Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Indicators journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolind Evaluation of water footprint and economic water productivities of dairy products of South Africa Enoch Owusu-Sekyere a, ⁎ , Henry Jordaan b , Hatem Chouchane b a Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Free State, PO Box/Posbus 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa b Twente Water Centre, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500, AE, Enschede, The Netherlands ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Blue water sustainability Dairy production systems Global averages Livestock sector Water footprint indicator ABSTRACT Assessment of water footprint sustainability indicators and economic water productivities is regarded as a cornerstone of the world’s sustainability goal and the reduction of the fresh water scarcity risk. These assess- ments are gaining much prominence because about four billion people face severe water scarcity, globally. Attaining sustainable and economically efficient water use goals requires a thorough assessment of all the ex- isting sectors that use water. This paper examined the water footprint and economic water productivities of dairy products in South Africa for the periods 1996–2005 and 2006–2013 using the water footprint network assess- ment methodology. We found the total water footprints of all the selected dairy products in South Africa to be higher than the global averages are. During the period of 1996–2005, South African dairy producers utilized more green water in their dairy production. The production of butter and cheese products, whether grated or not grated, powdered or not powdered, blue-veined and cheese of all kinds had the highest total water footprints among all the dairy products in South Africa. Dairy production under a sole grazing system has high water footprints and low economic water productivities, relative to mixed production systems, for the period 2006–2013. With blue water becoming scarcer in South Africa, it is time for dairy livestock producers to shift their production to a system that is highly productive and has low water footprints. The water footprints of most of the dairy products for period 2006–2013 have reduced by varying amounts, relative to 1996–2005, which shows that water users along the dairy industry chains are managing water cautiously. Our findings have re- vealed dairy products that have high economic water productivities, and suggest that profit maximising and environmentally sustainable dairy producers and water users should integrate both blue water sustainability and economic water productivity indicators in their production decisions. 1. Introduction In recent years, ecological and environmental sustainability assess- ments have been gaining much prominence, globally. The global water scarcity phenomenon has become a major issue of distress to govern- ments, policy-makers, water users and water managers as well as pri- vate and non-governmental organisations and professional bodies in- terested in environmental and sustainability issues. It is estimated that about four billion people across the globe face severe water scarcity (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2016). An assessment of water sustainability indicators across various sectors of the global economy identified that, the greatest share of the world’s freshwater is utilized in food produc- tion (IWMI, 2007). About 86% of all the freshwater resources in the world are consumed in food production (IWMI, 2007). This implies that the relative importance of water to food production and human survival cannot be overlooked. As a result of that, researchers and policy makers in recent years are interested in the study of sustainable and economical water utilization in the food sector. Water footprint assessment is one of the ways of assessing water utilization in the food sector. The water footprint assessment gives an account of the quantity of fresh water utilized in the production of a particular food commodity (Hoekstra et al., 2011). Accounting for green (rainwater), blue (surface and groundwater) and grey (related to assimilating water pollutant) water consumption along the whole pro- duct value chain. Sustainability assessment of how water is utilized for food production reveals how producers along the food production chain behave with regards to the blue water available to them; as to whether they are using the available water resources sustainably or not. An important pillar of fresh water allocation is economic water pro- ductivity, which quantifies the value obtained by producers per unit of water used in producing a particular product (Hoekstra, 2014). The economic water productivities are calculated after the estimation of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.07.041 Received 5 September 2016; Received in revised form 13 June 2017; Accepted 20 July 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: OwusuSekyereE@ufs.ac.za, kofiwusu23@gmail.com (E. Owusu-Sekyere), JordaanH@ufs.ac.za (H. Jordaan), hatemchouchane1@gmail.com (H. Chouchane). Ecological Indicators 83 (2017) 32–40 1470-160X/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK