| This work analyses the agricultural water footprint (WF) of production (WFprod,agr)
and consumption (WFcons,agr) as well as the resulting net virtual water import
(netVWi,agr) for 365 EU river basins with an area larger than 1000 km2. Apart from total
amounts, also a differentiation between the green, blue and grey components is made.
River basins where the WFcons,agr,tot exceeds WFprod,agr,tot values substantially
(resulting in positive netVWi,agr,tot values), are found along the London-Milan
axis. River basins where the WFprod,agr,totexceeds WFcons,agr,totare found in
Western France, the Iberian Peninsula and the Baltic region. The effect of a healthy
(HEALTHY) and vegetarian (VEG) diet on the WFcons,agr is assessed, as well as resulting
changes in netVWi,agr. For HEALTHY, the WFcons,agr,tot of most river basins
decreases (max 32%), although in the east some basins show an increase. For VEG,
in all but one river basins a reduction (max 46%) in WFcons,agr,tot is observed.
The effect of diets on the WFcons,agrof a river basin has not been carried out so
far. River basins and not administrative borders are the key geographical entity
for water management. Such a comprehensive analysis on the river basin scale is
the first in its kind. Reduced river basin WFcons,agrcan contribute to sustainable
water management both within the EU and outside its borders. They could help to
reduce the dependency of EU consumption on domestic and foreign water resources. |