An integrated framework for assessing water resource pressure and sustainability based on the total-element agricultural water footprints

The agricultural water footprint (WF) is essential for understanding environmental impacts and managing water resources, especially in water-scarce regions. In this study, an integrated framework for assessing water resource pressure and sustainability based on the total-element agricultural water footprints was developed. Firstly, three types of WFs (i.e., blue, green and grey WFs) of major crops including wheat and maize in the Beijing area were calculated, and spatiotemporal variations were analysed. Subsequently, the water stress index (WSI) of WFs was calculated, and based on this, the reliability-resilience-vulnerability (RRV) indices was established for systematically assessing water resource stress sustainability in agricultural systems. Finally, the driving factors of agricultural WF were analysed using STIRPAT model. The results were as follows. (1) The overall WF decreased from 22.0 × 10 8 m 3 to 3.9 × 10 7 m 3 , showing a significant downward trend from 1978 to 2018. (2) The WSI values exceeded 1 in 25 out of the 35 years, indicating that the Beijing area continued to experience frequent water shortages. The RRV indices indicated that the sustainability of water resources in the Beijing area had improved in recent years, and the value was 0.35 in 2018, but remained at a low level. (3) Enhancing the effectiveness of irrigation, increasing agricultural machinery density, and reducing the planting area of water-intensive crops can significantly lower the agricultural WF. This study assessed the water resource pressure and sustainability of total-element agricultural WFs by combining the WSI and the RRV indices, from the integrated perspective of both water quantity and quality. This approach is of significant importance for the sustainable utilisation and management of agricultural water resources in water-scarce regions, based on water footprint analysis.