Water Nexus Research Articles

Optimal decision-making in the water, land and food nexus using artificial intelligence and extreme machine learning

Abstract The development of decision-making systems based on artificial intelligence can lead to achieving optimal solutions water-land-food nexus. In this paper, an extreme learning machine model was developed with the objective function of wheat production maximization. The constraints defined for this problem are divided into three categories: technical parameters of production in agriculture, climatic stress on water resources and land limits. The water, land and food nexus was simulated using 23 experimental farms in Henan province during the 2021–2022 cultivation year. Root-mean-square error was used as an error criterion, and Pearson's coefficient was incorporated into the decision-making system as a correlation index of variables. Harvest index, length of the growth period, cultivation costs and irrigation water were the criteria to evaluate the impact of the sustainable model. The harvest index and the length of the growth period showed the highest and lowest correlation with the production rate, respectively. Furthermore, the optimal management of irrigation water and cost had the most significant impact on increasing crop production. The method proposed in this paper can be a virtual cropping model by changing the area under cultivation of a crop in the different farms of a study area, which increases yield production.

Dynamic cluster analysis of urban river ecosystem using water, climate, and economy nexus

Abstract Urban rivers are the origin of civilizations, the source of water supply, and the center of recreational and sports activities. The role of rivers can be investigated from various political, cultural, security, drought, economic, and health aspects. This study was conducted in order to identify the influencing components of urban rivers on ecosystem sustainability. The weight coefficients of climatic, social, economic, and ecological components were evaluated through dynamic cluster analysis, and their role in ecosystem sustainability was quantified. In addition, the relationship between water-based factors and environmental components was determined in finding the best components of river ecosystem evaluation for future decisions. The provided analysis can increase the stability of the urban river ecosystem and can rank the priority of the impact factors. Ecological environment statistics, nature measures, economic parameters, and land cover rate substantially affected the visual influence of the urban river ecosystem. Results showed that the proposed evaluation provided a reasonable framework to evaluate the sustainability of the urban river ecosystem and visual perception to improve the design efficiency by decision-makers.

Advances in Energy System Synthesis and the Energy–Water Nexus in Industry

Energy and water are key resources for human life and industry production [...]

Biomass and solar energy in buildings, energetic dark greenhouse, an economic approach analysis

The use of different energy sources and the worry of running out of some of them in the modern world have made factors such as environmental pollution and even energy sustainability vital. Vital resources for humanity include water, environment, food, and energy. As a result, building strong trust in these resources is crucial because of their interconnected nature. Sustainability in security of energy, water and food, generally decreases costs and improves durability. This study introduces and describes the components of a system named “Desktop Energetic Dark Greenhouse” in the context of the quadruple nexus of water, environment, food, and energy in urban life. This solution can concurrently serve to strengthen the sustainable security of water, environment, food, and energy. For home productivity, a small-scale version of this project was completed. The costs and revenues for this system have been determined after conducting an economic study from the viewpoints of the investor and the average household. The findings indicate that the capital return period is around five years from the investor’s perspective. The capital return on investment for this system is less than 4 years from the standpoint of the households. According to the estimates, this system annually supplies about 20 kg of vegetables or herbs, which means about one third of the annual needs of a family.

Safeguarding Biodiversity and Promoting Sustainable Development: Assessing the Energy–Water Nexus of San Andrés Island, Colombia

This article provides an extensive examination of the interconnectedness between energy and water in island regions, particularly those heavily reliant on tourism, as exemplified by the present case. This study explores the present state and trends of research in this field with the objective of attaining a sustainable system in future scenarios. Specifically, this analysis delves into the water–energy–CO2 nexus of the Colombian island of San Andrés. Currently, there is no energy generation from the water sector, with 76.18% of water consumption directed towards the cooling of thermal power plants and a mere 1.54% of the energy employed for water extraction, desalination, and purification. In 2019, the island’s total energy consumption reached 138 ktoe (kilotons of oil equivalent), and renewable energies have yet to contribute to the system. These findings emphasize the necessity for the island to implement measures that will bolster its sustainability, self-sufficiency, and resilience. This entails mitigating and managing the intensity of resource consumption, particularly in areas experiencing economic growth. According to the Sankey diagram obtained, some political implications and recommendations have been listed.

