IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v25y2011i6p1635-1651.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of Virtual Irrigation Water. Application to Water Resources Management in a Mediterranean River Basin

Author

Listed:
  • Pilar Montesinos
  • Emilio Camacho
  • Blanca Campos
  • Juan Rodríguez-Díaz

Abstract

Virtual water, understood as the volume of water needed to produce a good or service, in the context of trade among countries, allows assessing the relative dependency of different countries on imported virtual water. The assessment of virtual water flows in virtual water trade studies is generally carried out at the national level, thus concealing the spatial variability of many countries that comprise a wide range of agro-climatic areas. A finer spatial resolution is needed to apply the virtual water concept with a view to improving local water resources management at the regional or basin scale. This paper presents a more detailed analysis of blue agricultural virtual water at sub-basin scale, which is aggregated to the basin scale for the Guadalquivir River basin in southern Spain. Given that around 80% of the available blue water resources of this region are used in agriculture, improving irrigation water management is of great interest to the basin water resources management. The main objective of this paper is to estimate the virtual irrigation water balance; an important component of the agricultural water footprint that provides additional information to the basin blue water balance and contributes to achieving a more rational and efficient management of basin water resources. Management recommendations focusing on the spatial redistribution of irrigated crops according to both their water efficiency and productivity are proposed with the aim of saving blue water for other purposes such as drought mitigation or environmental flows, among others. In particular, the proposed measures affect irrigated olive trees; the most widespread irrigated crop in this basin. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • Pilar Montesinos & Emilio Camacho & Blanca Campos & Juan Rodríguez-Díaz, 2011. "Analysis of Virtual Irrigation Water. Application to Water Resources Management in a Mediterranean River Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(6), pages 1635-1651, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:25:y:2011:i:6:p:1635-1651
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-010-9765-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-010-9765-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-010-9765-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Md. Islam & Taikan Oki & Shinjiro Kanae & Naota Hanasaki & Yasushi Agata & Kei Yoshimura, 2007. "A grid-based assessment of global water scarcity including virtual water trading," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 19-33, January.
    2. Yang, Hong & Wang, Lei & Zehnder, Alexander J.B., 2007. "Water scarcity and food trade in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5-6), pages 585-605.
    3. S. Brown & H. Schreier & L. Lavkulich, 2009. "Incorporating Virtual Water into Water Management: A British Columbia Example," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(13), pages 2681-2696, October.
    4. Yang, Hong & Zehnder, Alexander J. B., 2002. "Water Scarcity and Food Import: A Case Study for Southern Mediterranean Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1413-1430, August.
    5. Maite Aldaya & Pedro Martínez-Santos & M. Llamas, 2010. "Incorporating the Water Footprint and Virtual Water into Policy: Reflections from the Mancha Occidental Region, Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(5), pages 941-958, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lozano, David & Ruiz, Natividad & Gavilán, Pedro, 2016. "Consumptive water use and irrigation performance of strawberries," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 44-51.
    2. José Sánchez & Juan Reca & Juan Martínez, 2015. "Water Productivity in a Mediterranean Semi-Arid Greenhouse District," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 5395-5411, November.
    3. J. Rodríguez Díaz & P. Montesinos & E. Poyato, 2012. "Detecting Critical Points in On-Demand Irrigation Pressurized Networks – A New Methodology," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(6), pages 1693-1713, April.
    4. 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.
    5. Fernández García, I. & Rodríguez Díaz, J.A. & Camacho Poyato, E. & Montesinos, P. & Berbel, J., 2014. "Effects of modernization and medium term perspectives on water and energy use in irrigation districts," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 56-63.
    6. Guadalupe Azuara García & Efrén Palacios Rosas & Alfonso García-Ferrer & Pilar Montesinos Barrios, 2017. "Multi-Objective Spatial Optimization: Sustainable Land Use Allocation at Sub-Regional Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-21, June.
    7. P. Oel & A. Hoekstra, 2012. "Towards Quantification of the Water Footprint of Paper: A First Estimate of its Consumptive Component," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(3), pages 733-749, February.
    8. Dong Yan & Zhiwei Jia & Jie Xue & Huaiwei Sun & Dongwei Gui & Yi Liu & Xiaofan Zeng, 2018. "Inter-Regional Coordination to Improve Equality in the Agricultural Virtual Water Trade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Flores Cayuela, Carmen M. & González Perea, Rafael & Camacho Poyato, Emilio & Montesinos, Pilar, 2022. "An ICT-based decision support system for precision irrigation management in outdoor orange and greenhouse tomato crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    10. Taleb Abu-Sharar & Emad Al-Karablieh & Munther Haddadin, 2012. "Role of Virtual Water in Optimizing Water Resources Management in Jordan," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(14), pages 3977-3993, November.
