TITLE:
Evaluation on Water Resources and Determining the Values of Exported and Imported Virtual Water in Hashtgerd Region
AUTHORS:
Seyed Jalal Yadollahi Nooshabadi, Mohammad Reza Jahansuz, Nasser Majnoun Hosseini, Gholam Reza Peykani
KEYWORDS:
Virtual Water, Agriculture, Consumption, Hashtgerd
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.6 No.6,
May
19,
2016
ABSTRACT: The
concept of virtual water in recent years has been proposed with the world’s
water resource consumption management approach. Hashtgerd study area is one of
609 study areas of the country that is located entirely in Alborz Province.
Average annual rainfall in this region was about 200 to 340 mm and the average
agricultural production per year was more than one million tons and had more
than 16 million cubic meters surplus recovery from underground water resources.
The aim of this study is to evaluate resources and amounts of virtual water in
the agricultural sector of the study area and its impact on the area water
resources balance and ultimately provide solutions to reduce water consumption
by the agricultural sector. The most important exported water products in
Hashtgerd area in order of importance are peaches and nectarines (33% of water
exports), plums (15% of water exports), vegetables (5.14 percent of water
exports), cherry (4.7% of water exports) and wheat (6.5 percent of water
exports). Virtual water trade balance of agricultural and horticultural
products in the digital range is equal to 260+ million cubic meters. Density of
agricultural lands can be mentioned as the main reasons for positive balance of
virtual water trade in this area.