Agricultural Water Footprint: A Way Forward for Water Conservation and Management

Abstract

Over the years, increasing population, growing industrialization, expanding agriculture and rising standards of living have pushed up the demand for water ill India. Besides (he obviolls implicatiolls on [he ellvirOllmem and the community. water scarcity will also generate important problems for Indian economies as the largest share of water consumption in India is lIsed for food production. Limited water availability may lead 10 insufficient production of food, which may lead 10 food insecurity and malnutrition. From both the public and private sectors different initiatives have been launched to prevent alld lO mitigate water scarcity, emphasizing the priority to move towards a water-efficielll and water-saving economy. Virtual Water (VW) and Water Footprint (WF) are two useful indicators to deal with water scarcity. The first one from the perspective of production; whereas the second one fivm the perspective of consumption. Water footprint is an emerging concept in the area of water conservation and management as it presents a wider perspective on how a consumer or producer relates to the use a/water resources. It is defined as the lOtal amount ofwatel; external and internal, that is required for the production of a good or a sen 1ice. The paper discusses the concept of waferfoorprillt and virtllal water with the detailed methodology for estimating the agricultural water footprilll alld its difJerem componellls. The paper also summarizes the agricultural WF alld virtual water of NCT-Delhi which call facilitate the water resources planner and mangers/or effective conservation and management practices. This will help in evaluating drought IOlerance, water use efficiellcy, effective use o/rain/all, and the significance o/irrigatioll.