Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

BLUE WATER FOOTPRINT: AN INSTRUMENT TO SUPPORT URBANWATER MANAGEMENT WITH BEST PRACTICES

Alik Banerjee, Viral Dave, Ranendu Ghosh and Alka Parikh

Abstract

Nowadays, water conservation corresponding to urban development appears as a significant challenge.Academia thought of dealing with this issue through the concept of water footprints (WFs) and suggestedpolicy outlines. However, the calculation of WFs is a big challenge, particularly in spatially large and data scarceareas. In this study, the researchers used some published experimental data to calculate evaporation,runoff, and the municipality water supply to estimate the values of WFs. The study considers threemunicipalities of eastern India, as part of the study area. While Ranchi reports the highest WFblue value(108 M3 per capita), Dhanbad shows the minimum (68.8 M3 per capita). The study also finds that Puruliaand Dhanbad are water-deficit municipalities, a concern for them, while Ranchi faces surplus water availablefor water users. The authors have suggested a few policies from WF perspective, for efficient conservation,utilization, and skewed distribution of water.