Concept Of Virtual Water Research Articles

Assessing water supply/demand dynamic balance in arid environments with policy options: a case study of Kuwait

ABSTRACT The water situation in arid environments is fragile because of climate change, population growth, economic development, irrational behavior in consumption patterns, and water pollution, which in their entirety threaten water security for such environments. The Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) (a planning software) was used to assess the actual (2000–2023) water supply sustainability with realistic annual growth rates to project (2024–2035) water demands for Kuwait's water future. The actual total water supply was found to be 1,375 Mm3/yr, of which 44% was for domestic, 5% for industrial, and 51% for agricultural water uses. It was also found that the per capita consumption for domestic and industrial purposes was 214 m3/yr. Suitable growth rates were as follows: 2, 1.5, and 1% for domestic, industrial, and agricultural sectors, respectively. This will result in water shortage of 235 Mm3/yr during the period 2024–2035. Kuwait is called to implement strategic solutions to fully reuse treated wastewater and the virtual water concept for agricultural development purposes. This study demonstrates that when Kuwait implements these solutions, it can reduce CO2 emissions by 1.175 million tons saving $573 million annually. With the proper measures and policies, Kuwait can reduce their bulk water demand by 235 million cubic meters saving $1.15 billion dollars per year.

Economic value of virtual water with the approach of maximizing the productivity of irrigation water

Abstract The increasing use of water and the decrease in average rainfall along with climate change have caused the reduction of water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. In addition, despite the consumption of more than half of these resources in the agricultural sector, a rate between 0 and 15% of the price of the products has always been received from the farmers. Considering the concept of virtual water and the water content of products in the form of green water, blue water and gray water, the present research has calculated the economic value of virtual water of agricultural products with the approach of maximizing water use efficiency. The investigated sample includes eight cities (counties) of Sanmenxia, Jiaozuo, Nanyang, Shangqiu, Puyang, Luohe, Luoyang and Kaifeng and six agricultural products (wheat, barley, potato, rapeseed, tomato and corn). A fuzzy dynamic programming model has been used to evaluate the objective function. The results showed that the maximum and minimum economic value of water content (sum of surface and groundwater) of the products were estimated for Kaifeng and Shangqiu regions equal to 1.16 and 0.86 Yuan/m3, respectively.

Virtual Water and Its Role in Water Resource Management

Considering the future water scarcity issues, the control and management of water resources have become critically important, particularly with the rapid population growth in various countries and the rising standards of living. Agriculture, especially in developing countries, is the largest consumer of water. Therefore, the concept of virtual water gains significant importance. Virtual water refers to the hidden water embedded in agricultural products, considering the substantial amount of water required for their growth. For instance, the production of one kilogram of wheat consumes more than 1000 liters of water, termed as virtual water, as it's actually used and, in case of agricultural exports and imports, transferred from one country to another. Nations can reduce the cultivation of crops that consume a lot of water through the management of virtual water, controlling the input and output of water concerning this definition.
 Virtual water management allows countries to control their water input and output concerning their crops. This concept plays a crucial role in areas facing water scarcity. With efficient management of virtual water, demand for water in different regions (both dry and semi-arid) can be significantly reduced. The term "virtual water" indicates the amount of water used in the production of food items or commercial goods. By minimizing the production of water-intensive products, especially in water-scarce regions, the need for water consumption in those areas decreases significantly. Storing water virtually is a practical way to overcome periods of scarcity, more efficient than artificial reservoirs. The rise in competition for water resources and the increase in demand have made water management a prevalent topic. The transfer of embedded water in agricultural products is a vital component of global water management, particularly in water-scarce regions. The trade of virtual water not only saves water in importing countries but is also considered a global water conservation measure. This article aims to introduce the concept of virtual water and its role in water resource management.

