Industrial Water Demand Research Articles

Water Resources Allocation of the Changjiang To Huai River Water Diversion

The Changjiangriver to Huai river water diversion project plans to divert water from the lower reaches of the Changjiangriver to replenish water in the middle reaches of the Huaihe river, mainly for the purpose of ensuring urban and rural water supply, developing Jianghuai shipping and improving river and lake ecology. In this paper, we predict the four aspects water demand including domestic, industrial, agricultural and ecological water demand in the river channel in 2030. According to the rules of lakes and water supply projects, we can obtain the water supply under different typical years. The balance of water supply and demand is analyzed for different circumstances. It is concluded that the average annual total water demand in the planned area in 2030 is 18.335 billion m3, the total water supply is 15.356 billion m3, and the water shortage is 2.979 billion m3.

Does the trading of water rights encourage technology improvement and agricultural water conservation?

Although agricultural irrigation technology in China has been steadily improved for decades, the realized water conservation in the agricultural sector is not as good as expected. This paper examines whether water rights trading can encourage agricultural water conservation through technology improvement. Our fixed effects model specification confirms that water rights trading has a moderation effect on agricultural water conservation via technology improvement. We further identify that the moderation effect is driven by two forces which we label as the “revenue-driven” effect and “industrial water pressure-driven” effect. In general, the revenue effect drives farmers to improve the technology. However, the pressure from industrial water demand has more pronounced effects than the revenue-driven channel. Under the dual pressure of high industrial water consumption and low water endowment, farmers tend actively promote irrigation technology and reduce agricultural water use even if there is no revenue-driven effects. In addition, this paper reveals the existence of bottleneck on the moderated technology improvement, due to the reduced capacity on water rights supply in the agricultural sector.

Urban water supply system optimization and planning: Bi-objective optimization and system dynamics methods

Sustainable, low-cost, environmentally conscious development is a major challenge for urban water supply systems. This study considers household and industrial water demand and establishes a bi-objective model to balance the economic and environmental cost of a three-stage urban water supply system including water production, distribution, and treatment processes. Considering different attitudes toward the increasing imbalance between water demand and supply, three hypothetical scenarios are designed based on which three sets of data on water demand and wastewater production volumes are defined. Then, a two-step method is applied to obtain solutions to decision variables (potable water use rate and wastewater untreated rate). After optimization, a system dynamics model is applied to test water supply system performance under short-, medium-, and long-term planning scenarios. Finally, the model is applied to Singapore to test its feasibility. The proposed bi-objective model provides managerial insights into the use of alternative water resources. For example, in 2020, water demand is simulated as 5.63×108m3. After optimization using the proposed model, the quantity of alternative water is 2.5×108m3 (water from the local catchment), 2.5×108m3 (imported water), 5.31×107m3 (desalinated water), 4.05×107m3 (NEWater for indirect potable use), and 8.10×107m3 (NEWater for direct non-potable use). Total water supply is 6.75×108m3, which means there is some redundancy in water supply. Further, three indexes—supply-demand ratio, economic cost, and environmental cost—help to identify the suitable planning period: the medium-term focus is the most appropriate option as it promises water adequacy for over 15 years and has lower energy costs and less negative environmental impact during the evaluation years. In addition, this study proves the influence of decision makers’ preferences on contradictory objective functions (economic cost minimization and environmental negative impact minimization). Overall, the proposed model balances a trade-off between the risk of an increasing future supply-demand imbalance and current water adequacy. Lastly, the proposed model offers a paradigm to identify a sustainable planning period.

