The economy of water with environmental Social Accounting Matrices

The study fits in the field of environmental input-output analysis, looking at the Spanish economic structure and water flows embodied in trade among sectors and countries. The context is the last decade, discussing in the 1st chapter the province of Huesca (Spain), as a prototype, with good agriculture information, to analyze more precisely the water footprint (WF) of the citizens and virtual water (VW) flows, finding the region a net exporter of VW. The 2nd chapter on the Spanish economy deals with disaggregated agricultural data, but also from the whole food system (food industry, food trade, final goods and services in hotels and restaurants, etc). Spain as a whole is a net importer of VW (despite the large export of fruits and vegetables and through tourism), with high VW imports of food products, especially from countries outside of the EU (still France is the main origin), but also from goods such as textiles from China. The 3d chapter offers scenarios and simulations on WF variation based on economic changes, payments for water and demands (notably diets and tourism), such as how a shift towards a healthier diet would be water and money saving for the Spanish households.