Simplified direct water footprint model to support urban water management

Abstract

Water resources conservation corresponding to urban growth is an increasing challenge for European policy makers. Water footprint (WF) is one of the methods to address this challenge. The objective of this study was to develop a simplified model to assess the WF of direct domestic and non-domestic water use within an urban area and to demonstrate its effectiveness in supporting new urban water management strategies and solutions. The new model was tested on three Central European urban areas with different characteristics i.e., Wroclaw (Poland), Innsbruck (Austria), and Vicenza (Italy). Obtained WFs varied from 291 dm3/(day·capita) in Wroclaw, 551 dm3/(day·capita) in Vicezna to 714 dm3/(day·capita) in Innsbruck. In addition, WF obtained with the proposed model for the city of Vicenza was compared with a more complex approach. The results proved the model to be robust in providing reasonable results using a small amount of data.