Progress in Water Footprint Assessment

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Use and Scarcity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 79772

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Special Issue Editors

Twente Water Centre, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Interests: water resources management; water footprint assessment; sustainable development; water-food-energy nexus
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Interests: water resources management; water accounting; water footprint assessment research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Water Resources Management Group, Wageningen University, 6708 Wageningen, The Netherlands
Interests: sociohydrology; water resource management; water footprint assessment; water accounting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to submit papers showing progress in Water Footprint Assessment, the interdisciplinary field studying water resources management in relation to food and energy consumption, supply chains, and production and trade patterns. We are particularly open to papers that use the water footprint and virtual water trade concepts to address questions on water-use efficiency, water dependencies, water risk and security, environmentally sustainable water use, and fair sharing of water.

We welcome papers that apply the water footprint in integrated water resources management or river basin studies, and papers that go beyond the water footprint by considering different types of environmental footprints more comprehensively. This Special Issue will include innovative case studies focusing on specific geographic regions, products, sectors or businesses. We look for progress in, for example, the spatial resolution of assessment, the advancement in models employed, the capturing of uncertainties, the assessment of water footprint reduction strategies, and the translation of analytical results into policy implications.

Prof. Dr. Arjen Y. Hoekstra
Prof. Dr. Ashok K. Chapagain
Dr. Pieter van Oel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Water footprint assessment

  • Water productivity

  • Sustainable and equitable water allocation

  • Water security

  • Virtual water trade

  • Corporate water risk and stewardship

  • Water footprint reduction strategies

  • Water-food-energy nexus

  • Uncertainties

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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8 pages, 556 KiB  
Editorial
Progress in Water Footprint Assessment: Towards Collective Action in Water Governance
by Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Ashok K. Chapagain and Pieter R. van Oel
Water 2019, 11(5), 1070; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11051070 - 23 May 2019
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 8402
Abstract
We introduce ten studies in the field of water footprint assessment (WFA) that are representative of the type of papers currently being published in this broad interdisciplinary field. WFA is the study of freshwater use, scarcity, and pollution in relation to consumption, production, [...] Read more.
We introduce ten studies in the field of water footprint assessment (WFA) that are representative of the type of papers currently being published in this broad interdisciplinary field. WFA is the study of freshwater use, scarcity, and pollution in relation to consumption, production, and trade patterns. The reliable availability of sufficient and clean water is critical in sustaining the supply of food, energy, and various manufactured goods. Collective and coordinated action at different levels and along all stages of commodity supply chains is necessary to bring about more sustainable, efficient, and equitable water use. In order to position the papers of this volume, we introduce a spectrum for collective action that can give insight in the various ways different actors can contribute to the reduction of the water footprint of human activities. The papers cover different niches in this large spectrum, focusing on different scales of governance and different stages in the supply chain of products. As for future research, we conclude that more research is needed on how actions at different spatial levels and how the different players along supply chains can create the best synergies to make the water footprint of our production and consumption patterns more sustainable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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Research

