Table Of ContentWater Footprint and Virtual Water Trade in Spain
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND POLICY
Editors:
David Zilberman
Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
Renan Goetz
Department of Economics
University of Girona, Spain
Alberto Garrido
Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences
Technical University of Madrid, Spain
EDITORIAL STATEMENT
There is a growing awareness of the role that natural resources such as water, land, forests
and environmental amenities play in our lives. There are many competing uses for natural
resources, and society is challenged to manage them to improve social well being.
Furthermore, there may be dire consequences to natural resources mismanagement.
Renewable resources such as water, land and the environment are linked, and decisions
made with regard to one may affect the others. Policy and management of natural resources
now require an interdisciplinary approach including natural and social sciences to correctly
address our societal preferences.
This series provides a collection of works containing the most recent findings on economics,
management and policy of renewable biological resources such as water, land, crop
protection, sustainable agriculture, technology, and environmental health. It incorporates
modern thinking and techniques of economics and management. Books in this series will
combine knowledge and models of natural phenomena with economics and managerial
decision frameworks to assess alternative options for managing natural resources and the
environment.
The Series Editors
For other titles published in this series, go to
www.springer.com/series/6360
Alberto Garrido M. Ramón Llamas
●
Consuelo Varela-Ortega Paula Novo
●
Roberto Rodríguez-Casado Maite M. Aldaya
●
Water Footprint and Virtual
Water Trade in Spain
Policy Implications
Alberto Garrido M. Ramón Llamas
Department of Agricultural Economic Universidad Complutense de
and Social Sciences 28040 Madrid
Technical University of Madrid (UPM) Spain
28040 Madrid [email protected]
Spain
[email protected] Paula Novo
Department of Agricultural Economic
Consuelo Varela-Ortega and Social Sciences
Department of Agricultural Economic Technical University of Madrid (UPM)
and Social Sciences 28040 Madrid
Technical University of Madrid (UPM) Spain
28040 Madrid [email protected]
Spain
[email protected] Maite M. Aldaya
University of Twente
Roberto Rodríguez-Casado 7500 AE Enschede
Department of Agricultural Economic Netherlands
and Social Sciences [email protected]
Technical University of Madrid (UPM)
28040 Madrid
Spain
[email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4419-5740-5 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-5741-2
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-5741-2
Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010923233
© La Fundación Marcelino Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y López 2010
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written
permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY
10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection
with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are
not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject
to proprietary rights.
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
To my wife, Beatriz
A.G.
To my colleagues, Ramón Llamas
and Alberto Garrido
C.V.O.
To my parents, Chus and Suso
P.N.
To my parents and brother
R.R.C.
To the co-authors, and in particular
to my mentor, Ramón Llamas
M.M.A.
To Josemaria Escrivá, his example and
writings have been a beacon in my work
M.R.L.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the continuous support of Dr. Rafael
Benjumea, Director of the Fundación Marcelino Botón (FMB) up until the very last
minute the book was sent to press. He has been an inspirational source for our work
and a tough challenger for some of the ideas developed in this book. After numer-
ous lengthy discussions, he eventually began to understand why our contributions
may offer a fresh look into one of the most thoroughly analysed water economies
in the world. Mr. Federico Ysart, Director of the Trends Observatory of the FMB,
was also an active discussant in the process that led to the FMB’s decision to
publish this book. We received constant encouragement and valuable service from
Ms. Esperanza Botella, FMB’s Deputy Director.
The authors would also like to acknowledge Dr. Elena López-Gunn’s generosity
for reading thoroughly Chap. 8 and making valuable suggestions.
Finally, we must also acknowledge Profs. Anthony Allan (Kings College, England),
Mordechai Shechter (Haifa University, Israel) and Arjen Hoekstra (Twente University,
The Netherlands) for reading the first version of the manuscript and participating in a
seminar held in Madrid in October 2008. Part of the value of this book is due to their
critical reading and their valuable comments. Some of its weaknesses were not over-
looked by them, as in fact they were clearly indicated, but we could not sort them out
without delaying more than desired the submission of the volume.
