Virtual water output intensifies the water scarcity in Northwest China: Current situation, problem analysis and countermeasures

2021 ◽  
Vol 765 ◽  
pp. 144276
Author(s):  
Xinxueqi Han ◽  
Yong Zhao ◽  
Xuerui Gao ◽  
Shan Jiang ◽  
Lixing Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Problem Analysis ◽  
Water Output

The impact of water scarcity on Chinese inter-provincial virtual water trade

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Deng ◽  
Cai Li ◽  
Ling Wang ◽  
Shuxia Yu ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Virtual Water Trade ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Determination of virtual water content of rice and spatial characteristics analysis in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2103-2111 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Zhang ◽  
X. A. Yin ◽  
Y. Zhi ◽  
Z. F. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Southwest China ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Grey Water ◽  
Spatial Characteristics ◽  
Water Values

Abstract. China is a water-stressed country, and agriculture consumes the bulk of its water resources. Assessing the virtual water content (VWC) of crops is one important way to develop efficient water management measures to alleviate water resource conflicts among different sectors. In this research, the VWC of rice, a major crop in China, is taken as the research object. China covers a vast land area, and the VWC of rice varies widely between different regions. The VWC of rice in China is assessed and the spatial characteristics are also analysed. The total VWC is the total volume of freshwater both consumed and affected by pollution during the crop production process, including both direct and indirect water use. Prior calculation frameworks of the VWC of crops did not contain all of the virtual water content of crops. In addition to the calculation of green, blue and grey water – the direct water in VWC – the indirect water use of rice was also calculated, using an input–output model. The percentages of direct green, blue, grey and indirect water in the total VWC of rice in China were found to be 43.8, 28.2, 27.6, and 0.4%. The total VWC of rice generally showed a roughly three-tiered distribution, and decreased from southeast to northwest. The higher values of direct green water usage were mainly concentrated in Southeast and Southwest China, while the values were relatively low in Northwest China and Inner Mongolia. The higher direct blue water values were mainly concentrated in the eastern and southern coastal regions and Northwest China, and low values were mainly concentrated in Southwest China. Grey water values were relatively high in Shanxi and Guangxi provinces and low in Northeast and Northwest China. The regions with high values for indirect water were randomly distributed but the regions with low values were mainly concentrated in Northwest and Southwest China. For the regions with relatively high total VWC the high values of blue water made the largest contribution, although for the country as a whole the direct green water is the most important contributor.

scholarly journals Virtual versus real water transfers within China

2005 ◽  
Vol 361 (1469) ◽  
pp. 835-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Ma ◽  
Arjen Y Hoekstra ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Ashok K Chapagain ◽  
Dangxian Wang
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
North China ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Water Transfer ◽  
Qualitative Description ◽  
The North ◽  
Food Deficit ◽  
Virtual Water Flow ◽  
North Water

North China faces severe water scarcity—more than 40% of the annual renewable water resources are abstracted for human use. Nevertheless, nearly 10% of the water used in agriculture is employed in producing food exported to south China. To compensate for this ‘virtual water flow’ and to reduce water scarcity in the north, the huge south–north Water Transfer Project is currently being implemented. This paradox—the transfer of huge volumes of water from the water-rich south to the water-poor north versus transfer of substantial volumes of food from the food-sufficient north to the food-deficit south—is receiving increased attention, but the research in this field has not yet reached further than rough estimation and qualitative description. The aim of this paper is to review and quantify the volumes of virtual water flows between the regions in China and to put them in the context of water availability per region. The analysis shows that north China annually exports about 52 billion m 3 of water in virtual form to south China, which is more than the maximum proposed water transfer volume along the three routes of the Water Transfer Project from south to north.

scholarly journals Analysis of intra-country virtual water trade strategy to alleviate water scarcity in Iran

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 2609-2649 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Faramarzi ◽  
H. Yang ◽  
J. Mousavi ◽  
R. Schulin ◽  
C. R. Binder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
National Level ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Cropping Pattern ◽  
Virtual Water Trade ◽  
Cereal Production

Abstract. Increasing water scarcity has posed a major constraint to sustain food production in many parts of the world. To study the situation at the regional level, we took Iran as an example and analyzed how an intra-country "virtual water trade strategy" (VWTS) may help improve cereal production as well as alleviate the water scarcity problem. This strategy calls, in part, for the adjustment of the structure of cropping pattern (ASCP) and interregional food trade where crop yield and crop water productivity as well as local economic and social conditions are taken into account. We constructed a systematic framework to assess ASCP at the provincial level under various driving forces and constraints. A mixed-integer, multi-objective, linear optimization model was developed and solved by linear programming. Data from 1990–2004 were used to account for yearly fluctuations of water availability and food production. Five scenarios were designed aimed at maximizing the national cereal production while meeting certain levels of wheat self-sufficiency under various water and land constraints in individual provinces. The results show that under the baseline scenario, which assumes a continuation of the existing water use and food policy at the national level, some ASCP scenarios could produce more wheat with less water. Based on different scenarios in ASCP, we calculated that 31% to 100% of the total wheat shortage in the deficit provinces could be supplied by the wheat surplus provinces. As a result, wheat deficit provinces would receive 3.5 billion m3 to 5.5 billion m3 of virtual water by importing wheat from surplus provinces.

Alleviating water scarcity and poverty in drylands through telecouplings: Vegetable trade and tourism in northwest China

2020 ◽  
Vol 741 ◽  
pp. 140387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Yao ◽  
Jing Sun ◽  
Yong Tian ◽  
Chunmiao Zheng ◽  
Jianguo Liu
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Northwest China

scholarly journals Vulnerabilities of the European Union’s Economy to Hydrological Extremes Outside its Borders

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ertug Ercin ◽  
Daniel Chico ◽  
Ashok K. Chapagain
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Green Water ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Current Water ◽  
External Water ◽  
The Eu

Climate change is leading to increased water scarcity and drought in many parts of the world. This has implications for the European Union (EU) because a lot of the water intensive goods consumed or used there are produced abroad. This makes the EU’s economy dependent on water resources well beyond its borders since when a country imports water intensive goods, indirectly it also imports virtual water (water needed to produce the imported goods). This study maps the EU’s global dependency on water resources outside its borders in terms of virtual water imports and assesses how water scarcity and drought may disrupt supplies of key food crops that it imports. The EU uses approximately 668 km3 of water for all of the goods it produces, consumes and exports, annually. Around 38% of that water comes from outside its borders, which means that the EU’s economy is highly dependent on the availability of water in other parts of the world. In the near future, supplies of certain crops to the EU could be disrupted due to water scarcity in other parts of the world; a large portion of the water used in producing soybeans, rice, sugarcane, cotton, almonds, pistachios and grapes for import to the EU comes from areas with significant or severe levels of water scarcity. Although the immediate risks to the EU’s economy are due to current water scarcity levels, any disruption to rainfall patterns that occur in the future, due to the effects of climate change in the countries of origin of key crops, could have a far greater impact. This is because as much as 92% of the EU’s total external water demand from agriculture is attributed to green water use, availability of which has relatively higher vulnerability to drought.

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