Jump to: Editorial

16 pages, 1334 KiB  
Article
Water Footprint and Crop Water Usage of Oil Palm (Eleasis guineensis) in Central Kalimantan: Environmental Sustainability Indicators for Different Crop Age and Soil Conditions
by Lisma Safitri, Hermantoro Hermantoro, Sentot Purboseno, Valensi Kautsar, Satyanto Krido Saptomo and Agung Kurniawan
Water 2019, 11(1), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11010035 - 25 Dec 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6614
Abstract
Various issues related to oil palm production, such as biodiversity, drought, water scarcity, and water and soil resource exploitation, have become major challenges for environmental sustainability. The water footprint method indicates that the quantity of water used by plants to produce one biomass [...] Read more.
Various issues related to oil palm production, such as biodiversity, drought, water scarcity, and water and soil resource exploitation, have become major challenges for environmental sustainability. The water footprint method indicates that the quantity of water used by plants to produce one biomass product could become a parameter to assess the environmental sustainability for a plantation. The objective of this study is to calculate the water footprint of oil palm on a temporal scale based on root water uptake with a specific climate condition under different crop age and soil type conditions, as a means to assess environmental sustainability. The research was conducted in Pundu village, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The methodology adopted in carrying out this study consisted of monitoring soil moisture, rainfall, and the water table, and estimating reference evapotranspiration (ETo), root water uptake, and the oil palm water footprint. Based on the study, it was shown that the oil palm water usage in the observation area varies with different crop ages and soil types from 3.07–3.73 mm/day, with the highest contribution of oil palm water usage was in the first root zone which correlates to the root density distribution. The total water footprint values obtained were between 0.56 and 1.14 m3/kg for various plant ages and soil types. This study also found that the source of green water from rainfall on the upper oil palm root zone delivers the highest contribution to oil palm root water uptake than the blue water from groundwater on the bottom layer root zone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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16 pages, 3015 KiB  
Article
Water Footprint Accounting Along the Wheat-Bread Value Chain: Implications for Sustainable and Productive Water Use Benchmarks
by Pascalina Matohlang Mohlotsane, Enoch Owusu-Sekyere, Henry Jordaan, Jonannes Hendrikus Barnard and Leon Daniel Van Rensburg
Water 2018, 10(9), 1167; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10091167 - 31 Aug 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 7533
Abstract
Efficient and wise management of freshwater resources in South Africa has become critical because of the alarming freshwater scarceness. The situation requires a thorough examination of how water is utilized across various departments that use water. This paper reports on an examination of [...] Read more.
Efficient and wise management of freshwater resources in South Africa has become critical because of the alarming freshwater scarceness. The situation requires a thorough examination of how water is utilized across various departments that use water. This paper reports on an examination of the water footprint and economic water productivities of the wheat-bread value chain. The assessment methodology of the Water Footprint Network was employed. The findings reveal that 954.07 m3 and 1026.07 m3 of water are utilized in the production of a ton of wheat flour in Bainsvlei and Clovelly in South Africa. The average water footprint for wheat bread was 954.53 m3 per ton in Bainsvlei and 1026.53 m3 per ton in Clovelly. More than 99% of the water is used in producing the grain at the farm level. The processing stage of the value chain uses less than 1% of the total water footprint. About 80% of all the water utilised along the wheat bread value chain is attributed to blue water. The findings revealed a significant shift from green water consumption to higher blue water use, and this is a major concern for water users and stakeholders along the wheat-bread value chain, given that blue water is becoming scarce in South Africa. The groundwater contributes about 34% and 42% of the average total water footprint of wheat at the farm level in Clovelly and Bainsvlei, respectively, suggesting the need to have an idea of the contribution of groundwater in water footprint evaluation and water management decision of farmers. This insight will aid in minimizing irrigation water use and pressure on groundwater resources. A total of ZAR 4.27 is obtained for every m3 of water utilized along the wheat-bread value chain. Water footprint assessment has moved away from sole indicator assessment, as a deeper awareness of and insight into the productive use of water at different stages has become vital for policy. To make a correct judgment and to assess the efficient and wise use of water, there is a need for catchment- or region-specific water footprint benchmarks, given that water footprint estimates and economic water productivities vary from one geographical area to another. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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16 pages, 1851 KiB  
Article
Threshold Based Footprints (for Water)
by Benjamin L. Ruddell