Evaluating the Risks of Groundwater Extraction in an Agricultural Landscape under Different Climate Projections

Groundwater resources worldwide are being depleted at alarming rates since 1960 to support agriculture, industry, and domestic water demand. Water harvesting and the implementation of reduced application or more efficient irrigation technologies were identified as two of the most efficient practices to mitigate the declining patterns on groundwater resources. However, prior to implementing these practices, understanding how groundwater interacts with surface water and responds to natural and anthropogenic stressors is crucial. Integrated modeling tools that are able to exchange fluxes in both domains are needed to assess how conservation practices will affect our water resources under different projected climate and land use scenarios. This study aimed to evaluate the most likely impacts of current land management practices under the most severe projections of future climate and quantify the potential mitigation effects of three conservation scenarios on the water resources of the Fort Cobb Reservoir Experimental Watershed (FCREW) in western Oklahoma. The semicoupled SWAT-MODFLOW (SWATmf) model was used to simulate the hydrologic responses of the FCREW to a 50% reduction in the irrigation depths and the transition of 50% and 75% of croplands to rangelands under 32 distinct climate projections. Results showed that future climate can drive a reduction in the streamflow (−18%) and an increase to the depth of the water table (99%–120%) in the western part of the FCREW by the end of the century. The Fort Cobb Reservoir was expected to reduce its release after the mid-2060s to maintain its current target level. All the scenarios, aimed at decreasing groundwater extractions or implementing conservation measures, signaled a full recovery response in the groundwater levels 7–10 years after the year the conservation practices were implemented. The 50% reduction in the irrigation depths was found to elicit faster hydrologic systemic responses than the two that implemented conservation measures, which contravene tradition and would imply cessation of agricultural activities. This study can enable stakeholders to formulate timely adaptation and mitigating strategies to adopt to land use changes.

Scotland's industrial water use: Understanding recent changes and examining the future

Future climate scenarios predict significant changes in the availability of water resources at global and regional scales. Knowledge of the possible economic consequences of this are limited by a shortage of data linking economic activity with physical water use. Matching a unique premise-level dataset to economic indicators at industrial/sector level, this paper undertakes a decomposition of changes in industrial water demand for Scotland between 2012 and 2016. Results highlight the importance of taking a sectoral approach, as changes in sectoral water intensity are significant. Furthermore, changes in the structure of the economy, i.e. a move away from water-intensive industries, highlight further reductions in overall water consumption. By considering future scenarios for Scottish water resources, this paper identifies key multi-disciplinary research challenges to address the major obstacles in developing a climate-ready water policy, which also captures the potential economic opportunities for Scotland from an awareness of the role of water in the economy.

Drought risk assessment for future climate projections in the Nakdong River Basin, Korea

AbstractTo prepare for the potential of extreme drought caused by climate change, both physical and socioeconomic factors need to be considered. In this study, three general circulation models were selected: IPSL‐CM5A‐LR, HadGEM2‐AO, and CanESM2 as representative scenarios for severe, moderate, and relatively weak droughts to assess the risk of droughts for future climate projections. Drought hazard was estimated using the meteorological drought index to determine drought frequency, severity, and probability. Population density, agricultural land area, and municipal, agricultural, and industrial water demand were used as drought vulnerability indicators. The Analytical Hierarchy Process technique was applied to determine the weight of each indicator, and the integrated drought risk was then estimated. HadGEM2‐AO and CanESM2 projected that drought risk would be reduced in the far future. IPSL‐CM5A‐LR projected an increased drought risk in the near and far future in the downstream area of the Nakdong River Basin. This study presented a quantitative approach to identify high drought‐risk areas that should be the focus of future extreme drought assessments and mid‐ to long‐term drought mitigation strategies.

At the crossroads: can desalination be a suitable public policy solution to address water scarcity in Chile's mining zones?

Water scarcity is a global issue that is threatening social and economic development. One approach to alleviating scarcity is the incorporation of new water sources into supply systems, including desalinated seawater for industrial and municipal use. In Chile, large volumes of water are used in water-scarce regions where mining takes place, alongside agriculture and small communities. This situation has driven a debate around policies to increase the use of seawater to satisfy the water demand of the mining industry. The economic, social and environmental implications of such a policy, however, are poorly understood and the current regulatory framework to address concerns and uncertainties is inadequate. This paper presents a technical, legal, economic and environmental appraisal of such a policy and considers options to improve outcomes. The appraisal suggests that clear regulations derived from economic, social and environmental analysis must be generated to provide legal certainty and reduce risks. Alternative or complementary water supply options should be allowed where mining operations can demonstrate negligible hydrological and social impacts or use innovative solutions such as stakeholder water rights swaps and water efficiency technologies. We provide insight that will help to drive a better policymaking process aimed at tackling water scarcity in Chile and in similar areas of the world.

