comments on virtual water discussion

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This article was downloaded by: [McMaster University] On: 20 October 2014, At: 06:05 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Water International Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rwin20 Comments on Virtual Water Discussion Published online: 22 Jan 2009. To cite this article: (2003) Comments on Virtual Water Discussion, Water International, 28:4, 543-543, DOI: 10.1080/02508060308691733 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02508060308691733 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Comments on Virtual Water Discussion

This article was downloaded by: [McMaster University]On: 20 October 2014, At: 06:05Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Water InternationalPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rwin20

Comments on Virtual Water DiscussionPublished online: 22 Jan 2009.

To cite this article: (2003) Comments on Virtual Water Discussion, Water International, 28:4, 543-543, DOI:10.1080/02508060308691733

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02508060308691733

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Comments on Virtual Water Discussion

International Water Resources AssociationWater International, Volume 28, Number 4, Page 543, December 2003

543

Discussion Note

Comments by David E. Nelson on “Virtual Water and Occam’s Razor” by Stephen Merrett, “Virtual Water-- the Water, Food, and Trade Nexus: Useful Concept or Misleading Metaphor?” by Tony Allan, and“Commentary” by Christopher Lant. Published in Water International 28, No. 1, March 2003: 103-115.

The March 2003 discussions by Merrett, Allan, andLant on “virtual water” were fascinating.  However, imple-mentation of the concept can be a challenge.  Althoughimporting food is presently “easy,” the risks involved werewell expressed by Merrett. Most of us have spent our ca-reers during a period of low-cost abundant food, and donot have a good historical perspective on the topic. Ourpresent food abundance results from favorable climaticconditions, cheap fertilizer and energy, steady progress inagricultural technology, and significant farm subsidies. Thissituation will not continue forever and may end sooner thanwe expect.

Damage to a farm economy can be difficult to re-verse, particularly if it results in abandonment of irrigationinfrastructure. 

But food imports are a necessity for many countries

and will increase in importance for the foreseeable fu-ture. Countries dependant on imported food should estab-lish food reserves to reduce their risk. Transfer of wateraway from agriculture must be done carefully. On theKlamath, water for fisheries is being acquired from will-ing participants in the basin. The State of Georgia in theU.S. recently paid willing farmers not to irrigate, in orderto alleviate a temporary water shortage. Some cities arepaying for water conservation programs on irrigation sys-tems, in exchange for use of some of the watersaved. Tools of this type will need to be increasingly usedto solve our difficult water management problems. 

Irrigators are generally not very interested in invest-ing a lot of work and money to save water for people in acity. If we really want irrigators to save water, we needto find ways to make it profitable for them to do so.

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