Water 2018, 10(8), 1029; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081029 - 03 Aug 2018
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4355
Abstract
Thresholds are an emergent property of complex systems and Coupled Natural Human Systems (CNH) because they indicate “tipping points” where a complicated array of social, environmental, and/or economic processes combine to substantially change a system’s state. Because of the elegance of the concept, [...] Read more.
Thresholds are an emergent property of complex systems and Coupled Natural Human Systems (CNH) because they indicate “tipping points” where a complicated array of social, environmental, and/or economic processes combine to substantially change a system’s state. Because of the elegance of the concept, thresholds have emerged as one of the primary tools by which socio-political systems simplify, define, and especially regulate complex environmental impacts and resource scarcity considerations. This paper derives a general framework for the use of thresholds to calculate scarcity footprints, and presents a volumetric Threshold-based Water Footprint (TWF), comparing it with the Blue Water Footprint (BWF) and the Relevant for Environmental Deficiency (RED) midpoint impact indicator. Specific findings include (a) one requires all users’ BWF to calculate an individual user’s TWF, whereas one can calculate an individual user’s BWF without other users’ data; (b) local maxima appear in the Free from Environmental Deficiency (FED) efficiency of the RED metric due to its nonlinear form; and (c) it is possible to estimate the “effective” threshold that is approximately implied by the RED water use impact metric. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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18 pages, 3179 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Water Footprint of Wheat and Maize in Haihe River Basin, Northern China (1956–2015)
by Yuping Han, Dongdong Jia, La Zhuo, Sabine Sauvage, José-Miguel Sánchez-Pérez, Huiping Huang and Chunying Wang
Water 2018, 10(7), 867; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10070867 - 29 Jun 2018
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5855
Abstract
Assessing the water footprint (WF) of crops is key to understanding the agricultural water consumption and improving water use efficiency. This study assessed the WF of wheat and maize in the Haihe River Basin (HRB) of Northern China over the period1956–2015, including rain-fed, [...] Read more.
Assessing the water footprint (WF) of crops is key to understanding the agricultural water consumption and improving water use efficiency. This study assessed the WF of wheat and maize in the Haihe River Basin (HRB) of Northern China over the period1956–2015, including rain-fed, sufficient, and insufficient irrigation conditions by different irrigation intensity to understand the agricultural water use status. The major findings are as follows: (1) The annual average total WF of wheat and maize production is 20.1 (52% green, 29% blue, and 19% grey) and 15.1 (73% green, 3% blue, and 24% grey) billion m3 year−1, respectively. The proportion of grey WF is much larger than the world average; (2) Wheat has larger unit WF (1580 m3 t−1) than maize (1275 m3 t−1). The unit WF of both wheat and maize shows exponentially decreasing trends, indicating that water use efficiency has been improved. The unit WF is heterogeneous in space, which is larger in Tianjin and Huanghua and smaller in the Southern HRB; (3) Rain-fed crops have the largest unit WF, followed by crops under insufficient and sufficient irrigation conditions for both wheat and maize. To improve the sustainability of water resources, the application of fertilizer must be reduced, and irrigation is an effective way to improve water use efficiency in water-abundant areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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16 pages, 1530 KiB  
Article
Simplified Direct Water Footprint Model to Support Urban Water Management
by Wieslaw Fialkiewicz, Ewa Burszta-Adamiak, Anna Kolonko-Wiercik, Alessandro Manzardo, Andrea Loss, Christian Mikovits and Antonio Scipioni
Water 2018, 10(5), 630; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10050630 - 12 May 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5047
Abstract
Water resources conservation corresponding to urban growth is an increasing challenge for European policy makers. Water footprint (WF) is one of the methods to address this challenge. The objective of this study was to develop a simplified model to assess the WF of [...] Read more.
Water resources conservation corresponding to urban growth is an increasing challenge for European policy makers. Water footprint (WF) is one of the methods to address this challenge. The objective of this study was to develop a simplified model to assess the WF of direct domestic and non-domestic water use within an urban area and to demonstrate its effectiveness in supporting new urban water management strategies and solutions. The new model was tested on three Central European urban areas with different characteristics i.e., Wroclaw (Poland), Innsbruck (Austria), and Vicenza (Italy). Obtained WFs varied from 291 dm3/(day∙capita) in Wroclaw, 551 dm3/(day∙capita) in Vicezna to 714 dm3/(day∙capita) in Innsbruck. In addition, WF obtained with the proposed model for the city of Vicenza was compared with a more complex approach. The results proved the model to be robust in providing reasonable results using a small amount of data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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15 pages, 6378 KiB  
