Virtual water
Also called: Embedded water, Virtual water trade · Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Virtual water is the water used to make a product. You cannot see it in the finished good, but it was used up in growing or making it. When a country exports water-hungry goods, it is really exporting its own water. This matters a great deal for a country short of water.
Example
Rice and sugarcane need huge amounts of water to grow. When India exports them, it is in effect exporting scarce water. Much of that water comes from groundwater in places like Punjab, where water levels are already falling.
Don't confuse with
- Water footprint: this is the total freshwater used for everything a person, firm or country consumes. It is split into green (rain), blue (surface and groundwater) and grey (water needed to dilute pollution). Virtual water is the water contained in one traded product.
Related concepts
- Poverty-induced degradation and pollution from affluence
- Land degradation
- Deforestation
- Soil erosion
- Open access resource
- Biodiversity loss
- Air pollution
- Industrial pollution
- Water pollution
- Groundwater overuse