Corrigendum to &quot;Assessing blue and green water utilisation in wheat production of China from the perspectives of water footprint and total water use&quot; published in Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3165–3178, 2014

Abstract. The aim of this study is to estimate the green and blue water footprint (WF) and the total water use (TWU) of wheat crop in China in both irrigated and rainfed productions. Crop evapotranspiration and water evaporation loss are both considered when calculating the water footprint in irrigated fields. We compared the water use for per-unit product between irrigated and rainfed crops and analyzed the relationship between promoting the yield and conserving water resources. The national total and per-unit-product WF of wheat production in 2010 were approximately 111.5 Gm3 (64.2% green and 35.8% blue) and 0.968 m3 kg−1, respectively. There is a large difference in the water footprint of the per-kilogram wheat product (WFP) among different provinces: the WFP is low in the provinces in and around the Huang–Huai–Hai Plain, while it is relatively high in the provinces south of the Yangtze River and in northwestern China. The major portion of WF (80.9%) comes from irrigated farmland, and the remaining 19.1% is rainfed. Green water dominates the area south of the Yangtze River, whereas low green water proportions are found in the provinces located in northern China, especially northwestern China. The national TWU and total water use of the per-kilogram wheat product (TWUP) are 142.5 Gm3 and 1.237 m3 kg−1, respectively, containing approximately 21.7% blue water percolation (BWp). The values of WFP for irrigated (WFPI) and rainfed (WFPR) crops are 0.911 and 1.202 m3 kg−1, respectively. Irrigation plays an important role in food production, promoting the wheat yield by 170% and reducing the WFP by 24% compared to those of rainfed wheat production. Due to the low irrigation efficiency, more water is needed per kilogram in irrigated farmland in many arid regions, such as the Xinjiang, Ningxia and Gansu Provinces. We divided the 30 provinces of China into three categories according to the relationship between the TWUPI (TWU for per-unit product in irrigated farmland) and TWUPR (TWU for per-unit product in rainfed farmland): (I) TWUPI < TWUPR, (II) TWUPI = TWUPR, and (III) TWUPI > TWUPR. Category II, which contains the major wheat-producing areas in the North China Plain, produces nearly 75% of the wheat of China. The double benefits of conserving water and promoting production can be achieved by irrigating wheat in Category I provinces. Nevertheless, the provinces in this category produce only 1.1% of the national wheat yield.

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An improved method for calculating the regional crop water footprint based on a hydrological process analysis

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-22-5111-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (10) ◽

pp. 5111-5123 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Xiao-Bo Luan ◽

Ya-Li Yin ◽

Pu-Te Wu ◽

Shi-Kun Sun ◽

Yu-Bao Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Water Use ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Process Analysis ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Irrigation District ◽

Green Water ◽

Hydrological Process ◽

Total Water ◽

Crop Water

Abstract. Fresh water is consumed during agricultural production. With the shortage of water resources, assessing the water use efficiency is crucial to effectively manage agricultural water resources. The water footprint is an improved index for water use evaluation, and it can reflect the quantity and types of water usage during crop growth. This study aims to establish a method for calculating the regional-scale water footprint of crop production based on hydrological processes, and the water footprint is quantified in terms of blue and green water. This method analyses the water-use process during the growth of crops, which includes irrigation, precipitation, groundwater, evapotranspiration, and drainage, and it ensures a more credible evaluation of water use. As illustrated by the case of the Hetao irrigation district (HID), China, the water footprint of wheat, corn and sunflowers were calculated using this method. The results show that canal water loss and evapotranspiration were responsible for most of the water consumption and accounted for 47.9 % and 41.8 % of the total consumption, respectively. The total water footprint of wheat, corn and sunflowers were 1380–2888, 942–1774 and 2095–4855 m3 t−1, respectively, and the blue footprint accounts for more than 86 %. The spatial distribution pattern of the green, blue and total water footprints for the three crops demonstrated that higher values occurred in the eastern part of the HID, which had more precipitation and was further away from the irrigation gate. This study offers a vital reference for improving the method used to calculate the crop water footprint.

