Water footprint assessment within a catchment: a case study for upper tigris river basin

Substantial amount of world’s population experiences severe water scarcity problems. The water scarcity related threats on food security, human health and natural ecosystem are estimated to increase in the future, due to unconscious use and overutilization of water resources. Water footprint assessment studies at basin level are very important and provide a key role for sustainable development of freshwater resources especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, comprehensive studies on water footprint assessment of river basins are quite limited due to requirement of wide-range of statistical data. The main scope of this study is to analyze the blue and green water footprint of Upper Tigris River Basin (UTRB, Turkey) with a bottom-up approach for the years between 2010-2018. Water footprints of agricultural production, livestock production and industrial plus domestic water use have been separately studied. Total blue and green water footprints, per capita water footprints and virtual water contents of the major crops harvested in the UTRB were calculated and compared with surrounding countries. A sustainability assessment based on the scarcity indicators has also been provided. Annual water footprint of UTRB is calculated as 7.2 Gm3/year for the specified time interval corresponding 1748 m3/cap/yr. Crop production has the highest share with 79% of total water footprint. Wheat is the primary crop cultivated in the study area and responsible for 45% of consumptive water use of all crops. The livestock and domestic plus industrial water footprint were obtained as 16% and 5% of the complete basin’s water footprint, respectively. Annual blue water scarcity of the basin is obtained to be 87% which is classified as low scarcity. The findings of this study are expected to increase water allocation efficiency and sustainability of the study area. It is also expected to contribute the integrated basin management studies and cooperation between riparian countries for better planning and management of transboundary water resources.