“…Recently, the interdependence of water and energy, captured through the concept of “water–energy nexus” (WEN), is being recognized as worthy of examination to seek simultaneous improvement in efficiency in managing both resources (USDOE, 2006, 2007; Marsh, 2008; Retamal et al ., 2008; Cammerman, 2009; Bartos and Chester, 2014; Hamiche et al , 2016; Liu et al , 2017). In addition to formulating the general concept and framework of WEN (Bazilian et al , 2011; Hoff, 2011; Kenway et al , 2011a, 2011b), researchers have explored how specific production processes or technology of one sector affect the other (Lofman et al , 2002; Gao, 2012; Cai et al , 2014; Liu et al , 2015a, 2015b). Given that cities are foci of energy consumption, it is surprising that very few WEN studies have examined urban areas (Fang and Chen, 2017).…”