Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net
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2008
10.5194/hess-12-887-2008
http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/887/2008/
http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/887/2008/hess-12-887-2008.html
http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/887/2008/hess-12-887-2008.pdf
887
898
2008-06-11
Food consumption patterns and their effect on water requirement in China
J. Liu
water21water@yahoo.com
H. H. G. Savenije
Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Ueberlandstrasse 133, P.O. Box 611, CH8600, Duebendorf, Switzerland
UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands
Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5048, 2601 DA, Delft, The Netherlands
It is widely recognized that food consumption patterns significantly impact
water requirements. The aim of this paper is to quantify how food
consumption patterns influence water requirements in China. The findings
show that per capita water requirement for food (CWRF) has increased from
255 m<sup>3</sup> cap<sup>-1</sup>y<sup>−1</sup> in 1961 to 860 m<sup>3</sup> cap<sup>-1</sup> y<sup>−1</sup> in 2003, largely due to an increase in the consumption of animal products
in recent decades. Although steadily increasing, the CWRF of China is still
much lower than that of many developed countries. The total water
requirement for food (TWRF) has been determined as 1127 km<sup>3</sup> y<sup>-1</sup> in
2003. Three scenarios are proposed to project future TWRF, representing low,
medium, and high levels of modernization (S1, S2, and S3, respectively).
Analysis of these three scenarios indicates that TWRF will likely continue
to increase in the next three decades. An additional amount of water ranging
between 407 and 515 km<sup>3</sup> y<sup>-1</sup> will be required in 2030 compared to
the TWRF in 2003. This will undoubtedly put high pressure on China's already
scarce water resources. We conclude that the effect of the food consumption
patterns on China's water resources is substantial both in the recent past
and in the near future. China will need to strengthen "green water"
management and to take advantage of "virtual water" import to meet the
additional TWRF.
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