The Nexus Approach to Managing Water, Soil and Waste under Changing Climate and Growing Demands on Natural Resources - Governing the Nexus: Water, Soil and Waste Resources Considering Global Change - page 44

Table 1 Water footprint (WF) for renewable energy from biomass
m 3 H 2 O/GJ

Crop Latin name Brazil The Netherlands USA Zimbabwe

Manihoe esculenta

Cassava 30 - - 205

Coconut Cocos nucifera 49 - - 203

Cotton Gossipium hirsutum 96 135 356

-

Groundnuts Arachis prostrate 51 58 254

-

Maize Zee mays 39 9 18 200

Miscanthus Miscanthus gigantus 49 20 37 64

Palm Oil Elaies guineensis 75

- - -

Poplar Populus alba 55 22 42 72

Potatoes Solanum tuberosum 31 21 32 65

Soybeans Glycine max 61 99 138

-

Sugarbeets Beta vulgaris - 13 23 -

Sugarcane Saccharum of cinarum 25 30 31

-

Sunower Helianthus annuus 54 27 61 146

Triticum aestivum

Wheat 83 9 84 69

Rapeseed Brassica napus 214 67 113 -

Average 62 24 57 142

The WF is negligible for wind, 0.3 m 3 /GJ for solar, and 22 m 3 /GJ for hydro

Source Gerbens-Leenes et al. ( 2009 )

product such as 1 kg of wheat or 1 kg of beef for meat (Allan 1993 ; Allan 1994 ).
Thus, virtual water can be traded, exported and imported (Vel

á ques et al. 2011 ). In

comparison, water footprint refers to the volume of water necessary to produce the

goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of a country

“

(Hoekstra and
Chapagain 2007 ). The water footprint of different food products are given in
Table 2 .

”

Table 2 The water footprint of some food products
Food Litres of water per kg Relative

Vegetables 322 1

Starchy roots 387 1 20

-

Fruits 962 2 99

-

Cereals 1,644 5 - 11

Pulses 4,055 12 56

-

Chicken meat 4,325 13 43

-

Bovine meat 15,415 47 - 87

Source Adapted from Mekonnen and Hoekstra 2012 )