Assessing the impact of food trade centric on land, water, and food security in South Korea

The observed and predicted changes in climate, as well as the growth in urban population, are creating severe stress on existing water resources in South Korea. By the importation of agricultural products from more water-rich countries through the virtual water concept, a country could save local water resources for other important uses. However, these imports from other countries could lead to certain vulnerabilities in the importing country derived from climate change. Therefore, through the application of the virtual water concept and the climate vulnerability index ((CVI) - measure of a country's vulnerability to indirect climate impacts), this study assessed the implication of virtual water imports and climate change through food trade, on the water, land and food security status of South Korea over the period of 2000–2017. The results showed that significant amounts of national water and land was saved through the importation of major upland crops. Virtual water imports increased significantly over time, rising from 16.2 Bm3 in 2000 to 16.5, 17.4, and 20.7 Bm3 in 2005, 2011, and 2017 respectively, with the USA, China, Australia, Brazil and Canada being the major exporters to South Korea. The study also revealed high CVI values for the oils and grains category of imported food, implying the high vulnerability of South Korea to climate change effects resulting from the import of these crops. The quantitative impacts and structural changes in virtual water trade, as well as the link between climate change, food security, international trade, and domestic water consumption could be evaluated for the sustainable management and allocation of resources. This study successfully identified and quantified the status of food trade and its environmental implications in the study area, providing insight into a better allocation of locally available resources.

Revisiting the Concept of 'Virtual Water' in Light of the Impact of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Egypt's Water Interests

Revisiting the Concept of 'Virtual Water' in Light of the Impact of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Egypt's Water Interests Marwa Mamdouh-Salem (bio) Introduction Virtual water is one of the few concepts that serious disagreements have not been raised on its definition. Simply, it is the amount of water that is embedded in food or other products needed for its production. It also refers to the hidden flow of water if food or other commodities are traded from one place to another.1 Virtual water allows some countries to support other countries in their water needs. Instead of producing these goods themselves, the importing country can utilize this water for other purposes that else would have been necessary for its production. So, a water scarce country can import products that require a lot of water for their production rather than producing them domestically. By doing so, real water savings can be attained relieving the pressure on the water resources worldwide. Accordingly, several countries – such as Jordan, Israel, and the Gulf States – have consciously formulated policies to enable water saving by [End Page 12] reducing export of water-intensive products, notably crops. It is important to mention that the virtual water content of a product may inform about the environmental impact of consuming this product. By knowing the virtual water content of products, an awareness of the amount of water needed to produce a specific commodity is created. This informs us of the impact that some goods have on the water system. Moreover, the water volume results from the country's import of virtual water should be added to the total water use of the country, thus getting a picture of a nation's real call on the global water resources. Similarly, virtual water export should be subtracted from the volume of the country's water use. The sum of national water use and net virtual water import is known by the 'water footprint' of a country. This 'water footprint' can be a strong tool to show people their impact on the natural resources. The awareness of one's 'individual water footprint' aims to stimulate a more careful use of water. It may also be included in agricultural and industrial production plans and leads to more environment friendly trade policies.2 Ever since Tony Allan introduced an updated version of the concept 'embedded water' in the mid-1990s,3 virtual water trade has been subject to strong academic and scientific debate. This debate produced two main trends: The first trend – which is adopted by the majority – views virtual water as a fact of life exercised by the people since ancient times. The Old Testament tells us about the prophecy of Joseph on how "the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, and the seven years of famine began to come."4 Egyptians stored big quantities of food crops that they cultivated during the time of water abundance to compensate for the food shortage that will happen because of the seven years of drought. This is simply a 'water storing technique' based on the concept of virtual water. In this context, the logic of virtual water is: if the country does not have enough water to cultivate the needed food crops, then it can "import water." This can be done through the importing of crops and other food products from other countries that have water abundance.5 Therefore, this trend endorses the view that since virtual water is a reality, it is necessary to acknowledge [End Page 13] its existence and to start incorporating it – in a scientific way – into the state's national agricultural, economic, and trade strategies. The second trend is an attempt to think outside the virtual water's box as it tends to consider the political, economic, and social factors related to the cultivation of crops. Among the significant works that demonstrate this vision is Jessica Barnes who believes that water is not only limited to agricultural production; rather it should be seen as a more comprehensive process that involves people's lives. Rural environment is characterized by unique social and economic traditions and customs that control the peasants' lifestyle...

