Evaluating the Water Ecosystem Services Footprint to support agricultural water management in Central Italy: a watershed scale approach

By integrating hydrological modelling and Water Footprint (WF) analysis, this study aims at evaluating a Water Ecosystem Services Footprint (WESF) associated with the agricultural sector analyzing both the supply and demand of WES. Combining the evaluation of WES demand, determined by the agricultural sector using the WF assessment methodology and the quantification of WES supply by applying the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), the proposed methodology introduces green, blue, and gray WESF indicators to identify the main hotspots connected to the agricultural production. The methodology is applied to a specific case study in the upstream part of the Arno River basin (Central Italy).