Open AccessAssessment of water footprint for crop production: a case study in North China
Author(s) -
Chunxiao Wang,
Jing Zhao,
Baochuan Tian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.179
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/831/1/012047
Subject(s) - environmental science , footprint , water use , crop , economic shortage , precipitation , mathematics , agricultural engineering , agronomy , geography , biology , meteorology , linguistics , philosophy , government (linguistics) , archaeology , engineering
In this study, green water footprint (GWF), blue water footprint (BWF) and total water footprint (WF) of five crops (i.e., wheat, maize, cotton, groundnut and beans) for ten subareas in North China are calculated. The spatial distribution of GWF, BWF and WF are analysed and results that different crop in different subareas have different GWF, BWF and WF. Due to the uneven precipitation, the contribution of GWF to WF is lower than BWF in winter and higher than BWF in summer. Moreover, cotton has the highest average value of WF (5.3579 m 3 /kg), then beans (1.4266 m 3 /kg), groundnut (1.069 m 3 /kg), wheat (0.7499 m 3 /kg). Maize has the lowest average value of WF (0.5695 m 3 /kg). It is suggested that the cultivated area of maize with the lowest WF should be expanded and the cultivated area of cotton with highest WF should be reduced. The results can help reduce water footprint of crops to ensure food security and alleviate water shortages.