Article
Water Footprints of Vegetable Crop Wastage along the Supply Chain in Gauteng, South Africa
by Betsie Le Roux, Michael Van der Laan, Teunis Vahrmeijer, John G. Annandale and Keith L. Bristow
Water 2018, 10(5), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10050539 - 24 Apr 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4575
Abstract
Food production in water-scarce countries like South Africa will become more challenging in the future because of the growing population and intensifying water shortages. Reducing food wastage is one way of addressing this challenge. The wastage of carrots, cabbage, beetroot, broccoli and lettuce, [...] Read more.
Food production in water-scarce countries like South Africa will become more challenging in the future because of the growing population and intensifying water shortages. Reducing food wastage is one way of addressing this challenge. The wastage of carrots, cabbage, beetroot, broccoli and lettuce, produced on the Steenkoppies Aquifer in Gauteng, South Africa, was estimated for each step along the supply chain from the farm to the consumer. Water footprints for these vegetables were used to determine the volume of water lost indirectly as a result of this wastage. Highest percentage wastage occurs at the packhouse level, which is consistent with published literature. Some crops like lettuce have higher average wastage percentages (38%) compared to other crops like broccoli (13%) and cabbage (14%), and wastage varied between seasons. Care should therefore be taken when applying general wastage values reported for vegetables. The classification of “waste” presented a challenge, because “wasted” vegetables are often used for other beneficial purposes, including livestock feed and composting. It was estimated that blue water lost on the Steenkoppies Aquifer due to vegetable crop wastage (4 Mm3 year−1) represented 25% of the estimated blue water volume that exceeded sustainable limits (17 Mm3 year−1). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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22 pages, 2940 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Water Use for Agricultural Intensification in Southern Amazonia Using the Water Footprint Sustainability Assessment
by Michael J. Lathuillière, Michael T. Coe, Andrea Castanho, Jordan Graesser and Mark S. Johnson
Water 2018, 10(4), 349; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10040349 - 21 Mar 2018
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 8116
Abstract
We performed a Water Footprint Sustainability Assessment (WFSA) in the Xingu Basin of Mato Grosso (XBMT), Brazil, with the objectives of (1) tracking blue (as surface water) and green water (as soil moisture regenerated by precipitation) consumption in recent years (2000, 2014); and [...] Read more.
We performed a Water Footprint Sustainability Assessment (WFSA) in the Xingu Basin of Mato Grosso (XBMT), Brazil, with the objectives of (1) tracking blue (as surface water) and green water (as soil moisture regenerated by precipitation) consumption in recent years (2000, 2014); and (2) evaluating agricultural intensification options for future years (2030, 2050) considering the effects of deforestation and climate change on water availability in the basin. The agricultural sector was the largest consumer of water in the basin despite there being almost no irrigation of cropland or pastures. In addition to water use by crops and pasture grass, water consumption attributed to cattle production included evaporation from roughly 9463 ha of small farm reservoirs used to provide drinking water for cattle in 2014. The WFSA showed that while blue and green water consumptive uses were within sustainable limits in 2014, deforestation, cattle confinement, and the use of irrigation to increase cropping frequency could drive water use to unsustainable levels in the future. While land management policies and practices should strive for protection of the remaining natural vegetation, increased agricultural production will require reservoir and irrigation water management to reduce the potential threat of blue water scarcity in the dry season. In addition to providing general guidance for future water allocation decisions in the basin, our study offers an interpretation of blue and green water scarcities with changes in land use and climate in a rapidly evolving agricultural frontier. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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26 pages, 27206 KiB  
Article
A First Estimation of County-Based Green Water Availability and Its Implications for Agriculture and Bioenergy Production in the United States
by Hui Xu and May Wu
Water 2018, 10(2), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10020148 - 02 Feb 2018
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 8617
Abstract
Green water is vital for the terrestrial ecosystem, but water resource assessment often focuses on blue water. In this study, we estimated green water availability for major crops (i.e., corn, soybean, and wheat) and all other users (e.g., forest, grassland, and ecosystem services) [...] Read more.
