An assessment of the virtual water balance for agricultural products in EU river basins

• net VWi, agr is the net virtual water import related to agricultural products.
• net VWi, agr for EU river basins (larger than 1000 km2) is assessed.
• The largest positive net VWi, agr values are located along the London–Milan axis.
• These include the Rhine, Po, Thames, Scheldt, Elbe and Seine river basins.
• The largest negative net VWi, agr values are located on the Iberian Peninsula and western France.
• These include the Guadiana, Ebro, Duero, Loire and Garonne river basins.

In this paper the virtual water balance for agricultural products in river basins located in the EU28 (European Union and Croatia) is assessed. Only basins with a surface area larger than 1000 km2 are analysed. More specifically the net virtual water import of agricultural products (nVWi, agr) in these basins is assessed. The latter is defined as the difference between the water footprint of consumption (WFcons, agr) and the water footprint of production (WFprod, agr) for agricultural products. Overall the EU28 is a net VW importer for agricultural products, i.e. it imports more VW than it exports. However, there are large differences between different EU regions. River basins which are identified with high positive nVWi, agr values (net VW importer basins) include the densely populated and industrialised regions of western Europe like the Rhine, Elbe, Po, Seine, Scheldt or Thames basins. On the other hand high negative nVWi, agr values (net VW exporter basins) are observed for rural and sparsely populated river basins on the Iberian Peninsula (Guadiana, Ebro, Duero), in western France (Loire, Garonne) and the eastern Baltic region (Nemunas).

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