A Water Footprint Based Hydro-Economic Model for Minimizing the Blue Water to Green Water Ratio in the Zarrinehrud River-Basin in Iran

Abstract The efficient use of water should involve decisions for balancing green water (GW) and blue water (BW) use for sustainable development. More specifically, the focus of irrigation water management should be redirected from a BW perspective toward considering the full water balance, including GW flow. This study presents a modelling approach in a system dynamic platform for minimizing the BW to GW ratio in a water basin while maximizing total agricultural profit. The paper considers the compromise between any reduction in the GW to BW ratio and the possible changes in the economic achievement of the region through varying land use and cropping patterns. This paper explores and presents the possibilities of reducing the BW to GW ratio in the Zarrinehrud River-basin for moderate, dry, and wet years using the water footprint concept. Results show that under all combinations of economic objective and BW to GW ratio addressed by water footprint measures, the hydro-economic performance of the river basin may substantially be improved as compared with the current practice. Either weights may systematically be changed or multiple objective optimization algorithms may be employed if a more precise tradeoff between the objectives is needed. View Full-Tex