Decoupling agricultural water consumption and environmental impact from crop production based on the water footprint method: A case study for the Heilongjiang land reclamation area, China

Crop production consumes and pollutes large volumes of water. Previous literature predominantly discusses a single indicator of agricultural water consumption or environmental impact from crop production. This study integrates a water footprint method into a decoupling analysis. The water footprint method uses multidimensional indicators to illustrate agricultural water consumed or polluted in crop production according to its elements and sources. Using the largest commodity grain in China during the years 2000–2009 as a case study, this research focuses on the analysis of decoupling agricultural water consumption and environmental impact from crop production based on two indexes, DY−WC and DY−WEI. The results show the following: (1) a strong decoupling trend occurred more in the analysis of decoupling agricultural water consumption from crop production; (2) weak decoupling occurred more often in the analysis of decoupling agricultural water environmental impact from crop production.