The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry determined the water footprint amounts in the country within the scope of the Water Efficiency Campaign. The water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people, which is analyzed as three categories, blue, green and gray, the General Directorate of Water Management said.

According to information compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA), the current plan is actually a continuation of the Water Efficiency Campaign, which started earlier this year under the leadership of first lady Emine Erdoğan. The campaign aims to prevent water misuse in homes, workplaces and industries, and establish legal infrastructure, modern irrigation methods in agriculture and raise public awareness of water consumption in the country.

One of the first outputs of the mobilization efforts of the plan came into effect by carrying out water footprint assessment studies in major basins across the country.

The water footprint is an ideal measure of resource efficiency as it can measure per unit of production, for example, the cubic meters required to produce a ton of wheat. As the water footprint goes down, it indicates a more efficient use of water in producing wheat or any other product. If the water footprint exceeds a benchmark of resource efficiency for that particular activity, it conveys an opportunity for water footprint reduction through a change in practices or technology.

The water footprint, which is an effective indicator of the pressure on freshwater resources due to water consumption and water pollution, is analyzed via three categories, blue, green and gray.

The green water footprint is water from precipitation (rain or snow) stored in the root zone of the soil and evaporated, transpired or incorporated by plants. It is particularly relevant for agricultural, horticultural and forestry products.

The blue footprint is water that has been sourced from surface or groundwater resources and is either evaporated, incorporated into a product or drained into the sea. Irrigated agriculture, industry and domestic water use can each have a blue water footprint; whereas the grey water footprint is the amount of freshwater required to remove pollutants in the production process to meet water quality standards.

The implications of any water footprint often transcend the boundaries of communities or nations. In such cases, basin-level water footprint analysis can offer a higher level of understanding concerning the sustainability of water resource management.

In this context, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the General Directorate of Water Management shared a "Drought Management Plan" for 23 basins across the country to minimize drought-related loss.

Within the scope of the plan, 13 different measures will be adopted in the Akarçay, Meriç-Ergene, Marmara, eastern Black Sea, Sakarya, Susurluk, Yeşilırmak, western Black Sea and Kızılırmak basins, including drought awareness, reduction of loss and leakage, recovery of grey water and alternative water sources.

The drought plan aims to save 2,381 cubic meters of water annually in nine out of 11 basins. However, work in the Büyük Menderes basin is expected to be completed in 2025 along with the other basins.

The measures are taken to ensure sustainable water usage, including sectoral impact analysis carried out to determine the sensitivity of basins to drought, the vulnerability of water-dependent sectors and a water budget plan.

Within the scope of the studies, local and regional spots where water footprint sizes are not sustainable in terms of blue, green and gray water footprints at the sub-basin scale were determined and measures that can be applied to reduce the water footprint to sustainable levels were revealed.