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Assessment of Water Footprint for Koshi River Basin (KRB), Nepal

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-4395 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Raj Deva Singh ◽

Kumar Ghimire ◽

Ashish Pandey

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Water Use ◽

Crop Production ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Green Water ◽

Blue Water ◽

Total Water ◽

Green And Blue Water ◽

Koshi River Basin

Nepal is an agrarian country and almost one-third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is dependent on agricultural sector. Koshi river basin is the largest basin in the country and serves large share on agricultural production. Like another country, Nepalese agriculture holds largest water use in agriculture. In this context, it is necessary to reduce water use pressure. In this study, water footprint of different crop (rice, maize, wheat, millet, sugarcane, potato and barley) have been estimated for the year 2005 -2014 to get the average water footprint of crop production during study period. CROPWAT model, developed by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2010b).For the computation of the green and blue water footprints, estimated values of ET (the output of CROPWAT model) and yield (derived from statistical data) are utilised. Blue and green water footprint are computed for different districts (16 districts within KRB) / for KRB in different years (10 years from 2005 to 2014) and crops (considered 7 local crops). The water footprint of crops production for any district or basin represents the average of WF production of seven crops in the respective district or basin.The study provides a picture of green and blue water use in crop production in the field and reduction in the water footprint of crop production by selecting suitable crops at different places in the field. The Crop, that has lower water footprint, can be intensified at that location and the crops, having higher water footprint, can be discontinued for production or measure for water saving technique needs to be implemented reducing evapotranspiration. The water footprint of agriculture crop production can be reduced by increasing the yield of the crops. Some measures like use of an improved variety of seed, fertilizer, mechanized farming and soil moisture conservation technology may also be used to increase the crop yields.The crop harvested areas include both rainfed as well as irrigated land. Agricultural land occupies 22% of the study area, out of which 94% areas are rainfed whereas remaining 6% areas are under irrigation. The study shows 98% of total water use in crop production is due to green water use (received from rainfall) and remaining 2 % is due to blue water use received from irrigation (surface and ground water as source). Potato has 22% blue water proportion and contributes 85% share to the total blue water use in the basin. Maize and rice together hold 77% share of total water use in crops production. The average annual water footprint of crop production in KRB is 1248 cubic meter/ton having the variation of 9% during the period of 2005-2014. Sunsari, Dhankuta districts have lower water footprint of crop production. The coefficient of variation of water footprint of millet crop production is lower as compared to those of other crops considered for study whereas sugarcane has a higher variation of water footprint for its production.

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An improved method for calculating regional crop water footprint based on hydrological process analysis

10.5194/hess-2018-125 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xiao-Bo Luan ◽

Ya-Li Yin ◽

Pu-Te Wu ◽

Shi-Kun Sun ◽

Yu-Bao Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Water Use ◽

Crop Production ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Process Analysis ◽

Irrigation District ◽

Hydrological Process ◽

Total Water ◽

Crop Water ◽

Total Consumption

Abstract. Fresh water is consumed during agricultural production. With the shortage of water resources, assessing the water use efficiency is crucial to effectively managing agricultural water resources. The water footprint is a new index for water use evaluation, and it can reflect the quantity and types of water usage during crop growth. This study aims to establish a method for calculating the region-scale water footprint of crop production based on hydrological processes. This method analyzes the water-use process during the growth of crops, which includes irrigation, precipitation, underground water, evapotranspiration, and drainage, and it ensures a more credible evaluation of water use. As illustrated by the case of the Hetao irrigation district (HID), China, the water footprints of wheat, corn and sunflower were calculated using this method. The results show that canal water loss and evapotranspiration were responsible for most of the water consumption and accounted for 47.9 % and 41.8 % of the total consumption, respectively. The total water footprints of wheat, sunflower and corn were 1380–2888 m3/t, 942–1774 m3/t, and 2095–4855 m3/t, respectively, and the blue footprint accounts for more than 86 %. The spatial distribution pattern of the green, blue and total water footprint for the three crops demonstrated that higher values occurred in the eastern part of the HID, which had more precipitation and was further from the irrigating gate. This study offers a vital reference for improving the method used to calculate the crop water footprint.

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Cradle-to-Gate Water-Related Impacts on Production of Traditional Food Products in Malaysia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12135274 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (13) ◽

pp. 5274 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

P.X.H. Bong ◽

M.A. Malek ◽

N.H. Mardi ◽

Marlia M. Hanafiah

Keyword(s):

