scholarly journals Dynamics of Green and Blue Water Supply Stress Index Across Major Global Cropland Basins

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kul Khand ◽  
Gabriel B. Senay ◽  
Stefanie Kagone ◽  
Gabriel Edwin Lee Parrish
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Stress Index ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Green And Blue Water

Global food and water insecurity could be serious problems in the upcoming decades with growing demands from the increasing global population and more frequent effect of climatic extremes. As the available water resources are diminishing and facing continuous stress, it is crucial to monitor water demand and water availability to understand the associated water stresses. This study assessed the water stress by applying the water supply stress index (WaSSI) in relation to green (WaSSIG) and blue (WaSSIB) water resources across six major cropland basins including the Mississippi (North America), San Francisco (South America), Nile (Africa), Danube (Europe), Ganges-Brahmaputra (Asia), and Murray-Darling (Australia) for the past 17-years (2003–2019). The WaSSIG and WaSSIB results indicated that the Murray-Darling Basin experienced the most severe (maximum WaSSIG and WaSSIB anomalies) green and blue water stresses and the Mississippi Basin had the least. All basins had both green and blue water stresses for at least 35% (6 out of 17 years) of the study period. The interannual variations in green water stress were driven by both crop water demand and green water supply, whereas the blue water stress variations were primarily driven by blue water supply. The WaSSIG and WaSSIB provided a better understanding of water stress (blue or green) and their drivers (demand or supply driven) across cropland basins. This information can be useful for basin-specific resource mobilization and interventions to ensure food and water security.

scholarly journals Impact of Grain for Green Project on Water Resources and Ecological Water Stress in Yanhe River Basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuping Han ◽  
Fan Xia ◽  
Huiping Huang ◽  
Wenbin Mu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Stress Index ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Water Stress Index ◽  
Grain For Green Project ◽  
Regional Water

Grain for Green project (GGP) initialed by China government since 1999 has achieved substantial achievements accompanied with surface runoff decrease in the Loess Plateau but impacts of large-scale afforestation on regional water resources are uncertain. Hence, the objective of this study is to explore the impact of land use change on generalized water resources and ecological water stress using blue and green water concept taking Yanhe River Basin as a case study. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is applied to quantify summary of green and blue water which is defined as generalized water resources, ecological water requirement of vegetation (forest and grass), agricultural water footprint and virtual water flow are considered as regional water requirements. Land use types of 1980 (scenario?), 2017 (scenario?) are input in SWAT model while keeps other parameters constant in order to isolate the influence of land use changes. Results show that average annual difference of blue, green and generalized water resources is -72.08 million m 3 , 24.34 million m 3 , -47.74 million m 3  respectively when simulation results of scenario? subtracts scenario?and it presents that land use change caused by GGP leads to decrease in blue and generalized water resources whereas increase in green water resources. SURQ in scenario?is more than that in scenario?in all the study period from 1980-2017, green water storage in scenario?is more than that in scenario? in all the study period except in 1998; whereas LATQ in scenario?is less than that in scenario? except in 2000 and 2015, GWQ in 1992, 2000 and 2015, green water flow in 1998. Blue water, green water storage and green water flow in scenario? is less than that in scenario?in the whole basin, 12.89 percent of the basin and 99.21 percent of the basin respectively. Total WF increases from 1995 to 2010 because forest WF increases significantly in this period though agricultural WF and grass WF decreases. Ecological water stress index has no obvious temporal change trend in both land use scenarios but ecological water stress index in scenario? is more than that in scenario?which illustrates that GGP leads to increase of ecological water stress from perspective of generalized water resources

Changes in the water footprint of urban green spaces over time

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamideh Nouri ◽  
Sattar Chavoshi Borujeni ◽  
Pamela Nagler ◽  
Armando Barreto Munoz ◽  
Kamel Didan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
Green And Blue Water

