Virtual water is an accounting method that tracks the amount of water used in the production of goods and services. It considers both direct water use and indirect water used throughout the supply chain. The presenter discusses virtual water footprints of various foods and crops grown in India like wheat, rice, cotton and more. High water footprints were calculated for crops grown in Punjab and Haryana. The presenter recommends various solutions at personal and institutional levels to conserve water like reducing, reusing and recycling of water.

1. Virtual water footprint:
Accounting for hidden water use and ways to conserve it
PRESENTED BY:
YASH MAURYA
SPM, PDPU

2. Virtual water footprint:
Accounting for hidden water use and ways to conserve it
Yash Maurya. Has completed a 5 year integrated BS-MS dual degree course, majors in
chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, Punjab,
India. Currently Yash is a final year student of MBA focused in Oil & Gas industry (Major-
Energy and Infrastructure; Minor-Marketing) from School of Petroleum Management, Pandit
Deendayal Petroleum University (SPM, PDPU), Gujarat, India. Yash has interned two
summers for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL.)

3. • Water – Renewable Resource ….. Is it????
• Limited in Time and Space
• Global volume of water is the same as it was 2,000 years ago
• Global growth and water use is increasing significantly
Source – www.wrsc.org

4. Shrinking Aral Sea
Virtual Water Footprint: making a link between consumption in one place
and impacts on water systems elsewhere

5. • Introduced by “John Anthony Allan “ at King’s College London
• Volume of water required to produce a commodity or service – Links
Water, Food and Trade
• Not just Direct water ----- also accounts for indirect water
• Different from water use
• Accounts for
1. Water evaporation;
2. Water is incorporated into the product;
3. Water not returned to the same catchment area, for example, it
is returned to another catchment area or the sea;
4. Water not returned in the same period, for example, it is
withdrawn in a scarce period and returned in a wet period.
•
VIRTUAL WATER

6. • Product = Sum of the water footprints of the process steps (considering the
whole production and supply chain). Unit- Volume/unit mass
• Consumer = The sum of the water footprints of all products consumed by
the consumer. Unit- water volume per unit mass per capita
• Business = the sum of the water footprints of the final products that the
business produces.
• Geographically delineated area (e.g., a municipality, province, state, nation,
catchment or river basin) = Sum of the process water footprints of all
processes taking place in the area. Unit- water volume/unit time
The Water Footprint of

7. [Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

8. [Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

11. • dark chocolate: 40% cocoa paste (water footprint 33260 litres/kg); 20% cocoa butter (water
footprint 50730 litres/kg); 40% sugar (water footprint 1526 liters/kg)
• 40% 33260 + 20% 50730 + 40% 1526 = 24060 litres/kg = 2400 liters for one 100gr chocolate
bar
• Milk chocolate has larger water footprint .(water footprint of milk powder - 4600 liters/kg)

12. 0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
217 255
909 1334
2291
3046
15497
Virtual Water (litres) Embedded in Various Foods

13. Example – an animal Product
Example – Nation
Calculation of Water Footprint

14. USER INTERFACE OF THE ONLINE WATER
FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR
SOURCE: http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=cal/WaterFootprintCalculator.

15. USER INTERFACE OF THE ONLINE WATER
FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR CONTD..

16. USER INTERFACE OF THE ONLINE WATER
FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR CONTD..

17. IISER, Mohali PDPU, Gandhinagar
Total Water footprint food (m3 per
year)
499840 2141300
Total Water footprint food (Billion
litres per year)
0.49984 2.1413
No. of students 640 2300
Water footprint food per student (m3
per year)
781 931
Water footprint food per student
(Million litres per year)
0.781 0.931
IISER Mohali vs PDPU Gandhinagar

19. Assessment of virtual water embedded in major crops
of Punjab and Haryana.
Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy
Area of India(geographical) : 2.4 % of the world; Total world wheat production
contribution : 13% of the world.
Area of Punjab & Haryana(geographical) : 0.067% of the world; Total world wheat
production contribution : 4.16% of the world.
Agriculture employs 52% of India labour force but contributes only about 14% of India
GDP
Increasing no. of Indian farmers committing sucides.
Major Cropping Systems : Wheat-Rice;
Wheat-Cotton; and
Wheat-Maize.
 Cropping intensity : 190%

20. Site description

21. Place (year) Wheat (MKg) Rice (MKg) Maize (MKg) Cotton (MKg)
Punjab (2012-2013) 17982 11374 475 1627
Punjab (2013-2014) 16591 10815 562 1635
Haryana (2012-2013) 13069 3745 19 2373
Haryana (2013-2014) 11117 3536 21 2314
Table 1 : Total Crop production for wheat, rice, maize and cotton reported by state government of Punjab and
Haryana for two financial years where Mkg (million kilograms). Source : http://nfsm.gov.in/Presentations/ 10NFSMEC/
PUNJAB.ppt?; http://agricoop.nic.in/imagedefault/Rabi2013/Punjab/Punjab.ppt?
Virtual water embedded in major crops of Punjab and Haryana.
WHEAT (LITRES PER KG):- 1,334
RICE (LITRES PER KG):- 2,497
MAIZE (LITRES PER KG):- 1,222
COTTON (LITRES PER KG):- 10,000

22. Place (year) Wheat (Blt) Rice (Blt) Maize (Blt) Cotton (Blt)
Punjab (2012-2013) 23988 28401 580 16270
Punjab (2013-2014) 22132 27005 687 16350
Haryana (2012-2013) 17434 9351 23 23730
Haryana (2013-2014) 14830 8829 26 23140
Table 2: Total Virtual water embedded in various crops such as wheat, rice, maize and cotton for Punjab and Haryana
for two financial years where Blt (billion litres).
Virtual water embedded in major crops of Punjab and Haryana.
2012-2013 => 119777blt
2013-2014=>112999 Blt
Future generation probably at great risk?

24. RECOMMENDED SOLUTION AT IISER, MOHALI

25. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conserve Your Water…. Plan Wisely !!
• Shared responsibility of consumers, producers, investors and
governments
• Institution Level
• Wise use of grey water
• Condensation of steam
• Avoid chemicals in agriculture to reduce grey water footprint
• Recycling
• Personal level
• Cloths, Shoes etc
• Consumer side approach
• Use organic food
• Turn veg
• Prefer e-books if you already have a laptop