Water Footprint ◽

Food Products ◽

Modern Technology ◽

Green Water ◽

Pollution Level ◽

Traditional Food ◽

Blue Water ◽

Total Water ◽

Freshwater Ecotoxicity ◽

Cradle To Gate

Modern technology and life-style advancements have increased the demand for clean water. Based on this trend it is expected that our water resources will be under stress leading to a high probability of scarcity. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of selected traditional food manufacturing products namely: tempe, lemang, noodle laksam, fish crackers and salted fish in Malaysia. The cradle-to-gate approach on water footprint assessment (WFA) of these selected traditional food products was carried out using Water Footprint Network (WFN) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Freshwater eutrophication (FEP), marine eutrophication (MEP), freshwater ecotoxicity (FETP), marine ecotoxicity (METP) and water consumption (WCP), LCA were investigated using ReCiPe 2016 methodology. Water footprint accounting of blue water footprint (WFblue), green water footprint (WFgreen) and grey water footprint (WFgrey) were established in this study. It was found that total water footprint for lemang production was highest at 3862.13 m3/ton. The lowest total water footprint was found to be fish cracker production at 135.88 m3/ton. Blue water scarcity (WSblue) and water pollution level (WPL) of these selected food products were also determined to identify the environmental hotspots. Results in this study showed that the WSblue and WPL of these selected food products did not exceed 1%, which is considered sustainable. Based on midpoint approach adopted in this study, the characterization factors for FEP, MEP, FETP, METP and WCP on these selected food products were evaluated. It is recommended that alternative ingredients or product processes be designed in order to produce more sustainable lemang.

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The Water Footprint of Kathmandu Metropolitan City

Journal of Natural History Museum ◽

10.3126/jnhm.v28i0.14170 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 73-80

Author(s):

Mohan Bikram Shrestha ◽

Udhab Raj Khadka

Keyword(s):

Water Use ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Industrial Water ◽

Total Water ◽

Domestic Water ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Water Project ◽

Metropolitan City ◽

Industrial Water Use ◽

Per Capita

The water footprint is consumption-based indicator of water use. Water footprint is defined as the total volume of both indirect and the direct freshwater used for producing goods and services consumed by individuals or inhabitants of community. There are many studies regarding the direct water use but studies incorporating both direct and indirect water use is deficient. This study tries to estimate total volume of water based on the consumption pattern of different commodities by individuals of Kathmandu Metropolitan city using extended water footprint calculator. The average water footprint of individuals appears to be 1145.52 m3/yr. The indirect and direct water footprint appears to be 1070.82 Mm3/yr and 46.59 Mm3/yr respectively which cumulatively give the total water footprint of Kathmandu Metropolitan City of 1117.40 Mm3/yr. This volume is equal to 2.27 times the annual flow the River Bagmati. The indirect water footprint includes food water footprint of 1055.60 Mm3/yr or 2.14 times the annual flow and industrial water use of 15.22 Mm3/yr or 0.03 times the annual flow while the direct water footprint includes domestic water use of 46.59 Mm3/yr or 0.09 times the annual flow. In food water footprint, cereals consumption shared the highest contribution of 34.82% followed by meat consumption with share of 32.62% in total water footprint. Per capita per day water use of inhabitants appears to be 3138 liters which includes water use in food items of 2965 liters, industrial water use of 43 liters and domestic water use of 131 liters. The per capita per day domestic water use is 90 liters more than supplement of 41 liters by the water operator of Kathmandu Valley. Per capita per day domestic water use is already 5 liters more than expected improvement in water supplement of 126 liters per capita per day in 2025 after accomplishment of Melamchi water project. And, it is expected to increase further observing the rapid urbanization of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. The study showed water footprint of individuals is directly related to food consumption behavior, life style and services used therefore it is necessary to initiate water offsetting measures at individual level and water operator to find environmentally sustainable alternatives along with ongoing water project to fulfill demand. J. Nat. Hist. Mus. Vol. 28, 2014: 73-80

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Water footprint in family farming

Research Society and Development ◽

10.33448/rsd-v10i6.15777 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. e26610615777

Author(s):

Ana Luiza Grateki Barbosa ◽

Daniel Brasil Ferreira Pinto ◽

Rafael Alvarenga Almeida

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Fresh Water ◽

Agricultural Production ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Green Water ◽

Blue Water ◽

Total Water ◽

Family Farming ◽

Gray Water ◽

The Family

Currently, the management of water resources has gained greater visibility and has become indispensable, with the need for different methodologies which consider all water used and incorporated in the processes and products. In this way, the water footprint concept has been introduced to calculate the appropriation of fresh water on the part of the humankind. Thus, the objective of this work was to determine the water footprint in some sectors of family farming in the municipality of Teófilo Otoni – MG, analyzing the agricultural production of crops cultivated exclusively by the sector in 2017 in Teófilo Otoni. The cultivation of pumpkin, banana, chayote, beans, cassava, Maize, peppers, okra, cabbage, and tangerine were studied. Thus, the total water footprint for the year 2017 was 13,996,735.05 m3.t-1, in which the green water footprint represents 86%, the blue water footprint represents 12.5% and the gray water footprint equals 1.5%. The family farming sector of Teófilo Otoni demands an average of 196.73 liters for a production of R$ 1.00.