<p>The concept of a sustainable green city based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)–Goal 11 - sustainable cities and communities – may not be narrowed down to solely intensifying urban green spaces. Sustainability could include urban water management to alleviate possible conflict among “water‐saving” and “greening cities” strategies. Water consumption by urban greenery has a major role in urban water management, particularly in water-scarce regions where green covers are most affected by drought and aridity. More green and blue water resources are required to maintain and expand urban green spaces. Quantifying the water footprint of urban greenery helps to balance greening cities while water saving from both green and blue water resources. We employed remote sensing and artificial intelligence techniques to assess the water consumption and water footprint of a 780‐ha public green space, the Adelaide Parklands in Australia. We estimated the green and blue water footprint of this green space (containing 29 parks) during 2010-2018 on a monthly basis. Our results showed that the mean total water footprint of the Adelaide Parklands was about 7.75 gigaliter per annum over 2010-2018; it varied from 7.19 gigaliter/year in 2018 to 8.45 gigaliter/year in 2012. The blue water footprint was consistently higher than the green water footprint even in wet time of the year. We suggest implementing sponge city and water sensitive urban design (WSUD) techniques to help greening cities while reducing the water footprint of urban green spaces. These approaches have the potential to lessen the pressure on blue water resources and optimise the consumption of green water resources.</p>

scholarly journals Effect of Climate Variability on Green and Blue Water Resources in a Temperate Monsoon Watershed, Northeastern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2193
Author(s):  
Junchao Jiang ◽  
Leting Lyu ◽  
Yuechi Han ◽  
Caizhi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Reference Period ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
The Impact

Over 80% of global grain production relies on green water, water from precipitation that is stored in unsaturated soil and supports plant growth. Blue water, precipitation that turns into surface water and groundwater, is also a vital surface water resource, and it can be directly utilized. The Tanghe River Basin is a typical temperate continental monsoon watershed in Northern China where residents and crops rely on blue and green water resources. In this study, the spatiotemporal distributions of water resources in the Tanghe River Basin were simulated using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model for the period between 1970 and 2015. The results demonstrate that the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency and coefficient of determination were both higher than 0.64 during the calibration and validation periods at all hydrological stations, indicating high simulation accuracy. The average annual water resources of the Tanghe River Basin are 759.37 mm. Green and blue water account for 68% and 32% of the total water resources, respectively. The study period was divided into the reference period (1970–1976) and the variation period (1977–2015), to explore the impact of climate change on the green and blue water resources of the Tanghe River Basin water resources. Compared with the reference period, the average green and blue water resources in the variation period decreased by 78.48 and 35.94 mm/year, and their rate changes were −13.45% and −13.17%, respectively. The water resource relative change rates were high in the south and low in the north, and they were predominantly affected by precipitation. This study improves our understanding of the hydrological processes as well as the availability of blue and green water in the study region, and can prove beneficial in promoting the sustainable development of small basins and the integrated watershed management in areas with similar climatic conditions.

scholarly journals A review of green- and blue-water resources and their trade-offs for future agricultural production in the Amazon Basin: what could irrigated agriculture mean for Amazonia?

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 2179-2194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Lathuillière ◽  
Michael T. Coe ◽  
Mark S. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Future Economic Development

Abstract. The Amazon Basin is a region of global importance for the carbon and hydrological cycles, a biodiversity hotspot, and a potential centre for future economic development. The region is also a major source of water vapour recycled into continental precipitation through evapotranspiration processes. This review applies an ecohydrological approach to Amazonia's water cycle by looking at contributions of water resources in the context of future agricultural production. At present, agriculture in the region is primarily rain-fed and relies almost exclusively on green-water resources (soil moisture regenerated by precipitation). Future agricultural development, however, will likely follow pathways that include irrigation from blue-water sources (surface water and groundwater) as insurance from variability in precipitation. In this review, we first provide an updated summary of the green–blue ecohydrological framework before describing past trends in Amazonia's water resources within the context of land use and land cover change. We then describe green- and blue-water trade-offs in light of future agricultural production and potential irrigation to assess costs and benefits to terrestrial ecosystems, particularly land and biodiversity protection, and regional precipitation recycling. Management of green water is needed, particularly at the agricultural frontier located in the headwaters of major tributaries to the Amazon River, and home to key downstream blue-water users and ecosystem services, including domestic and industrial users, as well as aquatic ecosystems.

scholarly journals Dynamics of green and blue water flows and their controlling factors in Heihe River basin of northwestern China

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaisheng Luo ◽  
Fulu Tao
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Heihe River Basin ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
County Scale

