Assessing the water footprint of agriculture in Perlis river basin

Abstract

Water footprint is an indicator of water use as a result of either production or consumption of goods and services. Due to population and prosperity grows in a developing country, the demand of agricultural will increase with water resources supply. The climatic stress can also affect the quantity and quality of freshwater available. Throughout this study, green and blue water consumed by paddy crops associated with agriculture activities in Sungai Korok is evaluated. Green water defined as rainwater used, whereas, blue water defined as irrigation water used. Formulations of blue and green water footprint from The Water Footprint Assessment Manual was applied to calculate the amount of water consumed during growing process. As a result, the amount of green and blue water consumed by paddy crops within a hectare of irrigation field are 7160 m3/ha and 2670 m3/ha respectively. Hence, this can review the green and blue water consumed by paddy crops within Sungai Korok. This result has not only showed the total water footprint of an irrigation scenario within the study area, the analyzed data can also make a better management decisions needed for irrigation use. In addition, assessing the sustainability of water in the Sungai Korok can be discovered by comparing the water consumed to the availability of the water resources. From this research, the ratio of water sustainability is 0.05, meaning the water within irrigation schemes of Sungai Korok is sustainable. Hence, local governments can provide agriculture producers with the most strategic insights in terms of water consumption.