With the deteriorating state of freshwater resources due to rising demand and pollution all over the world, it becomes important to address water stress in terms of both quantity and quality. In addition, referred to the concept of virtual water trade, virtual water pollution shifting related to inter-regional commodity trade has rarely been investigated, no mention to the elaboration of water quality stress shifting among regions. This is mainly due to lack of data for pollution releasing to water bodies from different sectors.
The overall objective of this research is to estimate the burdens shifting of both water quantity and quality stress through inter-regional commodity trade, at three spatial levels (river basin, national and global) and over the period 1996-2015. Furthermore, this study will analyze the changes of burden shifting patterns when we increasing the water productivity to the benchmarking levels of different sectors.