Water consumption and «Water Footprint» of Spanish cities

Abstract

In the last decades, Spain has experienced a remarkable urban growth marked by dispersion through the territory of residential areas, of secondary and tertiary economic activities, by the flow of people and goods,⋯, that demand and offer new uses of water resources, an impact, directly and indirectly in the emergence of new models of "city building". In this way, in the present study an estimate of consumption and water demands and "water footprint" is performed, both an economic and environmental level, and its relationship with endogenous development, describing water resources used, necessary for the production and consumption of goods and services as well as direct water demands in Spanish cities, in general, and, in big cities, in particular.