Indices of Water Footprint on the Basis of the Concept of Acceptable Delay in Water Use: Their Application to Evaluation of Agricultural Production

A new approach to assessing water resource consumption, using extended (EWF) and occupied water footprint (OWF) indices, reveals critical insights into the sustainability of agricultural practices. Unlike conventional methods that rely on fixed timeframes like months or years, EWF and OWF analyze water use based on the concept of 'acceptable delay,' enabling more precise temporal analysis. Applied to sugarcane production for biofuel on Tokunoshima Island, this study found that while blue water (BW) consumption peaked during high evapotranspiration periods—sometimes exceeding actual cultivation areas by eight times—the total annual OWF remained sustainable with proper management. The findings highlight the potential of EWFs and OWFs as robust indicators for life cycle assessment (LCA), particularly in fine-grained water stress analysis, though challenges remain in database preparation and methodology refinement.

UCHIDA, S., & HAYASHI, K. (2014). Indices of Water Footprint on the Basis of the Concept of Acceptable Delay in Water Use: Their Application to Evaluation of Agricultural Production. Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan, 10(1), 40–48. https://doi.org/10.3370/lca.10.40