Study on Planning, Utilization and Protection of Emergency Water Source in Danyang City

In order to respond to sudden water pollution incidents of surface water sources efficiently and ensure the water demand of industry and living in Danyang City, the location of emergency groundwater sources in Danyang City was confirmed by comparison of schemes. According to the relevant emergency water supply regulations, the forecast analysis determines that the emergency water supply event is assumed to be 7 days and the emergency water supply scale is assumed to be 300,000 m3/d. The demonstration scheme of emergency water source wasput forward. The groundwater level change was analyzed by numerical simulation, and the groundwater quality is evaluated. Results of simulationshow that the pore water in Binjiang area is abundant and can be used as a medium to large water source. The groundwater quality is extremely complex, the shallow groundwater quality is poor, it is not suitable for drinking, and the deep water quality is relatively good. After treatment, it can be used as an emergency water source. Under the condition of emergency exploitation of water source area, the water level of the second aquifer group in the mining funnel area will approach - 20m, forming an obvious water level depression funnel area.

An Empirical Research on Influence Factors of Industrial Water Use

The contradiction between increasing demand and current supply has affected the healthy development of industry. Investigating the key influence factors of industrial water use change has important practical significance for water resource management. In this study, the authors propose the vector autoregression model to analyze the dynamic influences of industrial development, technological progress, and environmental protection on industrial water use change, and take Jiangsu Province, China as a case study. Results show that each of the factors had different effects during 2001–2015, in which industrial development was the greatest contributor to the change of industrial water use and showed a positive effect in the forecast period; technological progress played a major role in reducing industrial water use, but the negative effect weakened periodically over time; environmental protection also had a positive influence in the early forecast period, and then showed a marginal effect with time. Results of this study could assist the relevant authorities to formulate appropriate industrial development planning and water saving policies, and to reasonably control the industrial water demand.

Urban Industrial Water Supply and Demand: System Dynamic Model and Simulation Based on Cobb–Douglas Function

In order to meet the needs of water-saving society development, the system dynamics method and the Cobb–Douglas (C–D) production function were combined to build a supply and demand model for urban industrial water use. In this model, the industrial water demand function is expressed as the sum of the general industrial water demand and the power industry water demand, the urban water supply function is expressed as the Cobb–Douglas production function, investment and labor input are used as the control variables, and the difference between supply and demand in various situations is simulated by adjusting their values. In addition, the system simulation is conducted for Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China, with 16 sets of different, carefully designed investment and labor input combinations for exploring a most suitable combination of industrial water supply and demand in Suzhou. We divide the results of prediction into four categories: supply less than demand, supply equals demand, supply exceeds demand, and supply much larger than demand. The balance between supply and demand is a most suitable setting for Suzhou City to develop, and the next is the type in which the supply exceeds demand. The other two types cannot meet the development requirements. We concluded that it is easier to adjust the investment than to adjust the labor input when adjusting the control variables to change the industrial water supply. While drawing the ideal combination of investment and labor input, a reasonable range of investment and labor input is also provided: the scope of investment adjustment is , and the adjustment range of labor input is .

