Abstract: In the aim of enhancing the efficiency of utilizing water resources in agriculture, we studied the spatial and temporal evolution of water footprint of summer maize in Hebei Province as well as the factors affecting the change of water footprint based on meteorological data from 17 meteorological stations and related agricultural data in Hebei Province from 2002 to 2018. Results revealed that in the study period, the water footprint of summer maize production in Hebei Province declined in a fluctuating mode, averaging 759.03 m³/t annually. By comparing the spatial evolution characteristics of green water footprint and blue water footprint of summer maize in Hebei Province among the year 2002 (low flow), 2003 (normal flow), and 2013 (high flow), we found that the green water footprint in different periods remained approximately the same level, while the blue water footprint differed significantly. Correlation analysis of 13 factors also suggest that the water footprint of summer maize is positively correlated with evapotranspiration and effective irrigation area; but significantly negatively corrlated with the total output value of summer maize.

Key words: green water footprint, blue water footprint, temporal and spatial evolution, summer maize, Hebei province