The objective of this work is to know, at the basin level, the volume of water used by the Mendoza wineries, which is obtained mainly from aquifers. Such information can be used to calculate the water balance in the context of industrial water use. To carry out the estimations, winemaking data from the National Institute of Viticulture were used. Coefficients of liters of water used per liters of wine produced were applied to wine production by basin, obtained from interviews with qualified informants and from local and international bibliography. These coefficients vary between 1.5 and 6 liters of water/liter of wine, which do not include the use of water for irrigation on farms. To analyze the impact on the efficiency of water use, the results were sensitized for three coefficient values. It is estimated that the Mendoza wineries use between 1.66 and 6.66 hm3 /year, depending on the efficiency of water use. Of the total water they use, 85.2% comes from the northern basin, which includes the Mendoza River and the Lower Section of the Tunuyan River.
Keywords: Water use; Cellars; basins; Mendoza
ABSTRACT
The objective of this paper is to estimate, at basin level, the volume of water used by the wineries in Mendoza, which consists mainly of groundwater. This information can be used to calculate the water balance in the context of industrial water use. Estimates were based on winemaking data provided by the National Institute of Viticulture. Coefficients of liters of water per liter of wine were obtained through qualified informants as well as by local and international literature; they were applied to wine production per basin. The said coefficients ranged between 1.5 and 6 liters of water/liters of wine, excluding the use of water for irrigation. To analyze the impact of water use on efficiency, consumption, the results were sensitized for three coefficient values.3 /year, depending on water use efficiency. Out of the total volume of water used by wineries, 85.2% is drawn from the Northern Basin of Mendoza, comprising the Mendoza river and the lower reach of the Tunuyan river.
Keywords : Water use; Wineries; basins; Mendoza
INTRODUCTION
Mendoza is an arid zone in which water was, is and will be the fundamental factor of development. In this sense, all the knowledge related to the current and future uses of water is part of the information for decision-making regarding the allocation of water and its geographical distribution. For some time now, the Center for Economics, Legislation and Water Administration of the National Water Institute (CELA – INA) has collaborated in various publications making global estimates of water use for application to the provincial water balance, among which is the industrial use (7, 8, 12) .
When making these estimates, it is noted that there is more quantitative information to know the demand for agricultural use using data on cultivated area from agricultural censuses or other sources. The demand for domestic use of water is estimated from data on the number of inhabitants and coefficients of drinking water consumption per person. There are no precise estimates of water consumption for the industrial sector in the province of Mendoza. Some studies, carried out by CELA-INA in the 80s and 90s, were focused on the contamination originated by the industrial sector of Mendoza, which analyzed the industrial use of water and the generation of effluents, based on industrial censuses ( 15 ) or in surveys through interviews, (2, 3, 4, 14) . Llop (7) made an estimate in the framework of a study on the value of water. Some estimates made assign 2% of the total demand for water to demand for industrial use (12) .
The purpose of this work is to know the volume of water used by the wineries in Mendoza, which is mainly of underground origin, for its application to the water balance of the productive basins of the province. The wineries are a very important sector of the manufacturing industry of the province, which represented 15% of the GDP for the year 2010. In turn, within said sector, the beverage manufacturing subsector was in second place, with a 28.6%. Likewise, it should be taken into account that almost half of the industrial establishments (49.8%) correspond to the food and beverage sector and the wine industry represents half of these.
On the other hand, in recent years in Mendoza the industrial sector from viticulture has grown considerably. Llop (6) considers that “knowing the current industrial consumption of water will allow a better study of future water demand, both in terms of quality and quantity, and proposing growth models based on technologies compatible with sustainable development.” The consequences on water quality due to this use have been described by Lavie et al. (5) and Álvarez et al . (1). In this way, the demand for industrial use is an input in the decision models for the management of water resources, which incorporate the hydrogeological and economic dimensions and socioeconomic impacts.
The water in a winery is used, during production times, for cleaning presses, grinders and presses, while during the rest of the year it is used for washing pools, tanks, filters, floors, etc.
In the fractionation stage of the elaborated wine, the water is used for washing bottles and demijohns. There are two types of washing, an external one that is carried out with hard water and an internal washing that is done with softened water, so that a conditioning system is required for it (11 ) .
nazralaet al. (9) in their work on water consumption in wineries and effluent management, they present input/output coefficients for different stages of the process in the winery, finding for the production period 1.63 liters of water/liter of wine produced and 1 .45 for the rest of the year.
This note presents results of a first stage of the CELA-INA research project, which has the support of the General Department of Irrigation, and which aims to know the demand for water by the manufacturing industry of Mendoza, for its application in water balances at basin level. The objectives of this stage are: 1) to know the volume of water used by the wineries in the province of Mendoza, at the watershed level and 2) to show three scenarios of water consumption in the wineries of Mendoza for the main watersheds.