Study on development mode and regulation of water-land-ecology-economy in Sanjiang Plain, China

Sanjiang Plain is an important grain yield base and ecological demonstration zone of China. Its ecological security, food production, and GDP development can support the sustainable development of SJP. China government focuses on the supply and utilization of resources and grain yield, local government pays attention to the gross domestic product of all sorts of industry, local residents concern the area of paddy and dry lands. This paper takes GDP, grain yield, and ecological service value as our targets under Normal water year and dry year. 8 kinds of land use (dry land, rice (irrigation), rice (rainfed), forest, grassland, wetland, water area, residents), 3 types of industrial development (primary industry, secondary industry, tertiary industry), 3 sorts of water sources (surface water, groundwater, transit water) and 7 ways of water utilization (urban domestic water, rural domestic water, primary industry water, secondary industry water demand, tertiary industry water demand, urban ecological water demand, wetland Ecological water demand) are considered. A comprehensive configuration model of the Sanjiang Plain in the near future (2020) and mid-term future (2025) is presented, which is solved by an optimize software of lingo. The results derived show that the GDP will increase by 50%, the grain output will double, and there is also a slight increase of the ecological service value at 2025.

Experimental Study on Productivity of Different Designs of Solar Stills in Hot Climatic Conditions

Because of the large increase in energy and water demand for agriculture, industry and human needs, and the increase in water pollution problems due to urbanization, industry and human activities, the demand for potable water has increased. Solar desalination is an alternative approach to save energy and converting saltwater into high-quality drinking water using solar energy. This work aims to design, manufacture, and test two types of solar still images (i.e. single slope and transparent tent) in order to improve their heat absorption and thereby improve efficiency under the prevailing hot climatic conditions of Al-Medina Al-Monawra. Accordingly, solar energy has been used for distillation purposes for saltwater purification to be used for drinking and irrigation in arid areas. Although solar devices are still simple in design, their values and advantages are very high. It also relies solely on renewable energy sources that are clean, free and unpolluted. In addition, economic analysis and comparisons of water productivity between the single slope solar still and the transparent tent have been presented. The results have indicated that the productivity of water per square meters per day for the transparent tent solar still is higher than the one of the single-slope solar still by about 6%. From economic analysis, the recovery period for both systems has been found to be about 3.5 years.

Model kebijakan strategis pengelolaan lingkungan kawasan industri (Studi Kasus Kawasan Industri Jababeka dan EJIP di Kabupaten Bekasi)

The model of key factors contributing to support sustainability of the environmental management in the industrial estate were studied. These factors were the result of the prior research of prospective analysis that classified as the leverage factors and the driving factors. These factors were studied by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as the criteria and alternatives input to elaborate the priority in the model of environmental management. AHP matrices were analyzed by purposive expert in the depth interview procedure. The analysis result showed that the industrial estate manager is the most important as the firts actor in the model (63.7%), the second actor is the industrial company as the tenant of the first actor (25.8%), and third actor is the local government (10.5 %). The priority of the dimension of the model in a row were economic (38.1%), social (19.4%), institutional management (19.3%), ecology (13.8%) and technology (9.4%). For developing the model there were five driving factors that develop the alternatives of the policy for achieving the goal. The priority of the alternatives in a row were improving the quality of industrial wastewater (29.5%), improving wastewater quality of integrated wastewater treatment plant outlet of the estate manager facility (21.5%), obtaining the industrial water demand (19.1%), conducting 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) program of hazardous waste, and maintaining and supporting employed people in condusive work environment. By AHP result which resulting the priority of actors, dimensions, and alternatives, the model was developed effectively .

Optimizing water resources allocation in the Haihe River basin under groundwater sustainability constraints