Water and Food Security for Sugar in Egypt

Sugar is one of the most important strategic food commodities for many of the world’s countries. The principal research problem surrounds the fact that domestic sugar production is unable to meet the requirements of increasing demand; therefore, the research aimed to assess the state of water and food security for sugar in Egypt. The results of the research were as follows. The quantity of virtual water exported ranged from lowest to maximum of 375.7 million m3 and1278 million m3 during 2012 and 2016, respectively. The inland water footprint also ranged from a lower to upper point of about 1979 million m3 and 3570.5 million m3 during 2011 and 2015. The quantity of virtual water imported ranged from a minimum to maximum of 1,705.4 million m and 3,2934.8 million m3 during 2017 and 2020, and the external water footprint can be cited as being between a minimum and maximum of about 983.6 million m3 and 2081million m3 during 2011 and 2017; the total water footprint was set between a minimum and maximum of about 2962.6 million m3 and 5615.5 million m3 with regard to food security in Egypt, thus reflecting 0.011 in 2019. The research therefore recommends that the concept of virtual water should be introduced in the development of the agricultural sector’s future strategy to ensure the adoption of less water-use agricultural production systems, focusing on the import of agricultural products with high water needs. KEYWORDS Food gap, food security, self-sufficiency, strategic stock, virtual water, water footprint

Environmental and Socioeconomic Determinants of Virtual Water Trade of Grain Products: An Empirical Analysis of South Korea Using Decomposition and Decoupling Model

The world’s sustainable growth is being severely hampered by the inefficient use of water resources. Despite the widely acknowledged importance of trade in global and regional water and food security, societal reliance on local production, as well as international trade, remains inadequately assessed. Therefore, using South Korea as a case study, this study fills in this research gap by applying the virtual water concept, the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) method, and the Tapio decoupling model. The virtual water concept was used to estimate South Korea’s net virtual water trade for major grain crops from 1992 to 2017. Then, the LMDI method was utilized to assess the driving factors causing changes in net virtual water trade. Lastly, the Tapio decoupling model was used to investigate the decoupling relationships between economic growth and the driving factors of net virtual water trade. The results showed that South Korea remains a net importer of virtual water flows with respect to grain crops, with an average import of 16,559.24 million m3 over the study period. In addition, the change in net virtual water trade could be attributed to the water intensity effect, product structure effect, economic effect, and population effect. However, water intensity and economic effects were the major decisive factors for decreases and increases in net virtual water trade, respectively, while the population and product structure effects had minor positive influences on the net virtual water trade. Furthermore, water intensity and economic growth showed a strong decoupling in most periods, while the decoupling state between product structure and economic growth was observed as expansive negative decoupling. Likewise, population size and economic growth showed a weak decoupling in most periods. The results reveal South Korea’s status as it concerns the virtual water trade of grain crops, thus providing valuable insights into the sustainability of trade activities for the management of local water resources.

Water Security: Why We Need Global Solutions

Abstract The article introduces some of the general challenges of global water security (in the context of the availability of good quality water) and highlights the likely global impact of climate change, increasing pollution and population growth on water resources, including flooding and droughts, as outlined in recent studies. The nexus between water, food and energy is introduced, along with the concept of virtual water, and the desirability for society, industry and governments to consider water security in a global context. Cotton production and trading is considered as an example and how clothes purchased in a non-cotton producing country can have an adverse impact on the water quality and pollution levels in river basins in cotton producing countries and in any other countries further downstream in the river basin. The role and engagement of engineers is highlighted and how engineers can contribute significantly to addressing the challenges of Sustainable Development Goal 6, i.e., ‘ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’.

