UJIVIRTUALDHERENDESIAE RISHIKIMITTEMARVESHJES SHQIPERI MAQEDONI EVERIUTPERUJRATELUMITRADICA
VIRTUAL WATER AND THE IMPORTANCE TO REVISE THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN ALBANIA A ND NORTH MACEDONIA FOR THE WATERS OF RADICA RIVER

Summary/Abstract: Human s consume water di rectly for drinking, cooking and washing, but much more for prod ucing com modities such as food, paper, clothes, etc. The amount of water that is used i n the prod uction processes of commodities duri ng their entire life cycle is referred to as the virtual water contained within themVirtual water can be further divided i nto 'blue' water (which evaporates from rivers, lakes or aquifers in prod uction processes such as irrigation), 'green ' water (rainfall that evaporates during crop growth), and 'grey' water (polluted after agricultu ra l, industrial and household use).The water footprint of an individ ual, com munity or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by that ind iv idual or com munity or produced by the business. Some sainple water footprints are set out below.To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water.Since the per capita consumption of virtual water contained in our diets varies accord in to the type of d iet (from 1 m3/day for a survival d iet, to 2.6 m3/day for a vegetarian diet and over 5 m /day for a USstyle meat-based d iet) it is clear that the moderation of diets (reducing meat consumption) can have a big impact on vi rtu al water use. However, the precise impact of a water footprint depends ent irely on where water is taken from and when. An increased footprint i n an area where water i s plentiful is unlikely tohave an adverse effect, but an increase in an area experiencing scarcity could result in the d1ying up of rivers, the desh·uction of habitats and l ivel i hoods, and the extinction of species - in add ition to affecting agricult ural prices, supplies and local economies. Some proponents of v irtual water argue for the need for a labeling scheme, with the water footprint of a product clearly set out so as to encourage demand management. This would help consumers and policy-makers recognize links between production and consumption .On the policy level, a water-scarce country can import prod ucts that require a lot of water i n their production (import of virtual water) to relieve pressure on its own resources. This is a strategy first adopted by some countries , which imports almost all cereals..Virt ua l water proponents believe insufficient attention is placed on demand management in comparison to supply management. Jn their opinion, consu mer demand management through education/information, labeling schemes has been overlooked, because consumers and policy-makers do not recogn ize links between production and consumption. One problem with virtual water labeling is that water content should be considered bearing in mind its geographical and temporal importance (50 litres of water taken from Radica is not the same as from the Sahara, or from Amazona). Similarly, an agricultural product grown with rainwater is not comparable with one grown with irrigated water extracted from nonrenewable ground water. Thus, vi rtu al water gives no indication if water is being used within sustai nable extraction limits, which can change annually based on rainfal l. Finally, the vi rtual water argument can also have consequences politically, paiticu larly regarding equity. Water released from one use wi ll not necessarily be used more efficiently, or distributed more equitably. Ifwater is released from agricu lture, and farmers grow lower-value crops with Jess water requirements, the released water could easily be absorbed by urban users, or by the ind ustrial sector instead of being d istributed more equitably among the rural poor.

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