Virtual Water

Going slightly off-topic, I came across an article today about ‘virtual water’ which I found very eye-opening.

The term ‘virtual water’ first came about in 1993 as a way of describing the water used in growing agricultural products. Conveniently and informatively, it links water, food and trade (Allan, 2003).

Virtual water requires us to think outside the box. It isn’t physical water that is traded, but it’s key underlying aspect is that water-stressed nations can import agricultural products (which has water embedded within it) from other nations, instead of growing their own produce and using their scarce and valuable water. This provides a useful benefit in that it can help to prevent conflicts between countries who share TBAs as their reliance on water isn’t as great now that they’re ‘importing’ water (Mauser, 2009).

Furthermore, it requires around 1000m³ to harvest one ton of grain (Allan, 2003). Clearly, a significant amount of water is used in this process and the advantages to importing countries are clear.

As an example, in 1999 Israel and Egypt imported a net of 6.2km³ and 15.3 km³ respectively of virtual water (Hoekstra and Hung, 2002). Egypt and Israel notoriously suffer from water-stress and this went some way to alleviating these problems.

On the flip side, there are of course disadvantages associated with this practice. For example, water-importing countries can become dependent on the countries selling agricultural goods (embedded with water) to them. Typically, water-importing countries tend to be poor and water-exporting countries tend to be rich. This can leave the poor in a potentially vulnerable state where they are extorted by the rich and can often lead to political and economic conflict (Dalin et al., 2012).

References:

Allan, J. (2003). Virtual Water - the Water, Food, and Trade Nexus. Useful Concept or   Misleading Metaphor?. Water International, 28(1), pp.106-113.

Dalin, C., Konar, M., Hanasaki, N., Rinaldo, A. and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. (2012). Evolution of      the global virtual water trade network. Proceedings of the National Academy of       Sciences, 109(16), pp.5989-5994.

Hoekstra, A.Y. and P.Q. Hung. (2002). “Virtual Water Trade: A Quantification of Virtual           Water Flows Between Nations in Relation to International Crop Trade.” Value of Water Research Report Series No 11. Delft, The Netherlands: IHE.

Mauser,W. (2009) Water Resources: Efficient, Sustainable and Equitable Use, London:   Haus Publishing Ltd