METHODOLOGY
The volume of water used was estimated from the wine produced in each of the departments of the province, which were grouped according to the main basins of the province: river basin 1) Mendoza and Tunuyán Inferior or North basin, 2) Tunuyán Superior or Central Basin, and 3) Diamante and Atuel or South Basin.
The wine production data was taken from the National Viticulture Institute (INV) and the average produced by basin in 2009, 2010 and 2011 was used, to which input/output coefficients were applied. Three water consumption scenarios per year were proposed, using different values for the coefficients. The first, which is adopted as the central value, is the one calculated by Nazrala et al. (9)of 3.08 liters of water per liter of wine produced. It coincides with the one suggested by Miguel A. Escalante, in an interview conducted by Graciela Fasciolo in May 2011. The second was provided by the Bodegas Argentinas Sustainability Commission, which brings together a group of wineries concerned for several years about the measurement of the sustainability of the activity through indicators, including water consumption. Some of these wineries, pioneers in quality certification, consume around 1.5 liters of water per liter of wine produced. A higher water consumption would be given from 6 liters of water per liter of wine produced, even mentioning the bibliography up to 20 liters of water per liter of wine (11).. The third scenario adopts the first of these two values.
The annual demand for water from the wineries is compared with that for irrigation, drinking water and other uses presented in the Strategic Framework for the province of Mendoza (12) .
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 shows the wine production for the average of 2009, 2010 and 2011, in each of the productive basins of the province and the water consumption per year for the three scenarios.
Table 1 . Water consumption in wineries in Mendoza for three scenarios. By basin.
Table 1 . Water consumption by wineries in Mendoza for three scenarios. Per basin.
The estimate of water consumption in wineries in Mendoza, using the central coefficient, yields a value of 3.42 hm3 per year. Efficient use could save 50% of the water used and inefficient careless use would double that value. The Mendoza and Tunuyán Inferior river basin (or North basin), the most compromised in the province in terms of its water balance, uses 85.2% of the water demanded by Mendoza’s wineries. In this basin, efficient water management by wineries would have a high positive impact, which in some cases could go from 5.6 to 2.9 hm 3 /year.
Table 2 summarizes partial results of the demands for irrigation, drinking water and other uses obtained from the Strategic Framework for the province of Mendoza.(12) .
Table 2 . Water demand in Mendoza, by basin and type of use. In hm 3 /year.
Table 2 . Water demand in Mendoza, per basin and per use. In hm 3 /year.
It is observed that the Mendoza wineries use 0.06% of the water demanded in the three basins, a percentage that reaches 0.10% in the Mendoza and Tunuyán Superior river basins.
The use of water by the wineries, in terms relative to other uses, is low. However, it must be taken into account that these values do not include the irrigation water necessary for the cultivation of the vine.
To carry out a global analysis related to the importance of water use by the wine sector, it would be necessary to include said consumption, which was not covered in the objective of this work. However, it can be mentioned that estimates made with the water footprint methodology point to a value of 109 liters of water per glass of wine, which is approximately equivalent to 872 liters of water per liter of wine produced (13 ) . Water estimates for irrigation have been presented by Roldán Cañas et al. (10) .
In this work, a percentage value of water from the wineries in relation to the total water demand by the manufacturing industry is not risked, because it has not been estimated with acceptable precision. Future stages of this project aim to make such estimates.
CONCLUSIONS
It is estimated that the wineries in Mendoza use a volume of 3.4 hm 3 of water/year in the activities of cleaning presses, grinders, presses, washing pools, tanks, filters, floors and washing bottles and demijohns.
Efficient water management by the wineries would allow water consumption to be reduced to values of 1.66 hm 3 /year, which implies almost 50% less than the current estimated consumption.
A scenario of inefficient use of water in the Mendoza wineries would double such consumption estimate, which would reach 6.7 hm 3 per year.
The greatest consumption of water in the wineries occurs in the basin of the Mendoza and Tunuyán Inferior rivers, representing 85.2% of the total water demanded by the wineries at the provincial level. In this basin, the use of water in wineries represents 0.1% of the water demand.
In order to know the percentage of water used by wineries in relation to the use of the manufacturing industry, it is necessary to have more precise estimates for this use. It is therefore recommended to carry out research to improve these values.
Thanks
To the Bodegas Argentinas Sustainability Commission and its manager, Luis Romito, for allowing us to access the information on their sustainability indicators.
REFERENCES
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- Bertranou, AV; Bagini’s Fasciolo, GE; Gomez, C. 1982. Pollution control costs in urban areas. Design for the survey of information from industrial establishments. Area of influence of the Pescara Canal, Maipú, Mendoza. Methodological Report (3). Mendoza, INCYTH-CELA. Bodegas Argentinas, Sustainability Commission, 2011. Sustainable Management Models in Viticulture. (Unpublished). [ Links]
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- Llop, A. 2008. Socioeconomic Impact of CC and Seasonality in the North Basin of Mendoza – Argentine Institute of Nivoglaciology CCT CONICET Mendoza. In: Joint Advanced Study Program (ASP) – International American Institute for Climate Change (IAI). [ Links]
