New study on Indian sub-national virtual water trade of cereal crops: We found that 153 km3 of water travels between Indian states through the t...
Published on by Francesca Harris, Research Assistant
We found that 153 km3 of water travels between Indian states through the trade of cereals each year - just below the 175 km3 proposed by the National River Interlinking Project.
However, 41% of these cereals are produced in states with over-exploited groundwater, and a further 21% from states with critical/semi-critical reserves. 31 out of 35 states consequently partly consume cereals that have been produced with stressed groundwater.
Trade has a huge potential to balance water resources, but current patterns may be exacerbate groundwater shortages.
Find the full paper here (open access): https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abc37a
Harris et al., 2020, Trading water: virtual water flows through interstate cereal trade in India. Environmental Research Letters.