Incorporating the water footprint and virtual water into policy: reflections from the Mancha Occidental Region, Spain

Water resource management is often a controversial issue in semiarid regions. Most water resources experts admit that water conflicts are not caused by the physical water scarcity but they are mainly due to inadequate water management. The virtual water concept (the volume of water used in the production of a commodity, good or service) together with the water footprint (indicator of water consumption that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer), links a large range of sectors and issues, thus providing a potentially appropriate framework to support more optimal water management practices by informing production and trade decisions. This paper provides an analysis of these two concepts within the context of the Mancha Occidental region, Spain, exploring the hydrological and economic aspects of agricultural production. In doing so, this work not only distinguishes between green and blue water but also between surface and groundwater. We conclude by discussing the practical implications of the results, as well as their potential limitations from the policy standpoint

Measurement of the Higgs boson production rate in association with top quarks in final states with electrons, muons, and hadronically decaying tau leptons at s√=13TeV

The rate for Higgs (H) bosons production in association with either one (tH) or two (tt¯H) top quarks is measured in final states containing multiple electrons, muons, or tau leptons decaying to hadrons and a neutrino, using proton–proton collisions recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV by the CMS experiment. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137fb−1. The analysis is aimed at events that contain H→WW, H→ττ, or H→ZZ decays and each of the top quark(s) decays either to lepton+jets or all-jet channels. Sensitivity to signal is maximized by including ten signatures in the analysis, depending on the lepton multiplicity. The separation among tH, tt¯H, and the backgrounds is enhanced through machine-learning techniques and matrix-element methods. The measured production rates for the tt¯H and tH signals correspond to 0.92±0.19(stat)+0.17−0.13(syst) and 5.7±2.7(stat)±3.0(syst) of their respective standard model (SM) expectations. The corresponding observed (expected) significance amounts to 4.7 (5.2) standard deviations for tt¯H, and to 1.4 (0.3) for tH production. Assuming that the Higgs boson coupling to the tau lepton is equal in strength to its expectation in the SM, the coupling yt of the Higgs boson to the top quark divided by its SM expectation, κt=yt/ySMt, is constrained to be within −0.9<κt<−0.7 or 0.7<κt<1.1, at 95% confidence level. This result is the most sensitive measurement of the tt¯H production rate to date.SCOAP

Water footprint analysis (hydrologic and economic) of the Guadiana river basin

In most arid and semiarid countries, water resources management is an issue as important as controversial. Today most water resources experts admit that water conflicts are often not caused by physical water scarcity but poor water management or governance. The virtual-water concept, defined as the volume of water used in the production of a commodity, good or service, together with the water footprint (water volume used to produce the goods and services consumed by a person or community), link a large range of sectors and issues, providing an appropriate framework to find potential solutions and contribute to a better management of water resources, particularly in arid or semi-arid countries. As the most arid country in the European Union, water use and management in Spain is a hot political and social topic. The aim of this study is to analyse the virtual water and water footprint in the semiarid Guadiana basin, both from a hydrological and economic perspective. The trans-boundary Guadiana river basin located in southcentral Spain and Portugal drains an area of 66,800 km2, of which 17% lies in Portugal. The present analysis is carried out for the Spanish side of the basin which has been divided into the Upper, Middle and Lower Guadiana basin and the TOP domain. The TOP domain is a group of three small river basins located near the Guadiana River mouth. In these regions the main green and blue water consuming sector is agriculture, with about 95% of total consumptive water use. In the Upper and Middle Guadiana basins, high virtual-water low-economic value crops are widespread, particularly cereals with low economic productivity of the blue water inputs. In particular, the Upper Guadiana basin is among the most significant in Spain in terms of conflicts between agriculture, with almost no food (virtual water) import, and the conservation of rivers and groundwater-dependent wetlands. On the other hand, in the Lower Guadiana basin and the TOP domain, vegetables and crops under plastic greenhouses are grown for which the economic productivity of the blue water inputs are much higher, using both surface and groundwater resources. The Guadiana basin has already moved into the direction of "more crops and jobs per drop". The aim now is to move towards “more cash and nature per drop”, especially in the Upper and Middle Guadiana basin