    11. Xinchun Cao & Pute Wu & Yubao Wang & Xining Zhao, 2014. "Water Footprint of Grain Product in Irrigated Farmland of China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(8), pages 2213-2227, June.
    12. Najihah Dor & Syafalni Syafalni & Ismail Abustan & Mohd Rahman & Mohd Nazri & Roslanzairi Mostafa & Lakam Mejus, 2011. "Verification of Surface-Groundwater Connectivity in an Irrigation Canal Using Geophysical, Water Balance and Stable Isotope Approaches," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(11), pages 2837-2853, September.
    13. Ali Azarnivand & Mohammad Ebrahim Banihabib, 2017. "A Multi-level Strategic Group Decision Making for Understanding and Analysis of Sustainable Watershed Planning in Response to Environmental Perplexities," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 629-648, May.
    14. S. Sun & P. Wu & Y. Wang & X. Zhao, 2013. "Temporal Variability of Water Footprint for Maize Production: The Case of Beijing from 1978 to 2008," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 2447-2463, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Dennis Wichelns, 2010. "Virtual Water: A Helpful Perspective, but not a Sufficient Policy Criterion," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(10), pages 2203-2219, August.
    3. Alaa El-Sadek, 2010. "Virtual Water Trade as a Solution for Water Scarcity in Egypt," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(11), pages 2437-2448, September.
    4. Taleb Abu-Sharar & Emad Al-Karablieh & Munther Haddadin, 2012. "Role of Virtual Water in Optimizing Water Resources Management in Jordan," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(14), pages 3977-3993, November.
    5. Demetrios E. Tsesmelis & Christos A. Karavitis & Panagiotis D. Oikonomou & Stavros Alexandris & Constantinos Kosmas, 2018. "Assessment of the Vulnerability to Drought and Desertification Characteristics Using the Standardized Drought Vulnerability Index (SDVI) and the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Index (ESAI)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Esther Velázquez & Cristina Madrid & María Beltrán, 2011. "Rethinking the Concepts of Virtual Water and Water Footprint in Relation to the Production–Consumption Binomial and the Water–Energy Nexus," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(2), pages 743-761, January.
    7. Shifeng Fang & Huan Pei & Zhihui Liu & Keith Beven & Zhaocai Wei, 2010. "Water Resources Assessment and Regional Virtual Water Potential in the Turpan Basin, China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(13), pages 3321-3332, October.
    8. Niemeyer, Insa & Garrido, Alberto, 2011. "Latin American Agricultural Trade: The Role of the WTO in Sustainable Virtual Water Flows," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114615, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Anastasia B. Likhacheva & Igor A. Makarov, 2014. "The Virtual Water Of Siberia And The Russian Far East For The Asia-Pacific Region: Global Gains Vs Regional Sustainability," HSE Working papers WP BRP 10/IR/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Castro Campos, Bente & Ren, Yanjun & Loy, Jens-Peter, 2020. "Scarce water resources and cereal import dependency: The role of integrated water resources management," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(6).
    11. 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.
    12. Rosa Duarte & Vicente Pinilla & Ana Serrano, 2015. "Global water in a global world a long term study on agricultural virtual water flows in the world," Documentos de Trabajo dt2015-03, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
    13. Mompremier, R. & Her, Y. & Hoogenboom, G. & Migliaccio, K. & Muñoz-Carpena, R. & Brym, Z. & Colbert, R.W. & Jeune, W., 2021. "Modeling the response of dry bean yield to irrigation water availability controlled by watershed hydrology," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    14. Pardo, J.J. & Martínez-Romero, A. & Léllis, B.C. & Tarjuelo, J.M. & Domínguez, A., 2020. "Effect of the optimized regulated deficit irrigation methodology on water use in barley under semiarid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    15. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    16. Hanfei Wu & Ruochen Jin & Ao Liu & Shiyun Jiang & Li Chai, 2022. "Savings and Losses of Scarce Virtual Water in the International Trade of Wheat, Maize, and Rice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-12, March.
    17. Rachit Saxena & Sai Kranthi Vanga & Jin Wang & Valérie Orsat & Vijaya Raghavan, 2018. "Millets for Food Security in the Context of Climate Change: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-31, June.
    18. Andrew J. Wiltshire & Gillian Kay & Jemma L. Gornall & Richard A. Betts, 2013. "The Impact of Climate, CO 2 and Population on Regional Food and Water Resources in the 2050s," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-23, May.
    19. Tomaz, Alexandra & Palma, José Ferro & Ramos, Tiago & Costa, Maria Natividade & Rosa, Elizabete & Santos, Marta & Boteta, Luís & Dôres, José & Patanita, Manuel, 2021. "Yield, technological quality and water footprints of wheat under Mediterranean climate conditions: A field experiment to evaluate the effects of irrigation and nitrogen fertilization strategies," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    20. Marta Antonelli & Martina Sartori, 2014. "Unfolding the Potential of the Virtual Water Concept. What is still under debate?," IEFE Working Papers 74, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.

    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:spr:waterr:v:25:y:2011:i:6:p:1635-1651. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.