The quality and availability of water are affected by numerous variables, through which the evaluation of water uses from different perspectives, and policy proposals to save water have now become essential. This paper aims to study water use and the water footprint from a river basin perspective, taking into account regions, sectors, and municipalities, while considering the physical frontier along with the administrative sectors. To this end, we have constructed a multi-regional input-output table for the Ebro river basin, disaggregating the primary sector into 18 different crops and 6 livestock groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
July 2015
We construct a multiregional input-output model for Spain, in order to evaluate the pressures on the water resources, virtual water flows, and water footprints of the regions, and the water impact of trade relationships within Spain and abroad. The study is framed with those interregional input-output models constructed to study water flows and impacts of regions in China, Australia, Mexico, or the UK. To build our database, we reconcile regional IO tables, national and regional accountancy of Spain, trade and water data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeeking to advance our knowledge of water flows and footprints and the factors underlying them, we apply, on the basis of an extended 2004 Social Accounting Matrix for Spain, an open Leontief model in which households and foreign trade are the exogenous accounts. The model shows the water embodied in products bought by consumers (which we identify with the Water Footprint) and in trade (identified with virtual water trade). Activities with relevant water inflows and outflows such as the agrarian sector, textiles, and the agri-food industry are examined in detail using breakdowns of the relevant accounts.
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