Review of hydro-economic models to address river basin management problems: structure, applications and research gaps

Bekchanov, Maksud; Sood, Aditya; Jeuland, Marc

doi:10.5337/2015.218

Cited by 16 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 129 publications

(195 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The partial equilibrium models are based on simulation and/or optimization approaches and usually address detailed spatial and temporal patterns of water and/or energy systems. Yet, these models are used to predominantly assess direct economic revenues or benefits of water and/or energy uses [12,15]. In contrast, economy-wide models based on input-output or on computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling approaches are used to assess economy-wide income levels and their distributions, or internal and external trade effects due to changes in the water and/or energy systems [15,[29][30][31].…”

Section: Selection Of the Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Integrated modeling of water and energy systems is based on partial or general equilibrium approaches [15]. The partial equilibrium models are based on simulation and/or optimization approaches and usually address detailed spatial and temporal patterns of water and/or energy systems.…”

Section: Selection Of the Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Groundwater aquifers are considered in parallel with the river nodes; thus, production sites may Main components and extensions included in the system-wide economic-water-energy model (SEWEM). Key components of existing hydro-economic models are represented in boxes with a white background (see also Bekchanov et al [15] for a more detailed review of hydro-economic models and their shortcomings). The additional features now included in SEWEM to reflect water-energy-food/livelihood nexus linkages are represented in the boxes with a light reddish background.…”

Section: The Model Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Owing to the frequent occurrence of a separate management of water, energy, and food/livelihood systems, most of the existing water-economic models do not consider water demand for energy generation (except hydropower) or energy needs to ensure water supply for food production [15]. At the same time, energy planning models have focused on energy production and its distribution across sectors, but did not usually consider the dependence of energy production on water consumptiont5 or energy requirements for surface and ground water extraction through pumping [20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Economic analysis and modeling tools play a key role in assessing the efficient use of resources [9,[11][12][13][14][15]. However, in spite of the close interlinkages between water, energy, and food/livelihood management systems, the management of these systems by separate ministries and institutions, as typical in many countries, have resulted in conflicting decisions [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The Effect of Energy Constraints on Water Allocation Decisions: The Elaboration and Application of a System-Wide Economic-Water-Energy Model (SEWEM)

Bekchanov

Lamers²

2016

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Worldwide, demand for water, energy, and food are on the rise due to population and industrial growth. Because of such increasing demands and in spite of the limitedness of key resources, more efficient ways to meet these demands become obligatory. Especially considering the multiple interlinkages between water, energy, and food/livelihood systems, an integrated management of key resources such as water, land, and energy deems essential for realizing synergetic efficiencies, for consistent policy decisions, and for sustainable development, in particular across the river basins of the world. Therefore, the general framework of a system-wide economic-water-energy model (SEWEM), which is applicable across river basins and adjustable to different spatial scales such as sub-catchments, is presented here to meet the demands for an effective analytical tool in dealing with water-energy-food/livelihood nexus challenges. Previous hydro-economic models often ignored energy requirements, for instance, for irrigation water supply, as well as energy supply constraints, which recurrently might have led to an overestimation of the optimal levels of ground and surface water uses. The SEWEM was developed to address this gap and analyze how optimal levels of surface and groundwater uses, as well as on irrigation and power production benefits, change in response to the consideration of energy supply constraints and energy requirements for water pumping and other agricultural production operations. This is illustrated for the case of the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) in Central Asia, where surface and groundwater supplies heavily depend on pumping and thus on energy availability. The findings underlined the overestimations of optimal water uses by a hydro-economic model that neglects energy constraints. Moreover, geographical conditions have affected the changes in optimal ratios of surface and groundwater uses and water distributions across the river basin when energy restrictions are taken into account. The results confirmed the importance of the consideration of energy constraints for the assessment of optimal water and land uses, and the essential role of an integrated analysis of water, energy, and food/livelihood systems for better-informed policy-making. Despite the added value of the SEWEM that can consider energy system constraints, further fine-tunings would make it even more relevant for addressing additional questions related to basin management. For example, improvements can be expected through considering the system dynamics, ecological aspects, income distribution effects, trade relationships, and institutional restrictions.

show abstract

Section: Selection Of the Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Selection Of the Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Model Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Effect of Energy Constraints on Water Allocation Decisions: The Elaboration and Application of a System-Wide Economic-Water-Energy Model (SEWEM)

Bekchanov

Lamers²

2016

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Water storage in a changing environment: The impact of allocation institutions on value

Maas

Dozier

Manning

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As populations increase in arid regions of the world, investment in water infrastructure improves resource management by increasing control over the location and timing of water allocation. Many studies have explored freer trade as a substitute for additional infrastructure investment. We instead quantify how water allocation institutions, reservoir management objectives, and storage capacity influence the value derived from a reservoir system. We develop a stochastic dynamic programming model of a reservoir system that faces within‐year variation in weather‐dependent water demand as well as stochastic semiannual inflows. We parameterize the model using the Colorado‐Big Thompson system, which transports stored water from the West Slope of the Rocky Mountains to the East Slope. We then evaluate the performance of the system under five institutional settings. Our results suggest that rigid allocation mechanisms and inefficient management objectives result in a decrease of up to 13% in the value generated from stored water when compared to a free trade scenario, an impact on par with predicted losses associated with climate‐change‐induced inflow reductions. We also find that under biased management objectives, increasing storage capacity can decrease the social value obtained from stored water.

show abstract

Economic costs of reduced irrigation water availability in Uzbekistan (Central Asia)

Bekchanov

Lamers²

2016

Reg Environ Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reduced river runoff and expected upstream infrastructural developments are both potential threats to irrigation water availability for the downstream countries in Central Asia. Although it has been recurrently mentioned that a reduction in water supply will hamper irrigation in the downstream countries, the magnitude of associated economic losses, economy-wide repercussions on employment rates, and degradation of irrigated lands has not been quantified as yet. A computable general equilibrium model is used to assess the economy-wide consequences of a reduced water supply in Uzbekistan—a country that encompasses more than half of the entire irrigated croplands in Central Asia. Modeling findings showed that a 10–20 % reduction in water supply, as expected in the near future, may reduce the areas to be irrigated by 241,000–374,000 hectares and may cause unemployment to a population of 712–868,000, resulting in a loss for the national income of 3.6–4.3 %. A series of technical, financial, and institutional measures, implementable at all levels starting from the farm to the basin scale, are discussed for reducing the expected water risks. The prospects of improving the basin-wide water management governance, increasing water and energy use efficiency, and establishing the necessary legal and institutional frameworks for enhancing the introduction of needed technological and socioeconomic change are argued as options for gaining more regional water security and equity

show abstract

Review of hydro-economic models to address river basin management problems: structure, applications and research gaps

Cited by 16 publications

References 129 publications

The Effect of Energy Constraints on Water Allocation Decisions: The Elaboration and Application of a System-Wide Economic-Water-Energy Model (SEWEM)

The Effect of Energy Constraints on Water Allocation Decisions: The Elaboration and Application of a System-Wide Economic-Water-Energy Model (SEWEM)

Water storage in a changing environment: The impact of allocation institutions on value

Economic costs of reduced irrigation water availability in Uzbekistan (Central Asia)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About