Lastly, we also wish to acknowledge Jon Gurstelle, our Springer editor, for
believing in our project and helping us with the technical (and legal) details in the
publishing stage.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
1.1 General Framework ............................................................................ 1
1.2 Objective ............................................................................................ 4
2 Literature Review ..................................................................................... 7
2.1 The Concept of Virtual Water ............................................................ 7
2.2 The Colours of Water ......................................................................... 8
2.3 International Virtual-Water “Trade” .................................................. 9
2.4 Water Footprint Concept and Its Relation
to Economic Growth .......................................................................... 11
2.4.1 Scale Effects ........................................................................... 13
2.4.2 Sectoral Composition ............................................................. 14
2.4.3 Technological Change ............................................................ 15
3 Methodological Approaches ..................................................................... 17
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 17
3.2 Water-Footprint Calculation ............................................................... 18
3.3 Internal Water Footprint ..................................................................... 18
3.3.1 Crop Water Use ...................................................................... 19
3.3.2 Livestock Water Use .............................................................. 21
3.3.3 Industrial and Urban Water Use ............................................. 22
3.3.4 Virtual-Water “Exports” ......................................................... 22
3.4 External Water Footprint .................................................................... 24
3.4.1 Virtual-Water “Imports” ......................................................... 24
3.5 Virtual-Water “Flow” ......................................................................... 24
3.6 Apparent Productivity of Water and Land ......................................... 25
3.7 Economic Value of Water .................................................................. 25
3.8 An Econometric Approach ................................................................ 29
3.8.1 Explaining Water Productivity by Water Scarcity
and Water Quality .................................................................. 29
3.8.2 Explaining Blue Virtual-Water “Exports”
by Water Scarcity and Water Quality ..................................... 31
3.8.3 Explaining Water Scarcity by Water Quality ......................... 32
ix
x Contents
3.8.4 Exchange Terms of Virtual-Water “Trade” ............................ 33
3.8.5 Water Quality Valuation ......................................................... 33
4 Data and Limitations ................................................................................ 37
4.1 Data sources ....................................................................................... 37
4.2 Limitations ......................................................................................... 39
5 Spain’s Water Footprint ........................................................................... 41
5.1 Agricultural Water Footprint .............................................................. 43
5.1.1 Water Footprint: Irrigation and Water Demand ..................... 45
5.1.2 Economic Aspects of the Water Footprint ............................. 48
5.2 Livestock Water Footprint .................................................................. 53
5.2.1 Livestock Sector’s Water Footprint ........................................ 55
5.2.2 Water Footprint of Animal Feed Production .......................... 57
5.2.3 Economic Aspects of the Water Footprint ............................. 63
5.3 Industrial Water Footprint .................................................................. 64
5.3.1 Water Footprint ...................................................................... 65
5.3.2 Economic Water Footprint ..................................................... 67
5.4 Urban Water Footprint ....................................................................... 67
5.4.1 Water Footprint ...................................................................... 67
5.5 The River Basin Scale: The Water Footprint of the Guadiana ........... 68
5.5.1 Guadiana Water Footprint ...................................................... 68
5.5.2 Agricultural Water Footprint in the Guadiana Basin ............. 70
5.5.3 Water Footprint of Irrigated Crops (m3/ton) .......................... 70
5.5.4 Economic Aspects of the Water Footprint ............................. 74
6 Net Virtual-Water “Flows” ...................................................................... 77
6.1 Virtual-Water “Imports” ..................................................................... 79
6.1.1 Major Crop-Related Virtual-Water “Imports” ....................... 80
6.1.2 Economic Valuation of Virtual-Water “Imports” ................... 81
6.2 Virtual-Water “Exports” ..................................................................... 83
6.2.1 Virtual-Water “Trade” ............................................................ 87
6.2.2 Economic Virtual-Water “Trade” ........................................... 88
6.3 Virtual-Water “Trade” Within the Guadiana Basin:
The Regional Scale ............................................................................ 90
7 Bringing the Analysis to the Policy Context ........................................... 95
7.1 Changes in Land Productivity ............................................................ 96
7.1.1 The Ebro Basin ...................................................................... 97
7.1.2 The Duero Basin .................................................................... 97
7.1.3 The Guadalquivir Basin ......................................................... 100
7.1.4 The Júcar Basin ...................................................................... 100
7.1.5 The Tagus Basin ..................................................................... 102
7.1.6 The Guadiana Basin ............................................................... 102
7.1.7 The Sur and Segura Basins .................................................... 102
Contents xi
7.2 Water Scarcity, Allocation and Economic Efficiency ........................ 104
7.3 Water Productivity in Light of Water Scarcity ................................... 112
7.4 Explaining Water Scarcity by Water Quality ..................................... 118
7.5 Virtual-Water “Trade” as an Adaptation to Climate Change ............. 119
7.6 Economic Growth, Water Footprint and Water Exchanges: Can
Growth Be Decoupled from Water Use? ........................................... 121
8 Summary and Conclusions....................................................................... 125
8.1 Virtual Water and Water Footprint of Spain ...................................... 126
8.2 Water Allocation in Light of Virtual Water ........................................ 128
8.3 Re-Thinking Water Scarcity Paradigms ............................................. 130
8.4 Lessons Learned at the River Basin Scale: Guadiana
Case Study ......................................................................................... 132
8.5 Lessons Learned and Avenues for Further Research ......................... 134
Glossary .......................................................................................................... 137
References ........................................................................................................ 143
Index ................................................................................................................. 151
