IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i12p5298-d1674424.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Water Footprint Assessment of Beef and Dairy Cattle Production in the Regional Unit of Karditsa, Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Anthoula Dota

    (Department of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Vassilios Dotas

    (Department of Animal Production, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Dimitrios Gourdouvelis

    (Department of Animal Production, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Lampros Hatzizisis

    (School of Agriculture, University of Ioannina, 47100 Arta, Greece)

  • George Symeon

    (Research Institute of Animal Science, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, 58100 Giannitsa, Greece)

  • Dimitrios Galamatis

    (School of Animal Science, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larissa, Greece)

  • Nicolaos Theodossiou

    (Department of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract

One of the most important factors affecting water resources is livestock development. This study focuses on estimating the water demands of beef and dairy cattle breeding, as well as the corresponding products, in the Regional Unit of Karditsa (Greece), while simultaneously assessing the pollution caused by this activity in water bodies. The impacts are measured using the water footprint (WF) approach across its three dimensions (green, blue, and gray), considering the quantity of feed and water utilized by each animal type and the production system applied in the research area. For beef production, the intensive system shows a total WF of 90,535 m 3 /ton (gray 88%, green 9%, blue 3%), while the semi-intensive system totals 82,027 m 3 /ton (gray 84%, green 12%, blue 4%). For dairy cows, the total WF reaches 2750 m 3 /year/ton of milk (gray 81%, green 14%, blue 5%). Gray WF was estimated based on pollutant loads from livestock waste using concentration thresholds for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), providing a clearer view of water quality degradation linked to livestock activities. These findings can guide regional directorates in addressing key water-related pressures from livestock production.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthoula Dota & Vassilios Dotas & Dimitrios Gourdouvelis & Lampros Hatzizisis & George Symeon & Dimitrios Galamatis & Nicolaos Theodossiou, 2025. "Water Footprint Assessment of Beef and Dairy Cattle Production in the Regional Unit of Karditsa, Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5298-:d:1674424
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5298/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5298/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5298-:d:1674424. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.