This study applies a hydroeconomic optimization method for water resources management in the highly water stressed Haihe River basin. A multi-objective, multi-temporal deterministic hydroeconomic optimization model has been built to quantify the economic trade-offs and reveal “minimum cost strategies” when reducing groundwater abstraction to sustainable levels. A complex basin representation, with ∼140,000 decision variables is formulated where each decision variable represents a flow-path from a water source to a sink. Available water sources are runoff generated by the sub-basins upstream the nine major surface water reservoirs, the inter-basin transfers from Yellow River and South to North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) and the natural groundwater recharge to the three main groundwater aquifers. Water demands, i.e. sinks, are aggregated for each model sub-basin in categories of the major agricultural users, domestic, industrial and ecological water demands. Each demand is associated with a curtailment cost and groundwater abstraction with a pumping cost. Groundwater overdraft is constrained in each model scenario, ranging from unlimited overdraft in the plain area groundwater aquifer to sustainable abstractions over an 8-year period. Inflow upstream Yuqiao reservoir, and the inter-basin transfers from SNWTP and Yellow River are identified as the water resources with the highest increase in average shadow prices when limiting groundwater overdraft. An increase in inflow shadow prices of 37.5% indicates that these water sources will be most valuable if sustainable groundwater abstraction should be achieved. The shadow prices of water sources reveal when and where in the Haihe River basin users are curtailed if water resources are managed in the most optimal way. Average shadow prices of 1.6 yuan/m3 for all surface water sources in the sustainable abstraction scenarios shows that overdraft can be avoided by curtailment of users with a willingness-to-pay ≤1.6 yuan/m3. The shadow prices of the existing surface water reservoirs represented in the model shows that no costs can be saved from expanding their capacities. Finally, the cost of achieving sustainable groundwater abstraction with present water resource availability is found to be minimum 8.2 billion yuan/year.

Estimation of industrial water demand in India using census-based statistical data

Rising population and industrialisation aided by technological advancements have resulted in increased industrial water demand in India. Industrial water demand accounts for about 8–10 % of the total water demand in the country. Although some national and international organisations report industrial water demand, there is a wide variation in data due to the scarcity of the reliable data and inconsistencies in the methods adopted for quantification. Rather than using these estimates, the census-based statistical data could provide better figures. Therefore, the present study aims to quantify industrial water demand by compiling census-based statistical data collected from various Governmental agencies in India. Based on census datasets collected at National and State Governmental institutions, this study develops a new model to estimate industrial water demand. Industrial water demand is estimated in this study at State and monthly scale from 1991 to 2010. The study models industrial water demand as a function of industrial production data, industrial survey components, and economic/technological development indicators. Principal component analysis is employed to reduce these large number of input variables to a smaller number of latent variables, which account for the variance in the input variables. The model results are cross-validated with industrial water demand data obtained from National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development (NCIWRD). Country-level estimates are disaggregated to State-level water demand estimates based on number of industrial units in each State. These State-level results are verified against an independent census dataset on industrial water demand collected from State Governmental organisations. It is found that industrial water demand increased at a rate of 2% per annum during the period of analysis, which exceeds the increase rate of agricultural and domestic water demands during the same period.

A new uncertain regression model and its application

Uncertain linear regression (ULR) model based on symmetric triangular uncertain set has been studied early. This paper extends the symmetric triangular uncertain coefficients to asymmetric triangular uncertain coefficients and builds two methods for estimating the parameters of ULR model. Our aim is to minimize the differences of the uncertain membership functions between the observed and estimated values. Firstly, we propose a linear programming method, whose principle is to minimize the sum of the absolute values of the differences between left width and right width of two triangular uncertain sets for each index i. Secondly, we develop a new nonlinear programming method by maximizing the overlaps of acreage of the estimated and real triangular uncertain sets in a particular \(h_i\)-cut. Then, a criterion is established to evaluate the performance of the proposed approaches. Finally, we use an example based on industrial water demand data of China to illustrate our proposed approaches which are reasonable and compare the explanatory power of the ULR model and traditional linear regression (TLR) model using the presented evaluation criteria, which shows that the performance of the ULR model is obviously better than the TLR model.