Water wars, conflict and cooperation – how the virtual water concept helped change the discourse

Water wars, conflict and cooperation – how the virtual water concept helped change the discourse

Economic evaluation of the application of the concept of virtual water in providing domestic water - in the city of Abu Sweir, Ismailia Governorate

Economic evaluation of the application of the concept of virtual water in providing domestic water - in the city of Abu Sweir, Ismailia Governorate

Conflicting Drivers of Virtual Water Trade: A Review Based on the “Virtual Water Concept”

The virtual water concept has been largely applied in the study of regional, national, and global water flows with particular emphasis on water endowment. Despite water traditionally being managed locally, certain forces (drivers) influence the local water resource availability and hence virtual water exchanges. This study reviews available literature to determine those drivers and their influence on virtual water exchanges. Studies show that the drivers are numerous, and there exist several available literatures providing controversial results leading to a high level of uncertainty in the determination of their relative significance. Possible reasons for the contradicting results are discussed and suggestions made.

Insights on Water and Climate Change in the Greater Horn of Africa: Connecting Virtual Water and Water-Energy-Food-Biodiversity-Health Nexus

Water is the key limiting factor in socioeconomic and ecological development, but it is adversely affected by climate change. The novel virtual water (VW) concept and water, energy, food, biodiversity, and human health (WEFBH) nexus approach are powerful tools to assess the sustainability of a region through the lens of climate change. Climate change-related challenges and water are complex and intertwined. This paper analyzed the significant WEFBH sectors using the multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. The AHP model demonstrated quantitative relationships among WEFBH nexus sustainability indicators in the Greater Horn of Africa countries. Besides, the net VW imports and water footprints of major staple crops were assessed. The composite WEFBH nexus indices varied from 0.10 to 0.14. The water footprint of crops is increasing period by period. The results also revealed that most countries in the study area are facing WEFBH domains unsustainability due to weak planning or improper management strategies. The strong policy constancy among the WEFBH sector is vital for dissociating the high-water consumption from crop production, energy, environmental, and human health system. Thus, this study enhances insights into the interdependencies, interconnectedness, and interactions of sectors thereby strengthening the coordination, complementarities, and synergies among them. To attain sustainable development, we urgently call all public and private entities to value the amount of VW used in their daily activities and design better policies on the complex WEFBH nexus and future climate change.

Optimization of agricultural patterns based on virtual water considerations through integrated water resources management modeling

ABSTRACT As the largest lake within Iranian borders, Lake Urmia's critical conditions have disrupted its primary functions in recent years due to environmental challenges. Considering the virtual water (VW) concept (which takes into account the value of every unit of water volume in addition to the consumed volume of water) as a component of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) can be nominated as an excellent approach for improving the conditions of the Lake Urmia catchment. Here, with the aid of WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning) software, the region based on IWRM principles is modeled. Then, the necessities and effectiveness of optimizing VW in agricultural activities have been investigated through different cases. A comparison of the cases reveals the unfavorable condition of local agricultural practices at present, both in terms of water consumption and financial revenues. If not remedied, the current situation can aggravate the water scarcity problem in the region. Furthermore, the results suggest that considering multiple objectives (besides water consumption) in making a decision on the cropping pattern can present a more realistic response to the situation, improve the lake's conditions, and resolve the scarcities to certain extents.

