Water footprint assessment for service sector: A case study of gaming industry in water scarce Macao

Although numerous studies have been carried out to investigate the water footprint of different economies at global, national and regional scales, the research on water footprint of individual economic sector, which is the elementary part of each economy, is still lacking. To fill the gap, this paper for the first time employs a hybrid method to evaluate the water footprint of gaming industry in water scarce Macao, based on the latest statistics and most exhaustive embodied water intensity databases. The results show that direct water use only accounts for extremely small fraction of the gaming industry's water footprint, indicating that the exchange of water embodied in product and service between different sectors is also a useful mean to satisfy individual sector's demand for water resources. As Macao's demand for water is growing, integrated plans including economic instruments and measures like reducing the scale of commission input and promoting efficiency would ease Macao's water pressure. Water footprint assessment in this study brings along new perspectives on gaming industry's water management and encourages wise use of goods, materials and services in a sustainable way. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.