Dynamic Management of a Water Resources-Socioeconomic-Environmental System Based on Feedbacks Using System Dynamics

System dynamics (SD) have been used in water resources management for many years. However, water resources management using SD is usually in one direction, up to down or down to up, and does not consider internal and external system feedbacks, which may mislead managers and reduce the adaptability of water resources systems. Therefore, dynamic management of a water resources-socioeconomic-environmental (WSE) system based on feedbacks was established in this paper using SD, and a feedback function considering different intensities of feedbacks was proposed. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (BTHR), China, was chosen as the study area. Three subsystems were included in the WSE system: a socioeconomic subsystem, a water resources subsystem, and an environmental subsystem. We established and compared different dynamic management scenarios with various intensities of feedbacks. The results show that the shortage of water resources and pollution in the BTHR will continue to deteriorate from 2015 to 2030 if no management measures are taken, and the government should direct more attention to reducing the water demand of primary industry and population growth. In addition, we found that the three subsystems in the WSE system influence each other and evolve mutually. In particular, the influence of the water resources subsystem on the environmental subsystem is remarkable and cannot be ignored. This paper may act as a guide for adaptive and multi-objective management of WSE systems.

Comparison of Nanofiltration and Direct Contact Membrane Distillation as an alternative for gold mining effluent reclamation

Effluent reuse is becoming an environmentally-economically viable option for industries that have been struggling with environmental/legislative pressure and high costs of water supply and effluents discharge. Mining effluents are promising for reuse, but for this, (hazardous) metals and ions such as sulfate must be removed efficiently. This study aimed to compare the technical-economic performance of Nanofiltration (NF) and Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) on gold mining effluent treatment. The results showed that both technologies are promising for mining effluent reclamation as high pollutants removal rates were observed (rejection >73% and >96% for NF and DCMD, respectively). DCMD showed lower flux than NF and was limited to operate up to permeate recovery rate (RR) of 40% due to severe fouling (CaSO4 precipitation), but produced a higher quality permeate with no reuse restriction, low energy requirement and lower associated costs due to use of the effluent residual heat. Capex and Opex (for membrane lifespan of 1–5 years) were estimated at US$ 575,490.30 and 2.00–2.10 US$/m3 for NF and US$ 305,483.85 and 0.13 to 0.27 US$/m3 for DCMD systems. The permeate reuse would reduce water consumption in 490,560 m3 year−1, which represents almost 50% of the industrial water demand.

Multi-Objective Differential Evolution for Design of Cascade Hydropower Reservoir Systems

After Paris Agreement and obligation made by various countries to decrease greenhouse gases, generation of clean energy with low carbon was taken into consideration. Hydropower plant is considered as a clean, cheap and renewable energy source for generating electrical energy. Through the construction of the multipurpose dams and their optimal planning and management, we may decrease the potential losses sustained by aquatic ecosystem in addition to supplying the energy and fulfilling the industrial, agricultural and drinking water demands. In the present study, a multi-objective optimization model was proposed for determination of design parameters in cascade hydropower multi-purpose reservoir systems. Considering the significant number of constraints and decision variables and non-convex form of the objective functions and constraints, particularly in multi-reservoir systems, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) known as non-dominated sorting differential evolution (NSDE) was developed to solve the problem and reduce the computational costs. Karkheh River basin was selected as a case study in order to make an assessment on the capabilities and strength of the model. This basin is capable of generating hydropower energy and agricultural development with high environmental considerations due to Hurolazim International Wetland. Based on the results, we may supply various demands such as environmental demands of the aquatic ecosystem with high reliability as well as generating firm hydropower energy through optimal design of cascade hydropower reservoirs.

A pricing model for water rights trading between agricultural and industrial water users in China

This paper presents a pricing model developed for the Chinese water rights trading market. The model focuses on the transfer of water rights from irrigators to industrial users in areas with limited water resources. Water rights trading is an efficient means of allocating water resources, and the price plays an important role in this market. At present, China lacks formal mechanisms for water rights pricing. Therefore, an integrated pricing model is built for situations when agricultural users implement water conservation measures and sell water rights to meet industrial water demand. The model accounts for project construction costs, operation and maintenance costs, renewal and reconstruction expenses, irrigation frequency compensation, and the economic cost of ecological damage. The marginal value of water rights to the industrial water user is also quantified on the basis of the production function accounting for water inputs. The pricing model is applied to an example of water rights trading between irrigators and industrial users in an agricultural area on the Yellow River near Ordos in Inner Mongolia.