Virtual Water Trade as a creative water-saving technique

Understanding the idea and strategy of virtual water trade is critical for formulating informed policies to increase water usage efficiency at various levels. The implementation of the concept of virtual water as a creative water-saving technique in Egypt, however, is still in need of comprehensive testing, research, and feasibility evaluation. Egypt also requires extensive investigations, surveys, and feasibility evaluations. At present, as a percentage of water supplies, Egypt's net virtual water import has risen to 23.55 percent. The primary concern here is to apply virtual water as a strategy that meets the interests and goals set out in Egypt's National Water Management Plan. The key concern of this paper is investigating the general use of virtual water as a water-saving technique in Egypt. It outlines the water scarcity problem and its indicators, supply and demand for water resources in Egypt, and water scarcity forces in Egypt. Going to virtual water in economic ideas history, the definitions of virtual water and water footprint, then virtual water as an analytical instrument and a political strategy. Finally, water saving from virtual water trade and its advantages and disadvantages in Egypt. In order to follow the introduction of the virtual water definition in the national water management policy of Egypt, A clear vision and understanding of its advantages and disadvantages according to the conditions of Egypt is required. Further analysis and a thorough understanding of the impacts and experiences on the local social, economic, environmental, cultural, natural and political situation is needed for this new definition as a policy choice in Egypt.

Virtual Water and Its Share in Per-capita Water Availability (Case Study of Ethiopia)

Today, the security, stability and environmental sustainability of developing nations are threatened by the growing global water crisis. This crisis is partly due to water governance. Improving water infrastructure must be a priority, as water conservation and efficiency are key components of sustainable water management. The idea of virtual water import/export as a method to ease the pressure on the available domestic water resources is a concern for sustainable water management. This concept of virtual water further extends the scope of water resources management beyond the boundary of natural watershed. Since the water use of a given watershed can be influenced by water use outside of the watershed through virtual water transfers, it is not sufficient to confine the water resources management to the basin or catchment scale. The role of virtual water in bridging the gap between supply and demand of water is underestimated. Although invisible, the importance of ‘virtual water' can be an effective means for water-scarce countries to preserve their domestic water resources. This paper examines the virtual water concepts in relation to per capita water availability taking 2000 to 2015 years as the period of analysis. The results of the study showed that the total exported and imported virtual water in the period of analysis in Ethiopia is 113 billion m³ and 10.9 billion m³ respectively. These values showed that Ethiopia is a net virtual water exporter. The maximum and minimum per-capita water availability during the analysis period was 2590 m³/cap/year and 1740 m³/cap/year respectively. These results indicated no water stress in the period of analysis.

Water productivity simulation for irrigated farmlands in the Brantas River Basin

Simulation of land and water management for the irrigated farmlands has become an interest to answer how agricultural productivity is related to the water use in a river basin. This research was undertaken in the Brantas River Basin in Indonesia, involving a modelling process with the virtual water concept as a tool to analyze water productivity. The research simulated the agricultural water demand and provided the results of the virtual water content of paddy and maize, based on the available farming land, water availability, cropping pattern and climatological conditions of the respective hydrological years of 1997 and 2011 as a benchmark. After which projections were made based on the low rainfall scenario for the years 2021 to 2025. The research concluded that the presence of excess irrigation in the tropical climates hinders the increase in agricultural productivity, and therefore, the irrigation in the Brantas River Basin needs to be improved by, among others, selecting plants with higher water productivity, developing water-sensitive cropping patterns, and water conveyance savings.

Rethinking the Concept of Virtual Water in the Global Trade Market

Discussions around global trade are starting to consider the water it takes to produce exported goods. Some scientists argue that this approach should take a regional rather than global perspective.

철회논문]Central Asia and Water Conflict : Aral Sea and Kazakhstan

There are conflicting views as to whether water scarcity will lead to cooperation or conflict. The central thesis of this paper is that conflict over water scarcity only becomes likely when it causes an existential threat to a population or state. The study identifies a requirement for a new definition of the most severe levels of water scarcity in response to the concept of virtual water. It proposes a new definition for absolute water scarcity based upon the presence of an existential threat to a population. Using the principles identified from a review of the water conflict debate and the new definition, the article examines two Central Asian case studies to gauge the likelihood of conflict. In the case of the Aral Sea, it concludes that regional geopolitics, assisted by International Organizations should be able to find a compromise. In the case of Kazakhstan’s Ili and Irtysh Rivers, it takes the view that water scarcity, demographics and geopolitics are likely to cause China to export their insecurity to other nations.