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Blue Water Footprints of Ontario Dairy Farms

Water ◽

10.3390/w13162230 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 2230

Author(s):

Mariam Al-Bahouh ◽

Vern Osborne ◽

Tom Wright ◽

Mike Dixon ◽

Andrew VanderZaag ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Use ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Wash Water ◽

Conservation Practices ◽

Blue Water ◽

Total Water ◽

Plate Cooler ◽

The Impact ◽

Seasonal Water Use

The blue water footprint (WF) is an indicator of freshwater required to produce a given end product. Determining the blue WF for milk production, the seasonal water use and the impact of water conservation are important sustainability considerations for the dairy industry in Ontario (Canada). In this study, a water footprint network (WFN) method was used to calculate the seasonal blue WF’s from in-barn water use data and the fat–protein-corrected milk (FPCM) production. Various water conservation options were estimated using the AgriSuite software. Results showed that the total water use (L of water·cow−1·d−1) and the average blue WF (L of water·kg−1 of FPCM) were 246.3 ± 6.8 L·cow−1·d−1 and 7.4 ± 0.2 L·kg−1, respectively. The total water use and the blue WF could be reduced to 182.7 ± 5.1 L·cow−1·d−1 (25.8% reduction) and 5.8 ± 0.1 L·kg−1 (21.6% reduction), respectively, through adaptive water conservation measures as the reuse of the plate cooler and milk house water. For example, conservation practices could reduce the milk house wash water use from 74.3 ± 8.8 L·cow−1·d−1 to 16.6 ± 0.1 L·cow−1·d−1 (77.7% overall reduction).

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Assessment of Crop Water Footprint for Different Varieties of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)

Indian Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.18805/ijare.a-5831 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

J. Ramachandran ◽

R. Lalitha ◽

S. Vallal Kannan ◽

K. Sivasubramanian

Keyword(s):

Water Stress ◽

Tamil Nadu ◽

Crop Production ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Green Water ◽

Blue Water ◽

Total Water ◽

Crop Water ◽

Different Levels

Background: Water Footprint is a recently used indicator which helps to reduce water depletion and alleviate water stress in areas of drought and proper crop cultivation. Hence a study was taken up to assess the crop water footprint of different groundnut varieties namely TMV 7, VRI 2, VRI 3, VRI Gn 5, VRI Gn 6, CO 3, CO Gn 4, ALR 3 and TMV Gn 13 cultivated during Kharif and Rabi seasons at Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu. Methods: The total water requirement, blue and green crop evapotranspiration, blue and green crop water use and total water footprint for different varieties of groundnut were estimated using CROPWAT 8.0 Windows. A comparison was made between the water footprint of groundnut varieties and the strategies to reduce water footprint is presented. Result: The total water footprint for groundnut varieties ranged from 2603 to 4889 m3 ton-1 (CV of 26%) during kharif season, while it was ranged from 1465 to 2470 m3 ton-1 (CV of 18%) during rabi season. It was found that in all groundnut varieties the blue water footprint is higher than the green water footprint, while VRI Gn 5 variety had minimum total water footprint. It was concluded that, the groundnut production is affected by different levels of blue water stress which requires effective irrigation practices and water management strategies to enhance the crop production.

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Water Resources Management Strategies for Irrigated Agriculture in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

Water ◽

10.3390/w12051429 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 1429 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Muhammad Muzammil ◽

Azlan Zahid ◽

Lutz Breuer

Keyword(s):

Water Use ◽

Irrigation Water ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Water Saving ◽

Green Water ◽

Indus Basin ◽

Irrigated Agriculture ◽

Saline Irrigation ◽

Cropping Patterns ◽

Support Tool

Agriculture of Pakistan relies on the Indus basin, which is facing severe water scarcity conditions. Poor irrigation practices and lack of policy reforms are major threats for water and food security of the country. In this research, alternative water-saving strategies are evaluated through a high spatio-temporal water footprint (WF) assessment (1997–2016) for the Punjab and Sindh provinces, which cover an irrigated area of 17 million hectares in the Indus basin of Pakistan. The SPARE:WATER model is used as a spatial decision support tool to calculate the WF and establish alternative management plans for more sustainable water use. The average water consumption (WFarea) is estimated to 182 km3 yr−1, composed of 75% blue water (irrigation water from surface water and groundwater sources), 17% green water (precipitation) and 8% grey water (water used to remove soil salinity or dilute saline irrigation water). Sugarcane, cotton, and rice are highly water-intensive crops, which consume 57% of the annual water use. However, WFarea can be reduced by up to 35% through optimized cropping patterns of the existing crops with the current irrigation settings and even by up to 50% through the combined implementation of optimal cropping patterns and improved irrigation technologies, i.e., sprinkler and drip irrigation. We recommend that the economic impact of these water-saving strategies should be investigated in future studies to inform stakeholders and policymakers to achieve a more sustainable water policy for Pakistan.

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