Virtual Water: a virtual solution?

The concept of "virtual water" has been widely discussed as a solution to water-stressed states with low hydro-political security, such as the Middle East and Africa. The term was suggested initially by Allen (2001), and describes trading of the water footprint contained within commodities from water-rich to water-scarce countries. Virtual water, although heavily reliant on a country's potential to purchase and import goods from water-rich countries, has the capacity to provide states with goods they would otherwise not be able to produce with the water available to them.

Previously I discussed Africa's "underground oceans", explaining that low yielding aquifers have the potential to supply water to a large proportion of the continent's population and agriculture. However, some of this groundwater is inaccessible without large drilling tools (Bonsor and MacDonald, 2011).

Figure 1: Depth to groundwater in meters below ground level.
Greatest depths found in N. , E. and Central S. Africa
(Bonsor and MacDonald, 2011)

Both North, East and Central Southern Africa have the deepest aquifers (Bonsor and MacDonald, 2011) and hence could benefit most from virtual water trade. Earle and Turton (2003:183-200) found that although the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have good access to water, there is large spatial and temporal variation across the region, and water stress is expected to rise with climate change. Earle and Turton (2003) find that although virtual water trade is low, investing and trading in grain production from economically-poor but water-rich states, to economically-wealthy but water-stressed states is a more sustainable means of supporting growing populations and alleviating poverty. The trade of water through crops mitigates the need to build large, transnational water-sharing infrastructure projects, which could be costly. Similar findings are discussed by Konar and Caylor (2013) where countries with small dam storage tend to rely more on virtual water imported in commodities to mitigate against poor natural water stores and poor production yields.

Virtual water, although an interesting concept, cannot be relied upon by states. Free trade and lower import costs are required by poorer, water-scarce countries if virtual water is to be used as a water management strategy during times of drought, or by water-scarce countries. Furthermore, food security and economic productivity would be greatly harmed with greater reliance on virtual water, especially in poorer states where food prices are high and primary industries are a dominant source of income for locals and governments.

Africa requires agriculture; the search for a solution continues.