ABSTRACT
The water footprint is defined in this study as the total volume of fresh water used to produce goods and services consumed by the individual, business or nation (consumption component) plus the volume of fresh water needed to somehow assimilate the waste produced by that individual, business or nation (contamination component). It was found that the consumption component of the water footprint of the West Bank was 2791 million m3/year. Approximately 52% of this is virtual water consumed in its virtual form through consuming imported goods such as crops and livestock, the production of which used water in the country of production. The rest is consumed from internal resources; these are rainwater stored in soil moisture and up taken by crops and the water withdrawn in its real sense from groundwater or surface water (blue water). On a per capita basis the consumption component of the water footprint was 1,116 m3/cap/year while the global average is 1,243 m3/cap/year. Out of this number 50 m3/cap/year was withdrawn from water resources available in the area. Only 16 m3/cap/year (1.4%) was used for domestic purposes. This number is only 28% of the global average and 21% of the Israeli domestic water use. The West Bank is suffering from severe water scarcity. Therefore, there is a need for a shift in thinking about water management in the West Bank, a thinking that supports the approach of ‘use, treat and reuse’ instead of the common approach of ‘use and dispose’.
