Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Volvamos a la fuente

Agua, saneamiento y residuos solidos

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • AquaFund
    • Featured
    • Gender
    • Hydro-BID
    • Innovation and data
    • Knowledge
    • Optimal sanitation
    • Solid waste
    • Unacccounted for water
    • WASH
    • Wastewater
    • Water and sanitation
    • Water resources
  • authors
  • English
    • Español

UNCLE ISAAC AND WATER CYBORGS

September 25, 2013 Por Marcello Basani Leave a Comment


Eating Water part 2 | Comiendo agua parte 2 

Follow @MarcelloBasani

En español aquí

virtual waterIn my teens, uncle Isaac opened my eyes to science fiction and virtual worlds, where the sun was red and the elements were robotic.

As a consequence, when I first read about “virtual water”, I was naturally expecting a cloned cyborg-like flowing 3-D liquid. And indeed, there are people out there working on virtual water as molecular modelation with immersive three-dimensional graphic representation! (For the geeks: we are talking about an ab initio simulation based on Lennard-Jones potential and Newtonian mechanics…no kidding…).

However, out of the “water” blue and inspired by a “sour” debate about export of oranges from water-scarce Israel, in 1993 Professor “Tony” Allan gave us a new concept of Virtual Water. In simple words, he defined virtual water as the water needed for the production of a product (i.e. the water ‘embodied’ in a product, not in real sense, but in virtual sense).

It took 10 years for the concept to be recognized by the international community. But why is it so important? It turns out that virtual water concept can be useful for two major types of practical use:

1)       Virtual water trade, based on the idea that a net import of virtual water in a water-scarce nation can relieve the pressure on the nation’s own water resources (much more convenient than trading bulky “real” water!).

waterfootprint2)       Water footprint, based on the idea that the virtual water content of a product tells something about the environmental impact of consuming the product. For example, the footprint could be defined as the cumulative virtual water content of all goods and services consumed by one individual. You can even calculate it as our colleague Federico Basanes did in Eating water part 1 (worth adding: a vegetarian Argentinian).

 Building on this, quantitative research on global virtual water has opened interesting scenarios on international virtual water trade flows.

Now, that sounds very appealing. But is it so straight-forward?

In truth, the concept does present few caveats. First, it can be determined in two ways. In one approach, the virtual water content is defined as the volume of water that was actually used to produce the product, which will depend on the local production conditions (place, time of production, water use efficiency, etc.). The second approach relies on a user rather than a producer perspective, and defines the virtual water content of a product as the amount of water that would have been required to produce the product at the place where the product is needed.

While this duality does provide additional scope for mesmerizing analyses, unfortunately there is little convergence with respect to the general approach taken. But there are more caveats. Most notably, the concept in its applications fails in properly taking into account the opportunity cost of the volumes of water used (i.e. the best environmental, social or economic use it could have been put towards if it were not used in the given production process). Also, it assumes that water that would be released by reducing a high water use activity would necessarily be available for use in a less water-intensive activity, which may not be always the case. And of course, it does not take into consideration that a water-rich country may import a product instead of producing it domestically for various reasons which have nothing to do with water. And more so, it does not consider the efficiency level of water usage!

The debate is hot. So, considering the difficulties in applying the concept as effective guidance to policy makers regarding water use efficiency and sustainability, what are the implications? What are we supposed to do with this concept?

At this point, I can offer few suggestions:

  • Think about it. The concept of virtual water does have potential. First and foremost, it can make people aware of the quantity of water that goes into what one’s country produces and consumes or exports. And this is quite a piece of information. Consider, for example, that the virtual water content of beef can be 15 times higher than the one for grain!
  • If you want to save water, create an avatar and go totally “virtual.” According to a recent study, the production of a 32-megabyte computer chip of 2 grams requires 32 kg of water. Considering what a 32-MB chip can do, this sounds very convenient!!
  • If you care to decrease your traditional carbon footprint, in some circumstances you may decide to give up water-intensive food. So, if you liked this post, go out there and become flexitarian !


Filed Under: Sin categorizar, Uncategorized, Water and sanitation, Water resources Tagged With: Agua, Conocimiento, conservación, Gestión, prácticas, Sostenibilidad

Marcello Basani

Marcello Basani, de nacionalidad italiana, es Especialista Senior de Agua y Saneamiento en la Oficina del BID en Uruguay. Desde Montevideo, lidera la preparación y la implementación de proyectos y actividades relacionadas a agua, saneamiento y desechos sólidos. Con el BID ha trabajado en el Caribe desde Guayana, y en Ecuador. Antes de ingresar al BID, trabajó como consultor individual para el Grupo de Evaluación Independiente del Banco Mundial, el Instituto Internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas Alimentarias y para la universidad, en temas relacionados con agua y desarrollo. Trabajó también en Nepal y Pakistán como representante en terreno del Consejo Nacional de Investigación Italiano, sobre temas relacionados a la gestión de recursos naturales. Marcello posee un Doctorado (PhD) en Economía Ambiental de la Universidad de Trento (Italia) y una Maestría en Economía del Desarrollo de la Universidad de Sussex (Inglaterra).

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US

Suscribete

Search

Recent Posts

  • The businesswoman who broke the glass ceiling in the Costa Rican water administration  
  • World Water Week 2023: IDB Coordinates Focus on the Americas to Cultivate Seeds of Change
  • Sonia Henríquez: Bridging Development and Indigenous Cosmovision for a Sustainable Future
  • Fostering Transboundary Water Cooperation: Unlocking Multifaceted Benefits for Sustainable Development and Peace
  • Nancy González: From Fingernails to Axel Grease, One Woman’s Journey to Becoming a Heavy Equipment Operator

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Derechos de autor © 2023 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
x
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT