Water footprint assessment of animal-based and plant-based products in Iran

Abstract

In recent years, the majority of the Middle Eastern nations have been suffering from water scarcity, and Iran is not an expectation in this matter. The mean annual precipitation of the country is in the vicinity of 250 mm, which is considerably lower than the global rainfall average (almost 67% lower) and with a total internal renewable water resource (IRWR) of 128 billion cubic meters (BCM) which forms only less than 0.50% of the total global water resources. A number of critical waterbodies have already dried up or shrunk considerably. Therefore, Iran is suffering from both physical water scarcity and mismanagement of water resources. The agriculture and livestock sectors, as the most water-intensive industries in Iran, have difficulties meeting the water requirements in order to maintain their normal activities. In the past two decades alone, more than 50% of the nation’s reservoir capacity was extracted and consumed in the agricultural sector. In this study, we evaluate the water footprint (Blue water footprint, Green water footprint, and Grey water footprint) of 11 main food categories and their production from 2010 to 2019, along with the annual population growth. During the decade, vegetables with 143.3603871 million liters was the most water-intensive product, followed by wheat and fruits production, 118.755447 million liters and 115.5299726 million liters, respectively. The results of this study indicate that animal-based products require the highest amount of water volume for production, but it is plant-based products (vegetables, fruits, and grains, in particular, that are consuming the highest amount of water in the country).