PROJETO WineWATERFootprint – DETERMINAÇÃO DA PEGADA HÍDRICA NA FILEIRA VITIVINÍCOLA

Climate change and consequent water scarcity have raised concerns in the agriculture sector and particularly in wine sector, due do the impact that this scarcity has on wine productivity and quality. The efficient use of natural resources and the subsequent reduction of production costs through the adoption of more sustainable practices is now a goal of winegrowers. WineWATERFootprint project intends to evaluate the water footprint in the wine sector through the development of a methodology applied to case studies. Water footprint determination in vineyard and wine, as well as the evaluation of its sustainability, will allow to identify critical points and inefficiencies in the process that can be mitigated. With the acquired knowledge it is intended to propose and implement water management measures that reduce water footprint by 10%. The project will also have a user friendly computational application as output, that will allow to calculate blue, green and gray footprints, independently, in vineyard and winery. The project’s consortium is composed by 5 polytechnic and research institutions and stakeholders, which together allow the development of synergies that enhance knowledge creation and innovation in this value chain.