Assessment of water resources in Hebei Province based on water footprint

The water footprint concept was used as a consumption-based indicator of water use that provides useful information in addition to the traditional production-sector-based indicators of water use. Virtual water and water footprint were regarded as the new research hotspots in the current research of water science and also were recognized as the important strategies in the solution of the food security and water security. As a new idea and direction, water footprint quantifies the pressure and effect of economic activities on water resources system, by which we can judge the situation of water management. Increasing shortage of water resources is an uncontroversial fact with population growth and economic development in Hebei Province of China. How to alleviate the water resource pressure is a huge challenge faced by decision-makers. Taking Hebei Province as a case, the paper quantified and analyzed the water footprint of Hebei Province in 2010 to illustrate its application and implication in the social economic system. At first, the concept and calculation methods of water footprint were introduced in this paper. In addition, this paper also presented the quantification of the virtual water volumes of crop and livelihood in details. According to the assessment, citizens in Hebei Province had consumed 896.40×10⁸ m³ of water resource in total in 2010, per capita water footprint was 1 246.04 m³, which significantly exceeded the national average level. In addition, water scarcity and water resources pressure indexes of Hebei Province reached up to 747.81% and 1 054.08%, which resulted in unsustainable utilization of water resources. Compared with per capita water footprint in other provinces, regions or countries, it was in the middle level and significantly higher than the world average. Moreover, China's per capita water footprint accounted for just 50% of the world average. The transferable water in social economic system in a virtual form had been highlighted, which broadened the options of decision-makers. If not adopting forceful measure, development of water crisis would affect sustainable development in this region. Based on the results, some suggestions were put forward on how to solve the problem of water scarcity and adjust the structure of water footprint to alleviate the pressure of water shortage in the region. The suggestion included enhancement of water use efficiency and consumption structure, optimizing crops allocation and farming system, virtual water trade, and strengthening water saving.