A nexus modeling framework for assessing water scarcity solutions

Kahil, Taher; Albiac, José; Fischer, G.; Strokal, Maryna; Tramberend, Sylvia; Greve, Peter; Tang, Ting; Burek, P.; Burtscher, R.; Wada, Yoshihide

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2019.09.009

Cited by 40 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…S11 in the Supplement for the CWatM modular structure). Thirdly, each module is identically composed of an initialization class and a dynamic class operating through time; this structure is motivated by the PC-Raster framework (Karssenberg et al, 2010). Alternative descriptions of processes (e.g., Hargreaves instead of Penman-Monteith for calculating potential evaporation) can be included in a module as different initial and dynamic classes, and the selection of the specific process representation can be selected in the settings file.…”

Section: Model Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the Community Water Model (CWatM v1.04) – a high-resolution hydrological model for global and regional assessment of integrated water resources management

et al. 2020

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Abstract. We develop a new large-scale hydrological and water resources model, the Community Water Model (CWatM), which can simulate hydrology both globally and regionally at different resolutions from 30 arcmin to 30 arcsec at daily time steps. CWatM is open source in the Python programming environment and has a modular structure. It uses global, freely available data in the netCDF4 file format for reading, storage, and production of data in a compact way. CWatM includes general surface and groundwater hydrological processes but also takes into account human activities, such as water use and reservoir regulation, by calculating water demands, water use, and return flows. Reservoirs and lakes are included in the model scheme. CWatM is used in the framework of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP), which compares global model outputs. The flexible model structure allows for dynamic interaction with hydro-economic and water quality models for the assessment and evaluation of water management options. Furthermore, the novelty of CWatM is its combination of state-of-the-art hydrological modeling, modular programming, an online user manual and automatic source code documentation, global and regional assessments at different spatial resolutions, and a potential community to add to, change, and expand the open-source project. CWatM also strives to build a community learning environment which is able to freely use an open-source hydrological model and flexible coupling possibilities to other sectoral models, such as energy and agriculture.

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Section: Model Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the Community Water Model (CWatM v1.04) – a high-resolution hydrological model for global and regional assessment of integrated water resources management

et al. 2020

Self Cite

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“…During the last decades, water abstractions have been rising due to increasing world population, improving living standards, changing consumption patterns, economic growth, and expansion of irrigated agriculture (J. Liu et al, 2017; Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2016). The resulting water crisis is expected to become more critical in the near future, driven by socio‐economic and climatic changes (Kahil et al, 2019), but also due to governance failures (Gupta, Pahl‐Wostl, & Zondervan, 2013). Enhancing water supply to alleviate water scarcity has become an important issue in many parts of the world (W. Liu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The controversial debate on the role of water reservoirs in reducing water scarcity

Kellner

2021

WIREs Water

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Reservoirs are built worldwide for a higher water supply in dry periods by storing water temporarily in wet periods. Recent socio‐hydrology studies hypothesized, by creating “supply–demand cycles”, that reservoirs can lead indirectly to counterintuitive dynamics such as more water scarcity and a higher economic and social vulnerability. This opinion argues that reservoirs are part of co‐evolutionary processes with natural, social, and engineered elements and therefore, water scarcity need to be analyzed within socio‐political interactions. Aspects such as (a) institutions; (b) governance processes; (c) social–ecological factors; (d) narratives of water scarcity; and (e) powerful economic interests are essential to understand feedback mechanisms between reservoirs and water scarcity and to hypothesize long‐term phenomena such as water scarcity. Neglecting these interactions could lead to biased research agendas, misleading conclusions, and adverse effects on the transformation process toward sustainability. Given the complexity of social–ecological systems, the diversity and critical capacity of inter‐ and transdisciplinary work is crucial to further advance the study of unintended side effects of reservoirs or — more general — the study of socio‐hydrology. This article is categorized under: Human Water

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“…Daher and Mohtar [26] highlight the importance of the nexus and offer a framework and set of methodologies to define its links. As pointed out in [27], water scarcity challenges highlight the concept of nexus thinking, shifting from a sectoral focus on production maximization to improve efficiency across different involved sectors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water–Food–Energy Nexus Tradeoffs in the São Marcos River Basin

Bof

Marques

Tilmant

et al. 2021

Water

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Given its potentialities and characteristics, energy generation, food production, and water availability have a strong interdependency and correlation. Water is needed to produce energy and food, while energy is required to produce water and food. This nexus brings several challenges when scarce water resources must be allocated among competing uses, often in the form of unexpected tradeoffs. Addressing those challenges requires knowledge about the water–food–energy nexus and the associated tradeoffs to support water allocation and management decisions. Those tradeoffs are still not properly understood in the uncertain and stochastic context of water availability. When not properly accounted for, the results are conflicts, loss of investments, environmental impacts, and limited effectiveness of sectoral policies, all of which undermine a country’s development model relying on water and energy security. This paper addresses the competitive uses of recent irrigated agriculture expansion and existing hydropower production in a Brazilian watershed with water conflicts, assessing the economic tradeoffs and water values between energy and irrigated agricultural production under uncertainty. An explicitly stochastic hydro-economic model is used to determine water’s economic value and its variation in space and time. Results indicate that the agricultural benefits outweigh the potential energy losses, and the best course of action should explore an economically compensated reallocation strategy, upon negotiation among users, rather than imposing water supply cutbacks to the agriculture sector.

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A nexus modeling framework for assessing water scarcity solutions

Cited by 40 publications

References 60 publications

Development of the Community Water Model (CWatM v1.04) – a high-resolution hydrological model for global and regional assessment of integrated water resources management

Development of the Community Water Model (CWatM v1.04) – a high-resolution hydrological model for global and regional assessment of integrated water resources management

The controversial debate on the role of water reservoirs in reducing water scarcity

Water–Food–Energy Nexus Tradeoffs in the São Marcos River Basin

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