Green water is vital for the terrestrial ecosystem, but water resource assessment often focuses on blue water. In this study, we estimated green water availability for major crops (i.e., corn, soybean, and wheat) and all other users (e.g., forest, grassland, and ecosystem services) at the county level in the United States. We estimated green water resources from effective rain (ER) using three different methods: Smith, U.S. Department of Agriculture—Soil Conservation Service (USDA-SCS), and the NHD plus V2 dataset. The analysis illustrates that, if green water meets all crop water demands, the fraction of green water resources available to all other users varies significantly across regions, from the Northern Plains (0.71) to the Southeast (0.98). At the county level, this fraction varies from 0.23 to 1.0. Green water resources estimated using the three different ER methods present diverse spatiotemporal distribution patterns across regions, which could affect green water availability estimates. The water availability index for green water (WAI_R) was measured taking into account crop water demand and green water resources aggregated at the county level. Beyond these parameters, WAI_R also depends on the precipitation pattern, crop type and spatially differentiated regions. In addition, seasonal analysis indicated that WAI_R is sensitive to the temporal boundary of the analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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11988 KiB  
Article
Informing National Food and Water Security Policy through Water Footprint Assessment: the Case of Iran
by Fatemeh Karandish and Arjen. Y. Hoekstra
Water 2017, 9(11), 831; https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110831 - 29 Oct 2017
Cited by 63 | Viewed by 9470
Abstract
Iran’s focus on food self-sufficiency has led to an emphasis on increasing water volumes available for irrigation with little attention to water use efficiency, and no attention at all to the role of consumption and trade. To better understand the development of water [...] Read more.
Iran’s focus on food self-sufficiency has led to an emphasis on increasing water volumes available for irrigation with little attention to water use efficiency, and no attention at all to the role of consumption and trade. To better understand the development of water consumption in relation to food production, consumption, and trade, we carried out the first comprehensive water footprint assessment (WFA) for Iran, for the period 1980–2010, and estimated the water saving per province associated with interprovincial and international crop trade. Based on the AquaCrop model, we estimated the green and blue water footprint (WF) related to both the production and consumption of 26 crops, per year and on a daily basis, for 30 provinces of Iran. We find that, in the period 1980–2010, crop production increased by 175%, the total WF of crop production by 122%, and the blue WF by 20%. The national population grew by 92%, and the crop consumption per capita by 20%, resulting in a 130% increase in total food consumption and a 110% increase in the total WF of national crop consumption. In 2010, 26% of the total water consumption in the semi-arid region served the production of crops for export to other regions within Iran (mainly cereals) or abroad (mainly fruits and nuts). Iran’s interprovincial virtual water trade grew by a factor of 1.6, which was mainly due to increased interprovincial trade in cereals, nuts, and fruits. Current Iranian food and water policy could be enriched by reducing the WFs of crop production to certain benchmark levels per crop and climatic region and aligning cropping patterns to spatial differences in water availability and productivities, and by paying due attention to the increasing food consumption per capita in Iran. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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1360 KiB  
Article
Water and Land Footprints and Economic Productivity as Factors in Local Crop Choice: The Case of Silk in Malawi
by Rick J. Hogeboom and Arjen Y. Hoekstra
Water 2017, 9(10), 802; https://doi.org/10.3390/w9100802 - 18 Oct 2017
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 9682
Abstract
In deciding what crops to grow, farmers will look at, among other things, the economically most productive use of the water and land resources that they have access to. However, optimizing water and land use at the farm level may result in total [...] Read more.
In deciding what crops to grow, farmers will look at, among other things, the economically most productive use of the water and land resources that they have access to. However, optimizing water and land use at the farm level may result in total water and land footprints at the catchment level that are in conflict with sustainable resource use. This study explores how data on water and land footprints, and on economic water and land productivity can inform micro-level decision making of crop choice, in the macro-level context of sustainable resource use. For a proposed sericulture project in Malawi, we calculated water and land footprints of silk along its production chain, and economic water and land productivities. We compared these to current cropping practices, and addressed the implications of water consumption at the catchment scale. We found that farmers may prefer irrigated silk production over currently grown rain-fed staple crops, because its economic water and land productivity is higher than that for currently grown crops. However, because the water footprint of irrigated silk is higher, sericulture will increase the pressure on local water resources. Since water consumption in the catchment generally does not exceed the maximum sustainable footprint, sericulture is a viable alternative crop for farmers in the case study area, as long as silk production remains small-scale (~3% of the area at most) and does not depress local food markets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Water Footprint Assessment)
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