Abstract. Climate variation will affect hydrological cycle, as well as the availability of water resources. In spite of large progresses have been made in the dynamics of hydrological cycle variables, the dynamics and drivers of blue water flow, green water flow and total flow (three flows), as well as the proportion of green water (GWC), in the past and future at county scale, were scarcely investigated. In this study, taking the Heihe River basin in China as an example, we investigated the dynamics of green and blue water flows and their controlling factors during 1980–2009 using five statistical approaches and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). We found that there were large variations in the dynamics of green and blue water flows during 1980–2009 at the county scale. Three flows in all counties showed an increasing trend except Jiayuguan and Jianta county. The GWC showed a downward trend in the Qilian, Suzhou, Shandan, Linze and Gaotai counties, but an upward trend in the Mingle, Sunan, Jinta, Jiayuguan, Ganzhou and Ejilaqi counties. In all the counties, the three flows and GWC had strong persistent trends in the future, which are mainly ascribed to rainfall variation. In the Qilian and Shandan counties, rainfall was the major controlling factor for the three flows and GWC. Rainfall controlled the green water and total flows in the Mingle, Linze and Gaotai counties; green water flow and GWC in the Suzhou county; green water flow, total flow and GWC in the Jinta and Ejilaqi counties. Our results also showed that the "Heihe River basin allocation project" had significant influences on the abrupt changes of the flows above-mentioned. Our results illustrate the status of the water resources at county scale, providing a reference for water resources management of inland river basins.

scholarly journals Water Security Assessment of the Grand River Watershed in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baljeet Kaur ◽  
Narayan Shrestha ◽  
Prasad Daggupati ◽  
Ramesh Rudra ◽  
Pradeep Goel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Stream Flow ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Environmental Flow ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Flow Method

Water security is the capability of a community to have adequate access to good quality and a sufficient quantity of water as well as safeguard resources for the future generations. Understanding the spatial and temporal variabilities of water security can play a pivotal role in sustainable management of fresh water resources. In this study, a long-term water security analysis of the Grand River watershed (GRW), Ontario, Canada, was carried out using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). Analyses on blue and green water availability and water security were carried out by dividing the GRW into eight drainage zones. As such, both anthropogenic as well as environmental demand were considered. In particular, while calculating blue water scarcity, three different methods were used in determining the environmental flow requirement, namely, the presumptive standards method, the modified low stream-flow method, and the variable monthly flow method. Model results showed that the SWAT model could simulate streamflow dynamics of the GRW with ‘good’ to ‘very good’ accuracy with an average Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency of 0.75, R2 value of 0.78, and percentage of bias (PBIAS) of 8.23%. Sen’s slope calculated using data from over 60 years confirmed that the blue water flow, green water flow, and storage had increasing trends. The presumptive standards method and the modified low stream-flow method, respectively, were found to be the most and least restrictive method in calculating environmental flow requirements. While both green (0.4–1.1) and blue (0.25–2.0) water scarcity values showed marked temporal and spatial variabilities, blue water scarcity was found to be the highest in urban areas on account of higher water usage and less blue water availability. Similarly, green water scarcity was found to be highest in zones with higher temperatures and intensive agricultural practices. We believe that knowledge of the green and blue water security situation would be helpful in sustainable water resources management of the GRW and help to identify hotspots that need immediate attention.

scholarly journals Assessing Green and Blue Water: Understanding Interactions and Making Balance between Human and Nature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganquan Mao ◽  
Junguo Liu ◽  
Feng Han ◽  
Ying Meng ◽  
Yong Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Crucial Information ◽  
Human And Nature

Abstract. Water resources assessment is crucial for human well-being and ecosystem’s health. Assessments by considering both the blue and green water are of great significance as the green water plays a critical but often ignored role in the terrestrial ecosystem, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Many approaches have been developed for green and blue water valuation, while few of them considers the interrelationship between them. This study proposed a new framework for green and blue water assessment by considering the interactions between them in an arid endorheic river basin where hydrological cycling is dramatically altered by human activities. Results show that even though the green water is the dominant water resources, the blue water is also critical. Most of the blue water are transformed to green water through physically and human induced processes to meet the water demand of ecosystems. Time and spatial variability of water supply and consumption forms totally different blue and green water regimes in different ecosystems. We also found that human use an increasing share of water with the decrease of the water availability. The massive water use by human reduces the water use for natural ecosystems. This indicates that natural ecosystems will take a higher risk of freshwater use when the water use competition increases. This study provides crucial information to better understand the interactions between green and blue water by assessing water resources in an explicit way. It also provides crucial implications for water management aiming to make the balance between humankind and nature.

