Virtual water footprint: Accounting for hidden water use and ways to conserve it

PRESENTED BY:

YASH MAURYASPM, PDPU

Virtual water footprint: Accounting for hidden water use and ways to conserve it

Yash Maurya. Has completed a 5 year integrated BS-MS dual degree course, majors in chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, Punjab, India. Currently Yash is a final year student of MBA focused in Oil & Gas industry (Major-Energy and Infrastructure; Minor-Marketing) from School of Petroleum Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (SPM, PDPU), Gujarat, India.  Yash has interned two summers for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL.) 

• Water – Renewable Resource ….. Is it????• Limited in Time and Space• Global volume of water is the same as it was 2,000 years ago• Global growth and water use is increasing significantly

Source – www.wrsc.org

Shrinking Aral Sea

Virtual Water Footprint: making a link between consumption in one place and impacts on water systems elsewhere

• Introduced by “John Anthony Allan “ at King’s College London• Volume of water required to produce a commodity or service – Links

Water, Food and Trade• Not just Direct water ----- also accounts for indirect water• Different from water use• Accounts for

1. Water evaporation;2. Water is incorporated into the product;3. Water not returned to the same catchment area, for

example, it is returned to another catchment area or the sea;4. Water not returned in the same period, for example, it is

withdrawn in a scarce period and returned in a wet period.•

VIRTUAL WATER

• Product = Sum of the water footprints of the process steps (considering the whole production and supply chain). Unit- Volume/unit mass

• Consumer = The sum of the water footprints of all products consumed by the consumer. Unit- water volume per unit mass per capita

• Business = the sum of the water footprints of the final products that the business produces.

• Geographically delineated area (e.g., a municipality, province, state, nation, catchment or river basin) = Sum of the process water footprints of all processes taking place in the area. Unit- water volume/unit time

The Water Footprint of

[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

• dark chocolate: 40% cocoa paste (water footprint 33260 litres/kg); 20% cocoa butter (water footprint 50730 litres/kg); 40% sugar (water footprint 1526 liters/kg)

• 40% 33260 + 20% 50730 + 40% 1526 = 24060 litres/kg = 2400 liters for one 100gr chocolate bar

• Milk chocolate has larger water footprint .(water footprint of milk powder - 4600 liters/kg)

1 egg

1Kg potato

1Kg Maize

1Kg Wheat1Kg Rice

1Kg Chicken1kg Beef

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

217 255909 1334

22913046

15497

Virtual Water (litres) Embedded in Various Foods

Example – an animal Product

Example – Nation

Calculation of Water Footprint

USER INTERFACE OF THE ONLINE WATER FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR

SOURCE: http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=cal/WaterFootprintCalculator.

USER INTERFACE OF THE ONLINE WATER FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR CONTD..

USER INTERFACE OF THE ONLINE WATER FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR CONTD..

IISER, Mohali PDPU, Gandhinagar

Total Water footprint food (m3 per year)

499840 2141300

Total Water footprint food (Billion litres per year)

0.49984 2.1413

No. of students 640 2300

Water footprint food per student (m3 per year)

781 931

Water footprint food per student (Million litres per year)

0.781 0.931

IISER Mohali vs PDPU Gandhinagar

Assessment of virtual water embedded in major crops of Punjab and Haryana.

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy

Area of India(geographical) : 2.4 % of the world; Total world wheat production contribution : 13% of the world.

Area of Punjab & Haryana(geographical) : 0.067% of the world; Total world wheat production contribution : 4.16% of the world.

Agriculture employs 52% of India labour force but contributes only about 14% of India GDP

Increasing no. of Indian farmers committing sucides.

Major Cropping Systems : Wheat-Rice; Wheat-Cotton; and

Wheat-Maize.

Cropping intensity : 190%

Site description

Place (year) Wheat (MKg) Rice (MKg) Maize (MKg) Cotton (MKg)

Punjab (2012-2013) 17982 11374 475 1627

Punjab (2013-2014) 16591 10815 562 1635

Haryana (2012-2013) 13069 3745 19 2373

Haryana (2013-2014) 11117 3536 21 2314

Table 1 : Total Crop production for wheat, rice, maize and cotton reported by state government of Punjab and Haryana for two financial years where Mkg (million kilograms). Source : http://nfsm.gov.in/Presentations/ 10NFSMEC/ PUNJAB.ppt?; http://agricoop.nic.in/imagedefault/Rabi2013/Punjab/Punjab.ppt?

Virtual water embedded in major crops of Punjab and Haryana.

WHEAT (LITRES PER KG):- 1,334RICE (LITRES PER KG):- 2,497

MAIZE (LITRES PER KG):- 1,222COTTON (LITRES PER KG):- 10,000

Place (year) Wheat (Blt) Rice (Blt) Maize (Blt) Cotton (Blt)

Punjab (2012-2013) 23988 28401 580 16270

Punjab (2013-2014) 22132 27005 687 16350

Haryana (2012-2013) 17434 9351 23 23730

Haryana (2013-2014) 14830 8829 26 23140

Table 2: Total Virtual water embedded in various crops such as wheat, rice, maize and cotton for Punjab and Haryana for two financial years where Blt (billion litres).

Virtual water embedded in major crops of Punjab and Haryana.

2012-2013 => 119777blt2013-2014=>112999 Blt

Future generation probably at great risk?

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION AT IISER, MOHALI

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Conserve Your Water…. Plan Wisely !!• Shared responsibility of consumers, producers, investors and

governments• Institution Level

• Wise use of grey water• Condensation of steam • Avoid chemicals in agriculture to reduce grey water footprint • Recycling

• Personal level• Cloths, Shoes etc• Consumer side approach• Use organic food• Turn veg• Prefer e-books if you already have a laptop

THANK YOU