Grey water footprint of malting barley production
Agriculture is the world’s main freshwater consumer; it also contributes to its contamination through fertilizers and pesticides. This article focuses on the grey water footprint (GWF) as an environmental indicator assessing the impact of agricultural production on water resources. The study analyses the GWF of malting barley production on an area of 9,674 ha in different regions of the Czech Republic. Special empha-sis is placed on including pesticides in the GWF calculation, as their impact on freshwater ecosystems and human health may exceed the impact of fertilizers. The analysis shows that insecticides have the highest GWF, especially deltamethrin, whose GWF is an order of magnitude higher than that of other agrochemicals. The study highlights the importance of including pesticides in future GWF assess-ments to better assess the environmental impacts of agricultural production and optimize sustainable water resource management strategies. At the same time, the study discusses different approaches to including biologically active substances in grey water footprint models.
