ABSTRACT
The water footprint concept has gained interest because the freshwater is a global resource utilized in all activities and can be fundamental in helping to understand how activities and products are related to water scarcity. The purpose of this study is to compare the sugarcane water footprint measurements derived by the traditional method used for its estimation and using the complete water balance in the soil under field conditions. The field experiment was carried out at the Capim II farm located in the coastal area of state of Paraiba, Brazil, during the period from October 2009 to August 2010 with sugarcane. The results indicated that the green and gray water footprint values decrease as there is an increase in irrigation depth. Inversely, the blue water footprint values increase as there is an increase in irrigation depth. The sugarcane water footprint based on the CROPWAT model overestimates green and blue water footprint values and underestimates the gray water footprint values obtained from the soil water balance.
Key words:
water use efficiency; cropwater model; evapotranspiration
