A novel partitioning of gross primary production and water use efficiency for sustaining water and food security using Budyko hypothesis.

This study coupled the green water and blue water accounting with the existing standard Budyko framework and Fu's 1-parameter Budyko framework to diagnose the basin hydrological behavior. Both Budyko frameworks were employed to determine green water consumption (ETGreen) and blue water consumption (ETBlue) which, in turn, were used to map the blue water index (BWI) hotspots and green water index (GWI) bright spots. The relative contributions of green water and blue water were quantified for sustaining water and food security. A new methodology is proposed using BWI and GWI for partitioning the Gross Primary Production (GPP) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) into GPPBlue, GPPGreen and WUEBlue and WUEGreen. The methodology was applied to five sub-basins of the Central Godavari River Basin (CGRB): Purna, Dhalegaon, GR Bridge, Yeli and Delta. Results showed that all five basins exhibited larger deviations from the theoretical Budyko curve of Fu's 1-parameter Budyko framework than did the standard Budyko framework and the Dhalegaon basin showed the largest deviations. The partitioning of GPP and WUE by the proposed methodology showed that the proportion of GPPGreen to the total GPP was much higher than that of the GPPBlue. Similarly, the proportion of WUEGreen to WUE was more than that of WUEBlue. The mapping of GPPBlue and GPPGreen, and WUEBlue and WUEGreen showed that the Delta and Yeli basins had the highest values of both GPPGreen & GPPBlue and WUEBlue and WUEGreen (bright spot basins) and the Dhalegaon and parts of GR Bridge basin had the lowest values (hot spot basins). The proposed partitioning of GPP and WUE will help identify the relative contributions of green water and blue water (for managing agricultural waters) and formulate agronomical and engineering practices for stakeholders and policy makers for increasing the overall WUE and GPP to sustain water and food security.

Irrigation area, efficiency and water storage mediate the drought resilience of irrigated agriculture in a semi-arid catchment.

We examined the effects of hydrological variables such as irrigation area, irrigation efficiency and water storage on the resilience of (mostly commercial) irrigated agriculture to drought in a semi-arid catchment in South Africa. We formulated a conceptual framework termed 'Water, Efficiency, Resilience, Drought' (WERD) and an accompanying spreadsheet model. These allow the resilience of irrigated agriculture to drought to be analysed via water accounts and a key resilience indicator termed Days to Day Zero (DDZ). This represents the number of days that a pre- and within-drought supply of catchment water available to irrigation is withdrawn down to zero in the face of a prolonged drought. A higher DDZ (e.g. >300 days) indicates greater resilience whilst a lower DDZ (e.g. <150 days) signals lower resilience. Drought resilience arises through land and water management decisions underpinned by four types of resilience capacities; absorptive, adaptive, anticipative and transformative. For the case study, analyses showed that irrigators, with currently approximately 23,000 ha under irrigation, have historically absorbed and adapted to drought events through construction of water storage and adoption of more efficient irrigation practices resulting in a DDZ of 260 days. However, by not fully anticipating future climate and water-related risks, irrigators are arguably on a maladaptive pathway resulting in water supply gains, efficiency and other practices being used to increase irrigation command areas to 28,000 ha or more, decreasing their capacity to absorb future droughts. This areal growth increases water withdrawals and depletion, further stresses the catchment, and reduces future DDZs to approximately 130 days indicating much lower drought resilience. Our approach, supported by supplementary material, allows stakeholders to understand the resilience consequences of future drought in order to; reconcile competition between rising water demands, consider new water storage; improve agricultural and irrigation planning; and enhance catchment governance.

An exploration of circular water management accountability: A case from Indonesia.

