction is widespread in many parts of the world, which has become a hot issue to be solved. The traditional idea of water resources management only considering blue water (stream flow) can't meet the demand of sustainable utilization of water resources. Blue water accounts for less than 40% of total rainfall, while green water (evapotranspiration) accounts for more than 60% of total rainfall. In the natural environment, vegetation growth mainly depends on green water, which is often neglected. Obviously, the traditional water resources management without considering green water has obvious deficiencies, which can't really reflect the regional water consumption situation in the water resources management. And only by limiting water consumption can achieve the real water saving. In addition, the mode of water resources development and utilization has changed from "supply according to demand" to "demand according to supply". In this background, for many regions with limited water resources, it is impossible to rely on excessive water intake for development, and sustainable development of regional can only be realized by truly controlling water demand. This paper chooses Shijin Irrigation District in the North China Plain as the research area, where agricultural water consumption is high and groundwater over-extraction is serious, and ecological environment is bad. In order to alleviate this situation, comprehensive regulation of water resources based ET is necessary. Therefore, this paper focuses on the concept of ET water resources management and includes green water into water resources assessment. Based on the principle of water balance, the target ET value of crops in the study area is calculated, and the ET value is taken as the target of water resources regulation. The actual water consumption is calculated by Penman-Monteith formula, and reduction of crop water consumption is obtained according to the difference between actual ET and target ET. The reduction in crop water consumption leads to a reduction in demand for water supply, which reduces groundwater extraction. The results of this study can provide necessary technical support for solving the problem of groundwater over-extraction and realizing real water saving.

scholarly journals Water Footprint Assessment and Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Domestic and Institutional Sectors in Klang Valley, Malaysia: a Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.35) ◽  
pp. 244
Author(s):  
Nurul Azmah Safie ◽  
M.A. Malek ◽  
Z. Z. Noor
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Green Water ◽  
World Population ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Reliable Technique ◽  
Klang Valley

Change in climate, increasing world population and industrialization have placed considerable stress on water availability at certain places. Water Footprint accounting is a reliable technique that can be used for a better water management. This study focuses on establishing a doable methodology on water footprint accounting and assessment for direct water consumption from domestic and institutional sectors located in an urbanized environment such as Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur. It includes investigation of Water Footprint at domestic household, schools, colleges, terminals and offices in Klang Valley. The value of water consumption, water production and water pollution will be determined using Hoekstra’s approach for green water, blue water and grey water. In addition, findings from this study will be linked to two other elements namely energy and food. This link is named as Water-Energy-Food Nexus. This study will establish the quantity and criteria of Water-Energy-Food Nexus specifically tailored to domestic and institutional sectors in Klang Valley.

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