scholarly journals What could irrigated agriculture mean for Amazonia? A review of green and blue water resources and their trade-offs for future agricultural production in the Amazon Basin

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Lathuillière ◽  
Michael T. Coe ◽  
Mark S. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Future Economic Development

Abstract. The Amazon Basin is a region of global importance for the carbon and hydrological cycles, a biodiversity hotspot, and a potential centre for future economic development. The region is also a major source of water vapour recycled into continental precipitation through evapotranspiration processes. This review applies an ecohydrological approach to Amazonia's water cycle by looking at contributions of water resources in the context of future agricultural production. At present, agriculture in the region is primarily rain-fed and relies almost exclusively on green water resources (soil moisture regenerated by precipitation). Future agricultural development, however, will likely follow pathways that include irrigation from blue water sources (surface and groundwater) as insurance from variability in precipitation. In this review, we first provide an updated summary of the ecohydrological framework before describing past trends in Amazonia's green and blue water resources within the context of land use and land cover change. We then describe green and blue water trade-offs in light of future agricultural production and potential irrigation to assess costs and benefits to terrestrial ecosystems, particularly land and biodiversity protection, and regional precipitation recycling. Management of green water is needed, particularly at the agricultural frontier located in the headwaters of major tributaries to the Amazon River, and home to key downstream blue water users and ecosystem services, including domestic and industrial users, as well as aquatic ecosystems.

A step forward toward the high-resolution assessment of virtual water flows at the company’s scale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena De Petrillo ◽  
Marta Tuninetti ◽  
Francesco Laio
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
The State ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Food Trade ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Final Consumer

<p>Through the international trade of agricultural goods, water resources that are physically used in the country of production are virtually transferred to the country of consumption. Food trade leads to a global redistribution of freshwater resources, thus shaping distant interdependencies among countries. Recent studies have shown how agricultural trade drives an outsourcing of environmental impacts pertaining to depletion and pollution of freshwater resources, and eutrophication of river bodies in distant producer countries. What is less clear is how the final consumer – being an individual, a company, or a community- impacts the water resources of producer countries at a subnational scale. Indeed, the variability of sub-national water footprint (WF in m<sup>3</sup>/tonne) due to climate, soil properties, irrigation practices, and fertilizer inputs is generally lost in trade analyses, as most trade data are only available at the country scale. The latest version of the Spatially Explicit Information on Production to Consumption Systems model  (SEI-PCS) by Trase provides detailed data on single trade flows (in tonne) along the crop supply chain: from local municipalities- to exporter companies- to importer companies – to the final consumer countries. These data allow us to capitalize on the high-resolution data of agricultural WF available in the literature, in order to quantify the sub-national virtual water flows behind food trade. As a first step, we assess the detailed soybean trade between Brazil and Italy. This assessment is relevant for water management because the global soybean flow reaching Italy may be traced back to 374 municipalities with heterogeneous agricultural practises and water use efficiency. Results show that the largest flow of virtual water from a Brazilian municipality to Italy -3.52e+07 m<sup>3</sup> (3% of the total export flow)- comes from Sorriso in the State of Mato Grosso. Conversely, the highest flow of blue water -1.56e+05 m<sup>3</sup>- comes from Jaguarão, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, located in the Brazilian Pampa. Further, the analysis at the company scale reveals that as many as 37 exporting companies can be identified exchanging to Italy;  Bianchini S.A is the largest virtual water trader (1.88 e+08 m<sup>3</sup> of green water and 3,92 e+06 m<sup>3</sup> of blue water), followed by COFCO (1,06 e+08 m<sup>3</sup> of green water and 6.62 m<sup>3</sup> of blue water)  and Cargill ( 6.96 e+07 m<sup>3</sup> of green water and 2.80 e+02 m<sup>3</sup> of blue water). By building the bipartite network of importing companies and municipalities originating the fluxes we are able to efficiently disaggregate the supply chains , providing novel tools to build sustainable water management strategies.</p>

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.

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