Purpose: Palm oil is the leading commodity of the plantation sub-sector in Indonesia, providing a tremendous economic impact for the people and the government. However, the development of oil palm plantations raises the issue of environmental damage because oil palms use large quantities of water. The purpose of this study is to explore circular water management accountability practices through disclosures issued by each company and the effectiveness of water management voluntary disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards on increasing stakeholder trust and reducing information asymmetry. Design/methodology/approach: This study used secondary data collected from reports published by plantation sub-sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and accessible online. Analysis was performed using the method of Miles and Huberman (1992): data reduction, data presentation, conclusion drawing, and verification. Data reduction was conducted by identifying plantation sub-sector companies that reported water management practices consecutively from 2018 to 2020 and seeking all disclosures related to water management and circular water management practices with 3R indicators. Data presentation was carried out by presenting findings from circular water management disclosures and comparing inter-year circular water management accountability practices to examine reporting routines. Finally, conclusions were drawn and verified. Findings: The results of this study show that only six of the 20 plantation sub-sector companies reported circular water management with 3R indicators for three consecutive years (2018-2020). Two of these six companies attached GRI index references to their reports consisting of GRI 303 (Water and Effluents) and GRI 306 (Waste), while the other four did not. In addition, water management voluntary disclosure under the GRI standards was shown to increase stakeholder trust and reduce information asymmetry. Originality/value: This study raises the concepts of water accounting and circular water management accountability practices in plantation sub-sector companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

Comprehensive Water Footprint of a University Campus in Colombia: Impact of Wastewater Treatment Modeling.

Protection of water resources implies the responsible consumption, and the return of this resource with the best physicochemical conditions. In organizations, water is consumed both directly in their facilities and indirectly in the products or services acquired for their operation, requiring a water accounting based on the life cycle perspective. This study aims to assess the comprehensive water footprint of the main campus of the Technological University of Pereira (Colombia), based on the ISO 14046:2014 standard, and analyze the influence of wastewater treatment. Impacts on water scarcity were evaluated using the AWARE method, while the impacts on human health and ecosystems were evaluated using the ReCiPe method. Specific modeling of the wastewater treatment plants on campus was conducted. A total of 102,670 m3.y-1 of water scarcity was accounted for. Water consumption per person was 17.8 m3 of which 86.2% corresponded to indirect activities. Similarly, indirect activities were responsible for more than 98% of the impacts on human health and ecosystems, where more than 95% were due to infrastructure construction and 2% due to electricity consumption. Although the wastewater treatment on campus reduced the impact on ecosystems by 14%, if a tertiary treatment was added, these impacts would have a 40% of additional reduction. Efforts in recycling programs were also quantified in 712 m3 of avoided water scarcity for secondary users. The findings suggest focusing actions on sustainable construction and purchases to improve water management in organizations.

Moisture recycling and the potential role of forests as moisture source during European heatwaves.

Heatwaves are extreme weather events that have become more frequent and intense in Europe over the past decades. Heatwaves are often coupled to droughts. The combination of them lead to severe ecological and socio-economic impacts. Heatwaves can self-amplify through internal climatic feedback that reduces local precipitation. Understanding the terrestrial sources of local precipitation during heatwaves might help identify mitigation strategies on land management and change that alleviate impacts. Moisture recycling of local water sources through evaporation allows a region to maintain precipitation in the same region or, by being transported by winds, in adjacent regions. To understand the role of terrestrial moisture sources for sustaining precipitation during heatwaves, we backtrack and analyse the precipitation sources of Northern, Western, and Southern sub-regions across Europe during 20 heatwave periods between 1979 and 2018 using the moisture tracking model Water Accounting Model-2layers (WAM-2layers). In Northern and Western Europe, we find that stabilizing anticyclonic patterns reduce the climatological westerly supply of moisture, mainly from the North Atlantic Ocean, and enhances the moisture flow from the eastern Euro-Asian continent and from within their own regions-suggesting over 10% shift of moisture supply from oceanic to terrestrial sources. In Southern Europe, limited local moisture sources result in a dramatic decrease in the local moisture recycling rate. Forests uniformly supply additional moisture to all regions during heatwaves and thus contribute to buffer local impacts. This study suggests that terrestrial moisture sources, especially forests, may potentially be important to mitigate moisture scarcity during heatwaves in Europe. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00382-021-05921-7.

The need for monetary information within corporate water accounting.

A conceptual discussion is provided about the need to add monetary data to water accounting initiatives and how best to achieve this if companies are to become aware of the water crisis and to take actions to improve water management. Analysis of current water accounting initiatives reveals the monetary business case for companies to improve water management is rarely considered, there being a focus on physical information about water use. Three possibilities emerge for mainstreaming the integration of monetization into water accounting: add-on to existing water accounting frameworks and tools, develop new tools which include physical and monetary information from the start, and develop environmental management accounting (EMA) into a water-specific application and set of tools. The paper appraises these three alternatives and concludes that development of EMA would be the best way forward. Suggestions for further research include the need to examine the use of a transdisciplinary method to address the complexities of water accounting.