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The water needed for Italians to eat pasta and pizza

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  • Aldaya, M.M.
  • Hoekstra, A.Y.

Abstract

Water resources use in agriculture is generally quantified in relation to the harvest. In contrast, this paper takes a consumer perspective by assessing water use in relation to the final consumer product. The paper analyses the water use related to two products that are typical to Italian consumers: pasta and pizza margherita. We use the water footprint concept as a tool to quantify and localise this water use. The water footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured over the various steps of the production chain. We find that the water footprint of dry pasta made in Italy amounts to 1924Â l of water per kilogram of pasta. The water footprint of a 725Â g pizza margherita is 1216Â l of water. The impacts of the water footprints of pasta and pizza depend on the vulnerability of the water systems where the footprints are located. The impact of the water footprint of pasta is most severe in Puglia and Sicily, where groundwater overexploitation for durum wheat irrigation is common. The impact of the water footprint of pizza is more diverse. It is concentrated in the first step of the supply chain of tomato puree and mozzarella, i.e. in the cultivation of tomatoes and the feed crops of dairy cows. The bread wheat used for the pizza base does not have large impacts. The water footprint impact of the tomato puree on the pizza is concentrated in Puglia (groundwater overexploitation and pollution related to tomato cultivation) and Emilia-Romagna (water pollution). The water footprint impact of mozzarella lies mostly in the effects of water use for producing the feed ingredients for the dairy cows. Mozzarella production further poses a potential threat to water quality, mostly in the Po valley, but this problem seems to be properly regulated, although possibly not fully controlled.

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  • Aldaya, M.M. & Hoekstra, A.Y., 2010. "The water needed for Italians to eat pasta and pizza," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 351-360, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:103:y:2010:i:6:p:351-360
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    2. Ignacio Cazcarro & Rosa Duarte & Miguel Martín-Retortillo & Vicente Pinilla & Ana Serrano, 2015. "How Sustainable is the Increase in the Water Footprint of the Spanish Agricultural Sector? A Provincial Analysis between 1955 and 2005–2010," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-26, April.
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    5. Mason, Brooke & Rufí-Salís, Martí & Parada, Felipe & Gabarrell, Xavier & Gruden, Cyndee, 2019. "Intelligent urban irrigation systems: Saving water and maintaining crop yields," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    6. Bocchiola, D. & Nana, E. & Soncini, A., 2013. "Impact of climate change scenarios on crop yield and water footprint of maize in the Po valley of Italy," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 50-61.
    7. Bodini Antonio & Chiussi Sara & Donati Michele & Bellassen Valentin & Török Áron & Dries Lisbeth & Ćorić Dubravka Sinčić & Gauvrit Lisa & Tsakiridou Efthimia & Majewski Edward & Ristic Bojan & Stojano, 2021. "Water Footprint of Food Quality Schemes," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 145-160, December.
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    11. Alexandros Gkatsikos & Konstadinos Mattas & Efstratios Loizou & Dimitrios Psaltopoulos, 2022. "The Neglected Water Rebound Effect of Income and Employment Growth," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(1), pages 379-398, January.
    12. Mehdi Sheikh Goodarzi & Shabnam Navardi, 2017. "An Overview On Water Footprint Appraisal Process," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 3(2), pages 22-27, June.
    13. Lowe, Benjamin H. & Oglethorpe, David R. & Choudhary, Sonal, 2020. "Comparing the economic value of virtual water with volumetric and stress-weighted approaches: A case for the tea supply chain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    14. Giacomo Blasi & Angelo Caruso & Elena Vigan?, 2016. "Progettazione partecipata di una mensa scolastica sostenibile mediante lo sviluppo di un Business Model Canvas," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 18(3), pages 319-344.
    15. Kaisheng Luo & Fulu Tao & Juana P. Moiwo, 2018. "Transfer of Virtual Water of Woody Forest Products from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, February.
    16. Joana Almeida & Wouter M.J. Achten & Bruno Verbist & Reindert F. Heuts & Eddie Schrevens & Bart Muys, 2014. "Carbon and Water Footprints and Energy Use of Greenhouse Tomato Production in Northern Italy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 18(6), pages 898-908, December.
    17. María Jesús Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2011. "Del metabolismo social al metabolismo hídrico," Documentos de Trabajo de la Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España 01_2011, Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España.
    18. Marta Antonelli & Luca Fernando Ruini, 2015. "Business Engagement with Sustainable Water Resource Management through Water Footprint Accounting: The Case of the Barilla Company," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-17, May.
    19. Maria J. Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2015. "The Political Ecology of Virtual Water in Southern Spain," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1020-1036, September.
    20. Zonderland-Thomassen, M.A. & Ledgard, S.F., 2012. "Water footprinting – A comparison of methods using New Zealand dairy farming as a case study," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 30-40.
    21. Yue Zhang & Kai Huang & Yajuan Yu & Tingting Hu & Jing Wei, 2015. "Impact of climate change and drought regime on water footprint of crop production: the case of Lake Dianchi Basin, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(1), pages 549-566, October.
    22. Lucia Irene Flores Lopez & Carlos Bautista-Capetillo, 2015. "Green and Blue Water Footprint Accounting for Dry Beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) in Primary Region of Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-16, March.
    23. Hamidreza Manshadi & Mohammad Niksokhan & Mojtaba Ardestani, 2015. "A Quantity-Quality Model for Inter-basin Water Transfer System Using Game Theoretic and Virtual Water Approaches," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(13), pages 4573-4588, October.
    24. Ababaei, Behnam & Ramezani Etedali, Hadi, 2017. "Water footprint assessment of main cereals in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 401-411.

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