How Sustainable is the Increase in the Water Footprint of the Spanish Agricultural Sector? A Provincial Analysis between 1955 and 2005–2010

Ignacio Cazcarro,Ana Serrano,Miguel Martín-Retortillo,Rosa Duarte,Vicente Pinilla

doi:10.3390/su7055094

Ignacio Cazcarro, Ana Serrano + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su7055094

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Abstract

In the context of a relatively scarce water country, the article analyzes the changes in 50 years in the water footprint (WF) in Spain evaluating its sustainability. For that purpose, firstly we make use of the regional information of the water footprints and crop production to estimate the WF of production over the 50 provinces in Spain, looking at the variation between the years 1955 and 2005–2010. The detail in the information of crops (more than 150 of them) statistics allows us to examine the types and origin of changes (in volume produced, shifts towards more or less water intensive crops). Secondly, we estimate sustainability indicators also at the provincial level, which let us evaluate whether this change has created or incremented the risk of physical and economic water stress. Thirdly, we introduce the economic perspective, providing evidence on the infrastructures built and public sector expenditure, as an approximation to the costs of the increases in WF, particularly meaningful for those water stressed areas.

Highlights

Water management in Spain has been a fundamental part of economic development policy of the twentieth century
From economic history we can learn what leads to water footprint (WF) variations, and we look for criteria to compare and evaluate those changes
We have addressed water footprint and water scarcity changes measures and reduction strategies

Summary

Introduction

Water management in Spain has been a fundamental part of economic development policy of the twentieth century. More than a half of the final crop agricultural production in Spain is obtained in irrigation [1] and traditional irrigation schemes have undergone significant transformations All these changes have had key effects in the water sustainability indicators, in general in the match between supply and demand of water and in the water footprints (WFs) of production. The downside is often omitted or only hinted, which gets reflected shortages of water elsewhere (downstream, for alternative uses, etc.) and on the sustainability of certain regions, especially arid and semi-arid At the most, this is usually examined by looking at water scarcity indicators, at the generation of temporal conflicts or choices between uses, but long term costs of water provision are rarely studied together with them. Many of these studies tried to quantify the water footprint and virtual water trade flows of crop and livestock products at the global level [2,4,5,6,7], whereas others studied the water footprint of a specific product in a detailed way [8,9,10,11]

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