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The Water Footprint of India

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The Water Footprint of India The water footprint of India Doeke Kampman The water footprint of India A study on water use in relation to the consumption of agricultural goods in the Indian states Master thesis Date: April 2007 Author: D.A. Kampman Email: [email protected] Graduation committee: Prof. Dr. Ir. A.Y. Hoekstra (University of Twente) Dr. Ir. M.S. Krol (University of Twente) “As I travel around the world, people think the only place where there is potential conflict over water is the Middle East, but they are completely wrong. We have the problem all over the world. “ (Koffi Annan) “When the well is dry, we learn the value of water” (Benjamin Franklin) Preface The completion of this study means the completion of the Master course Civil Engineering & Management at the University of Twente. I started with the execution of this study in May 2006. After a good start, I got stuck on the many decisional crossroads this subject has to offer and I slowly realised that this study might not shake up the world as much as I had hoped. However, after making some rough decisions, I began to see the light and things started to fall into place. In the last period of this study, I have tried hard to write a comprehensible report on the subject, including a relevant link to the Indian society. And although there is still room for improvements, I am very satisfied with the current result. I would like to thank a number of people without whom this result would not have been possible. First of all, I would like to thank the members of my graduation committee. I would like to thank Arjen Hoekstra for his advice, criticism and ideas, for helping me with the overall direction of the study and for offering me a look in the interesting kitchen of multidisciplinary water management. I would like to thank Maarten Krol for his profound analysis of my concept reports, which undoubtedly increased the scientific value of the study. I would like to thank both Arjen Hoekstra and Maarten Krol for the pleasant collaboration during the execution of this study. I also would like to thank Ashok Chapagain for his sharing his knowledge on the subject. Next, I would like to thank my colleagues at the graduation chamber for their pleasant company, for the discussions in the coffee corner and for sharing the good times and “de uren van nood en ontbering” with me. I also would like to thank my parents for creating a steady base in this life for me, for their advice and for their ever present support. Finally, I would like to thank Rianne for her love, faith and encouragement. Although from a long distance during the weeks, her support has been immensely important to me. Doeke Kampman Enschede, April 2007 Acknowledgement This study has been executed at the University of Twente under the department of Water Engineering & Management between May 2006 and April 2007. I would like to thank the department of Water Engineering & Management for offering me the necessary facilities during this period. Summary The concept of the water footprint has been developed to create an indicator of water use in relation to the consumption by people. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The water footprint is divided into a blue, a green and a gray component. The blue component refers to the evaporation of groundwater and surface water during the production of a commodity, the green component to the evaporation of rain water for crop growth, and the gray component to the water required to dilute the water pollution that is caused by the production of the commodity to acceptable levels. In the next fifty years, India is projected to face the challenge of feeding a population of 1.6 billion people with a higher level of welfare than at present. The current view of the Indian government on food security is to hold on to the goal of food self sufficiency. Knowing that agriculture is the main consumer of water, the implied increase in food demand will increase the pressure on the renewable water resources. In order to reduce the pressure on renewable water resources, the Indian government is considering the concept of river interlinking as the solution for water scarcity in the drier regions. This concept means that water abundant regions will provide water to water scarce regions through the connection of rivers. Whether the interlinking of rivers will provide enough water to solve the observed and future water deficit and what the side effects of the project will be is still unclear. This study indicates why the water scarce regions have a water deficit. In the period 1997- 2001, the water footprint of the inhabitants of the Indian states varied between 451 and 1357 m3/cap/yr with an average of 777 m 3/cap/yr. Of this average, 658 m 3/cap/yr originated from local water resources and 119 m 3/cap/yr from water resources of other states or other nations. Furthermore, the blue component of the average water footprint came to 227 m 3/cap/yr, the green component to 459 m3/cap/yr and the gray component to 92 m 3/cap/yr. During the study period, the total virtual water flow as a result of interstate trade in agricultural commodities in India was 106 billion m3/yr, which was 13% of the total water use in Indian agriculture. In the same period, the net international export from India was 15 billion m 3/yr. Of the total virtual water flow within India, 35% was due to the interstate trade in milled rice, 17% due the interstate trade in raw sugar and 14% due to the interstate trade in edible oils. The largest interregional net virtual water flow was 22 billion m 3/yr and flowed from North India to East India. As a result of international and interstate virtual water flows, the states Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh had the largest net export of virtual water and Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala had the largest net import of virtual water. The water scarcity from the perspective of consumption is the highest in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. This means that the water resources of these states are closest to be exhausted in case of food self sufficiency. Because most of the states are also net exporters of virtual water, the water scarcity from production perspective is even higher in these states. The total net global water saving as a result of the interstate trade in agricultural commodities in India was 41 billion m 3/yr. This means the total water use in Indian agriculture was 5% lower than it would have been without interstate trade. The interstate trade in wheat alone already caused a global water saving of 23 billion m 3/yr. Looking at the river interlinking project from the perspective of the virtual water flows as calculated in this study, it can be seen that the proposed water transfer from East to North India has a direction exactly opposite to the direction of the virtual water flow as a result of interstate trade. In this study, it is demonstrated that an increase in water productivity in the water abundant states has a better chance of reducing the national water scarcity than the proposed water transfer. The river interlinking project mainly reduces local water scarcity, while water scarcity needs to be reduced significantly at a national level in order to remain food self sufficient as a nation. The only long term option for reducing the national water scarcity and remaining food self sufficient is to increase the water productivity in India. The largest opportunity for this increase lies in East India, where there is an abundance of water and a large increase in water productivity seems possible. Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the study .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 The virtual water concept ......................................................................................... 2 1.3 The water footprint concept ..................................................................................... 2 1.4 The water saving concept ......................................................................................... 3 1.5 Objectives .................................................................................................................... 3 2. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 5 2.1 Overview .................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Calculation of virtual water content ....................................................................... 5 2.2.1 Crop water requirement .................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Green crop water use ......................................................................................... 6 2.2.3 Blue crop water use ............................................................................................ 8 2.2.4 Dilution water requirement .............................................................................. 9 2.2.5 Virtual water content ....................................................................................... 10 2.2.6 Virtual water content of processed products................................................ 10 2.2.7 Water productivity
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