Introduction:
A water footprint refers to the amount of water that is used by a person or group. The concept captures a wide variety of water uses, such as the production of agricultural products. It can also track the movement of water around the world in the form of the flow of “virtual water,” which incorporates the amount of water contained in the products and commodities that are traded between nations as well as the water it took to produce them. All of the water invested in the production of a shipment of grain, for example, is considered to be its “virtual water”. For certain water-stressed regions of the world, the export of virtual water can be a major concern.
1Hoekstra, A. Y. & Mekonnen, M. M. (2012). «The water footprint of humanity». Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(9): 3232–3237.
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