Reducing Agricultural Water Footprints at the Farm Scale: A Case Study in the Beijing Region

Water

Jing Huang³  Changchun Xu²  Bradley G. Ridoutt¹  Fu Chen⁴ 

[1] Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia;Development Center of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, South Road of East Third Ring 96, Chaoyang, Beijing 100122, China;;School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Avenue Qinglong 59, Fucheng, Mianyang 621010, ChinaCollege of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Yuan-ming-yuan West Road 2, Haidian, Beijing 100193, China;

关键词: crop production;    life cycle assessment;    water scarcity footprint;    water eutrophication footprint;    sustainable water use;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w7126674

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Beijing is one of the most water-stressed regions in the world. Reducing agricultural water use has long been the basis of local policy for sustainable water use. In this article, the potential to reduce the life cycle (cradle to gate) water footprints of wheat and maize that contribute to 94% of the local cereal production was assessed. Following ISO 14046, consumptive and degradative water use for the wheat-maize rotation system was modeled under different irrigation and nitrogen (N) application options. Reducing irrigation water volume by 33.3% compared to current practice did not cause a significant yield decline, but the water scarcity footprint and water eutrophication footprint were decreased by 27.5% and 23.9%, respectively. Similarly, reducing the N application rate by 33.3% from current practice did not cause a significant yield decline, but led to a 52.3% reduction in water eutrophication footprint while maintaining a similar water scarcity footprint. These results demonstrate that improving water and fertilizer management has great potential for reducing the crop water footprints at the farm scale. This situation in Beijing is likely to be representative of the challenge facing many of the water-stressed regions in China, where a sustainable means of agricultural production must be found.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.