The water needed to have Italians eat pasta and pizza

Water resources use in agriculture is generally quantified in relation to the harvest. In contrast, this paper takes a consumer perspective by assessing water use in relation to the final consumer product. The paper analyses the water use related to two products that are typical to Italian consumers: pasta and pizza margherita. We use the water footprint concept as a tool to quantify and localise this water use. The water footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured over the various steps of the production chain. We find that the water footprint of dry pasta made in Italy amounts to 1924 l of water per kilogram of pasta. The water footprint of a 725 g pizza margherita is 1216 l of water. The impacts of the water footprints of pasta and pizza depend on the vulnerability of the water systems where the footprints are located. The impact of the water footprint of pasta is most severe in Puglia and Sicily, where groundwater overexploitation for durum wheat irrigation is common. The impact of the water footprint of pizza is more diverse. It is concentrated in the first step of the supply chain of tomato puree and mozzarella, i.e. in the cultivation of tomatoes and the feed crops of dairy cows. The bread wheat used for the pizza base does not have large impacts. The water footprint impact of the tomato puree on the pizza is concentrated in Puglia (groundwater overexploitation and pollution related to tomato cultivation) and Emilia-Romagna (water pollution). The water footprint impact of mozzarella lies mostly in the effects of water use for producing the feed ingredients for the dairy cows. Mozzarella production further poses a potential threat to water quality, mostly in the Po valley, but this problem seems to be properly regulated, although possibly not fully controlled

The water needed to have Italians eat pasta and pizza

Problems of freshwater scarcity and pollution are related to water use by farmers, industries and households. The term ‘water users’ has always been interpreted as ‘those who apply water for some purpose’. As a result, governments responsible for water resources management have traditionally targeted their policies towards those water users. Recently, however, it has been shown that this approach is limited. Final consumers, retailers, traders and all sorts of businesses active along the supply chains of final consumer goods remain out of the scope of water policies. This is strange, given the fact that all water use in the world is ultimately linked to final consumption by consumers. It is therefore interesting to know the specific water requirements of various consumer goods, particularly for goods that are water-intensive, like food items, beverages, bio-energy and materials from natural fibres. This is relevant information for consumers, but also for retailers, traders and other businesses that play a central role in supplying those goods to the consumers. The aim of this report is to estimate the water use related to two products that are typical to Italian consumers: pasta and pizza margherita. We use the water footprint concept as a tool to quantify and localise this water use. The water footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured at the place where the product was actually produced. It refers to the sum of the water use in the various steps of the production chain. Earlier studies showed that, when expressed per capita, Italy has one of the largest water footprints of the world, together with other South European countries and the US. The water footprint of the average Italian is 2330 m3/yr, while the global average amounts to 1240 m3/yr. This study shows that the water footprint of dry pasta made in Italy amounts to 1924 litres of water per kilogram of pasta. The water footprint of one pizza margherita – assuming a total pizza weight of 725 gram – is 1216 litres of water. The impact of the water footprints of pasta and pizza depends on the vulnerability of the water systems where the water footprints are located. The impact of the water footprint of pasta is most severe in Puglia and Sicily, where groundwater overexploitation for durum wheat irrigation is common. The impact of the water footprint of pizza is more diverse. It is concentrated in the first step of the supply-chain of tomato puree and mozzarella, i.e. in the cultivation of tomatoes and the feed crops of dairy cows. The bread wheat used for the pizza base does not have large impacts. The water footprint impact of the tomato puree on the pizza is concentrated in Puglia (groundwater overexploitation and pollution related to tomato cultivation) and Emilia-Romagna (water pollution). The water footprint impact of mozzarella lies mostly in the effects of water use for producing the feed ingredients for the dairy cows. Mozzarella production further poses a potential threat to water quality, mostly in the Po valley, but this problem seems to be properly regulated, although possibly not fully controlled