The Added Value of Water Footprint Assessment for National Water Policy: A Case Study for Morocco

Citation: Schyns JF, Hoekstra AY ( The Added Value of Water Footprint Assessment for National Water Policy: A Case Study for Morocco Joep F. Schyns 0 Arjen Y. Hoekstra 0 Vanesa Magar, Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y Educacion Superior de Ensenada, Mexico 0 Twente Water Centre, University of Twente , Enschede , The Netherlands A Water Footprint Assessment is carried out for Morocco, mapping the water footprint of different activities at river basin and monthly scale, distinguishing between surface- and groundwater. The paper aims to demonstrate the added value of detailed analysis of the human water footprint within a country and thorough assessment of the virtual water flows leaving and entering a country for formulating national water policy. Green, blue and grey water footprint estimates and virtual water flows are mainly derived from a previous grid-based (565 arc minute) global study for the period 1996-2005. These estimates are placed in the context of monthly natural runoff and waste assimilation capacity per river basin derived from Moroccan data sources. The study finds that: (i) evaporation from storage reservoirs is the second largest form of blue water consumption in Morocco, after irrigated crop production; (ii) Morocco's water and land resources are mainly used to produce relatively low-value (in US$/m3 and US$/ha) crops such as cereals, olives and almonds; (iii) most of the virtual water 3 export from Morocco relates to the export of products with a relatively low economic water productivity (in US$/m ); (iv) blue water scarcity on a monthly scale is severe in all river basins and pressure on groundwater resources by abstractions and nitrate pollution is considerable in most basins; (v) the estimated potential water savings by partial relocation of crops to basins where they consume less water and by reducing water footprints of crops down to benchmark levels are significant compared to demand reducing and supply increasing measures considered in Morocco's national water strategy. - Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Morocco is a semi-arid country in the Mediterranean facing water scarcity and deteriorating water quality. The limited water resources constrain the activities in different sectors of the economy of the country. Agriculture is the largest water consumer and withdrawals for irrigation peak in the dry period of the year, which contributes to low surface runoff and desiccation of streams. Currently, 130 reservoirs are in operation to deal with this mismatch in water demand and natural water supply and to serve for generation of hydroelectricity and flood control [1]. Groundwater resources also play an important role in the socio-economic development of the country, in particular by ensuring the water supply for rural communities [2]. However, a large part of the aquifers is being overexploited and suffer from deteriorating water quality by intrusion of salt water, caused by the overexploitation, and nitrates and pesticides that leach from croplands, caused by excessive use of fertilizers. Surface water downstream of some urban centres is also polluted, due to untreated wastewater discharges. In 1995, the Moroccan Water Law (no. 1095) came into force and introduced decentralized integrated water management and rationalisation of water use, including the user-pays and polluterpays principles. It also dictates the development of national and river basin master plans [3], which are elaborated in accordance with the national water strategy. To cope with water scarcity and pollution, the national water strategy includes action plans to reduce demand, increase supply and preserve and protect water resources [1]. It also proposes legal and institutional reforms for proper implementation and enforcement of these actions. Demand management focuses on improving the efficiency of irrigation and urban supply networks and pricing of water to rationalise its use. Plans to increase supply include the construction of more dams and a large North-South inter-basin water transfer, protection of existing hydraulic infrastructure, desalinization of sea water and reuse of treated wastewater. Although the national water strategy considers options to reduce water demand in addition to options to increase supply, it does not include the global dimension of water by considering international virtual water trade, nor does it consider whether water resources are efficiently allocated based on physical and economic water productivities of crops (the main water consumers). Analysis of the water footprint of activities in Morocco and the virtual water trade balance of the country therefore might reveal new insights to alleviate water scarcity. The concept of water footprint was introduced by Hoekstra [4]; this subsequently led to the development of Water Footprint Assessment as a distinct field of research and application [5,6]. The water footprint is an indicator of freshwater use that looks not only at direct water use of a consumer or producer, but also at the indirect water use. As such, it provides a link between human consumption and human appropriation of freshwater systems. Water Footprint Assessment refers to a variety of methods to quantify and map the water footprint of specific processes, products, producers or consumers, to assess the environmental, social and economic sustainability of water footprints at catchment or river basin level and to formulate and assess the effectiveness of strategies to reduce water footprints in prioritized locations. The water footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured over the full supply chain [6]. Three different components of a water footprint are distinguished: green, blue and grey. The green water footprint is the volume of rainwater evaporated or incorporated into the product. Blue water refers to the volume of surface- or groundwater evaporated, incorporated into the product or returned to another catchment or the sea. The grey water footprint relates to pollution and is defined as the volume of freshwater that is required to assimilate the load of pollutants given natural background concentrations and existing ambient water quality standards [6]. The total freshwater volume consumed or polluted within the territory of a nation as a result of activities within the different sectors of the economy is called the water footprint of national production. International trade of products creates virtual water flows leaving and entering a country. The virtual-water export from a nation refers to the water footprint of the products exported. The virtual-water import into a nation refers to the water footprint of the imported products. Several authors have assessed the water footprint and virtual water trade balance of nations and regions and state the relevance of the tool for well-informed water policy on the national and rive (...truncated)