An alarming four billion individual’s worldwide grapple with acute water scarcity. Notably, South Africa, nestled amongst the world's most parched lands, suffers from severe freshwater limitations, ranking 30th in scarcity indices. Introduced in 2003, the "water footprint" framework offers a valuable technique for measuring water utilization in production systems. The WF is composed of three colors: green, blue, and grey. Data on potato production, price, and weather data from 2006 to 2015 were obtained from the Potatoes South Africa (PSA), Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) databases. Analysis of staple water use, evapotranspiration, and irrigation schemes for crop production was carried out using CROPWAT 8.0 software as well as physical, land, and economic water productivities. Across South African Provinces, the water footprint of potato production - encompassing green, blue, and grey components - outstrips global averages, exhibiting notable provincial discrepancies. The result shows that there is a need for more efficient water use across the Provinces. PWP was highest in Northern Cape (3.08 t/m3) and lowest in Gauteng (1.99 t/m3). EWP was highest in the Northern Cape (1.0) and lowest in Gauteng (0.65 US$/m3) depicting the high cost of water use per m3 in potato production. ELP, however, was highest in the North West and lowest in the Free State. The scenario could be improved upon by efficient irrigation water use and the application of a minimum level of fertilizer in a bid to ameliorate blue and grey water.
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