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http://dx.doi.org/10.3741/JKWRA.2010.43.6.583

Evaluation of Virtual Water Calculation Method in Korea  

Ahn, Jae-Hyun (Department of Civil Engineering, Seokyeong University)
Lee, Jae-Geun (Department of Civil Engineering, Seokyeong University)
Lee, Seung-Ho (Graduate School of International Studies, Korea University)
Hong, Il-Pyo (Water Resources Research Department, Korea Institute of Construction Technology)
Publication Information
Journal of Korea Water Resources Association / v.43, no.6, 2010 , pp. 583-595 More about this Journal
Abstract
Virtual water is defined as the volume of water to produce commodities and provide services, which has been developed by Tony Allan since the early 1990s. This research aims to evaluate a volume of virtual water trade in Korea from 1998 to 2007 by applying the evaluation method of unit virtual water volume to agricultural, live stock and industrial products, which is developed by Chapagain and Hoekstra (2004). Also, the concept of water footprint is deployed to quantify the volume of virtual water trade between countries. The study attempts to assess the appropriateness of the evaluation method of unit virtual water volume by employing the method to calculate the total amount of agricultural products in Korea and comparing this with the amount of agricultural water demand in the Korea Water Vision 2006. The research outcome shows that Korea has a net virtual water import of 32 billion $m^3$ on average in the form of agricultural, live stock and industrial commodities whose volume gradually increases. The gap between the volume of virtual water import of agricultural and live stock commodities and the total volume of agricultural water use reaches approximately 600 million $m^3$. This figure can be negligible considering the total volume of water demand in Korea, around 16 billion $m^3$, which demonstrates the validity of the evaluation method in terms of analyzing water balance.
Keywords
virtual water; water trade; water footprint; water budget;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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