El metabolismo hídrico y los flujos de agua virtual. Una aplicación al sector hortofrutícola de Andalucía (España)

This work (1) proposes a new concept, the Water Metabolism (WM), as an conceptual and methodological framework of the water demand management to study the virtual and real water flows and (2) applies that framework for the estimation of the WM of the fruit and vegetable sector of Andalusia in year 2004. The main conclusions follow. (a) The WM is a good framework for the study of the water flows of an Economy, considering real and virtual flows as well as inputs and outputs. (b) Regarding to the water flows, the study found out that the region is exporting more VW than imported what confirms that the agricultural policy does not fit with the resources, given the water scarcity, climatic and territorial characteristics of the region.