Shifting from volume to economic value in virtual water allocation problems: A proposed new framework and methodology

PurposeThe water footprint provided a full methodology to operationalise the virtual water concept (the volume of water used along a supply chain to produce products and services). A key theme in the water footprint literature is the efficient allocation of water resources at the global scale given the feasibility of trading water intensive commodities from water rich to water poor areas: this is an economic problem of resource allocation between alternative and competing demands, albeit with a novel international component. Moreover, given that price signals indicating relative scarcity are usually either absent or distorted for water, it is also a problem that can be seen through the lens of environmental (or non-market) valuation. However, to date environmental valuation has not been used to inform the efficient use and allocation of water within and between the different locations encompassed by international supply chains. MethodsDrawing on an agri-food supply chain framework that we propose in this paper, we begin by conceptualising the economic values that accrue to water consumption (blue and green water) and degradation (grey water) at different points along a supply chain. Based on this conceptualisation, we assess the extent to which it is possible to approximate these economic values by relying on existing secondary data on the shadow value of water in different contexts. The use of secondary data in this way is known as benefit (or value) transfer. To achieve this, 706 unit estimates of the economic value of water are collected, standardised and reviewed encompassing off-stream water applications (agriculture, industry and municipal) and in-stream ecosystem services (waste assimilation, wildlife habitat, recreation, hydrological functions and passive uses). From this, a proposed methodology for valuing virtual water is presented and illustrated using the case study of global durum wheat pasta production. ResultsThe case study shows the total value of the virtual water used to produce one tonne of durum wheat pasta ($212). More importantly, the case study also highlights how variations in economic value between multiple locations where durum wheat is cultivated (Saskatchewan $0.10 m3, Arizona $0.08 m3 and Baja California $0.24 m3) indicate relative water scarcity and thus impact, as well as the potential for a more efficient allocation of virtual water. ConclusionsThe main conclusion from this research is that when geographical disparities in the economic value of water use within a supply chain are accounted for, what was perhaps considered sustainable in volume terms, might not, in fact, represent the optimal allocation. However, future research opportunities highlight the need for additional data collection on the economic value of water in several contexts. This additional data would help the environmental valuation community to undertake a more comprehensive and robust approach to virtual water valuation.This paper is accompanied by the Data in Brief article entitled “Dataset on the in-stream and off-stream economic value of water.”

Virtual Water Flows Embodied in International and Interprovincial Trade of Yellow River Basin: A Multiregional Input-Output Analysis

With the imminent need of regional environmental protection and sustainable economic development, the concept of virtual water is widely used to solve the problem of regional water shortage. In this paper, nine provinces, namely Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), are taken as the research objects. Through the analysis of input-output tables of 30 provinces in China in 2012, the characteristics of virtual water trade in this region are estimated by using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model. The results show that: (1) The YRB had a net inflow of 17.387 billion m³ of virtual water in 2012. In interprovincial trade, other provinces outside the basin export 21.721 billion m³ of virtual water into the basin. In international trade, the basin exports 4334 million m³ of virtual water to the international market. (2) There are different virtual flow paths in the basin. Shanxi net inputs virtual water by interprovincial trade and international trade, while Gansu and Ningxia net output virtual water by interprovincial trade and international trade. The other six provinces all net output virtual water through international trade, and obtain the net input of virtual water from other provinces outside the basin. (3) From the industrial structure of the provinces in the basin, the provinces with a relatively developed economy, such as Shandong and Shanxi, mostly import virtual water in the agricultural sector, while relatively developing provinces, such as Gansu and Ningxia, mostly import virtual water in the industrial sector. In order to sustain the overall high-quality development of the YRB, we propose the virtual water trade method to quantify the net flow of virtual water in each province and suggest the compensation responsibility of the virtual water net inflow area, and the compensation need of the virtual water net outflow area, in order to achieve efficient water resources utilization.