An Evaluation of China’s Water Footprint

The water footprint is an indicator of freshwater consumption that looks not only at direct water consumption of a consumer or producer, also at the indirect water consumption. The water footprint can be regarded as a comprehensive indicator of freshwater resources appropriation, next to the traditional and restricted measure of water withdrawal. Based on the concept and calculating method of water footprint, this paper estimates the water footprint of China in 2007. The result shows that the total water footprint of China is 856.34 × 109 m3 and the per capita water footprint is 648.11 m3/year. The spatial difference of per capita water footprint is obvious among all provinces of China. Generally, the more developed cities, the southern and coastal provinces have a higher per capita water footprint, lower water footprint intensity and higher efficiency of water consumption, while the North West China has lower water utilization efficiency. China is one of the thirteen water scarce countries in the world and spatial distribution of water resources is non-uniform. In addition to the virtual water trade, government should apply advanced technology and best available management practices, improve the efficiency of water use, reduce virtual water content per unit product, and continue nation-wide readjustment of industrial structure to guarantee an efficient use of limited water resources.