Spatiotemporal variations of agricultural water footprint and its economic benefits in Xinjiang, northwestern China

Yinbo Li,Mingjiang Deng

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-03240-9

Abstract

Agriculture is the largest water user and is the main driving force behind water stress in Xinjiang, northwestern China. In this study, the water footprint (WF) (blue, green and gray WF) of main crop production and their temporal and spatial characteristics in Xinjiang were estimated in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. The blue water footprint deficit (BWFd) was conducted and food productivity and economic benefits of WF were also analyzed via the water consumption per output value (food productivity and economic benefits). The results reveal that the WF increased from 22.75 to 44.16 billion m3 during 2006–2018 in Xinjiang, of which cotton, corn and wheat are main contributors of WF. In terms of different regions, corn has the largest WF in north Xinjiang and cotton has the largest WF in south and east Xinjiang. The BWFd broadened from − 11.51 to + 13.26 billion m3 in Xinjiang with the largest increased BWFd in Kashgar (from − 3.35 to 1.40 billion m3) and Aksu (from − 2.92 to 2.23 billion m3) of south Xinjiang and in Shihezi (from − 0.11 to 2.90 billion m3) of north Xinjiang. In addition, the water footprint food productivity does not well correspond with the water footprint economic benefits in prefectures of Xinjiang. It means we should consider the food yields priority and economic benefits priority to formulate a scientific and effective supervisor mode to realize the sustainable management of agricultural water in prefectures of Xinjiang.

Highlights

Agriculture is the largest water user and is the main driving force behind water stress in Xinjiang, northwestern China
To quantify the irrigation water requirement for crop production, the water footprint (WF) was introduced by Hoekstra[10] and includes blue water footprint ( WFblue), green water footprint ( WFgreen) and gray water footprint (WFgray): WFblue is irrigation water from the surface and ground water, W Fgreen is the consumed rainwater, W Fgray is the volume of freshwater used to assimilate the load of pollutants based on existing ambient water quality standards[11]
Several obvious deficiencies are discovered: (1) W Fgray is the important contributor to Xinjiang production due to the extensive use of chemical fertilizer[19], but their data are relative scarce for Xinjiang crops; (2) few studies estimated the difference between the actual irrigation water and W Fblue to measure the extent of blue water scarcity in Xinjiang; (3) the water footprint per unit of yield (WY) received more attention to reveal water productivity from the perspective of food production, while few studies describe water productivity from the perspective of economic benefits via the water footprint per output value (WV)

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture is the largest water user and is the main driving force behind water stress in Xinjiang, northwestern China. Several obvious deficiencies are discovered: (1) W Fgray is the important contributor to Xinjiang production due to the extensive use of chemical fertilizer[19], but their data are relative scarce for Xinjiang crops; (2) few studies estimated the difference between the actual irrigation water and W Fblue to measure the extent of blue water scarcity in Xinjiang; (3) the water footprint per unit of yield (WY) received more attention to reveal water productivity from the perspective of food production, while few studies describe water productivity from the perspective of economic benefits via the water footprint per output value (WV)

Methods

Results

Conclusion