Pathway analysis of food security by employing climate change, water, and agriculture nexus in Pakistan: partial least square structural equation modeling.

Increasing population and augmented demand for food have put burden on water resources, crops, and livestock for future sustainability. Pakistan is facing difficulties of water shortage, low crops and livestock productivity, meagre livelihood, and intensive food insecurity. Hence, this study was conducted in Pakistan to explore the nexus of climate change, irrigation water, agriculture, rural livelihoods, and food security. The study is based on primary data of 1080 farmers gathered from 12 districts of the rice-wheat and cotton-wheat cropping systems. A partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to compute the nexus. Findings of path analysis indicated that climate change had a significant negative impact on irrigation water, crops, livestock, rural livelihood, and food security in both cropping systems. There was positive relationship between surface water and crops. In addition, groundwater and crops were also positively and significantly correlated. The impact of crop was positive and significant on rural livelihood and food security. Furthermore, rural livelihood and food security were positively and significantly influenced by livestock. Moreover, there was positive relationship between rural livelihood and food security. The cotton-wheat cropping system was more affected by climatic and natural hazards than rice-wheat cropping system. Interconnectivity among nexus components and their contribution to rural livelihood and food security indicate that government, policymakers, and other concerned stakeholders should effectively improve food security policies under climatic and natural hazards. Moreover, it helps in examining adverse impacts of hazards induced by climate change on nexus components, leading to the designing and adoption of sustainable climate change policies. The study's originality lies in its ability to provide a inclusive and integrated pathway of the interconnections and interdependencies among these variables, identifying key drivers of food insecurity in Pakistan. Moreover, outcome of the study has policy implications for developing sustainable policies and strategies to improve sustainable food security in the country.

Biotechnological Applications of Mushrooms under the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Crucial Aspects and Prospects from Farm to Pharmacy.

Mushrooms have always been an important source of food, with high nutritional value and medicinal attributes. With the use of biotechnological applications, mushrooms have gained further attention as a source of healthy food and bioenergy. This review presents different biotechnological applications and explores how these can support global food, energy, and water security. It highlights mushroom's relevance to meet the sustainable development goals of the UN. This review also discusses mushroom farming and its requirements. The biotechnology review includes sections on how to use mushrooms in producing nanoparticles, bioenergy, and bioactive compounds, as well as how to use mushrooms in bioremediation. The different applications are discussed under the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus. As far as we know, this is the first report on mushroom biotechnology and its relationships to the WEF nexus. Finally, the review valorizes mushroom biotechnology and suggests different possibilities for mushroom farming integration.

A comprehensive energy simulation model for energy-water-food nexus system analysis: A case study of the great Karun water resources system

Focusing on the importance of energy in the Energy, Water, and Food (EWF) nexus, this study develops a comprehensive energy simulation under the EWF nexus system approach (CESNeX). The simulation model employs an effective template for planning and decision-making in the nexus system. The CESNeX simulates the energy subsystem in both the demand and supply sides as required in the nexus simulation of EWF on a river basin scale, considering nexus variables. The CESNeX evaluates the effects of various energy generation scenarios on the water subsystem by interacting with the principal nexus variables on the supply side of the energy subsystem. In the comprehensive simulation of the nexus system, the CESNeX can interact with water and food subsystems via nexus variables and provide the energy-efficient cropping pattern. The demand side of CESNeX can assist policymakers in developing an appropriate cropping pattern, considering water and energy consumption. Additionally, the supply side of CESNeX can provide the produced energy based on water consumption and the change in the reservoir head. 14 years of data (2008–2021) from the Great Karun Basin's Karun-4, Karun-3, Karun-1, Masjed Soleyman, Gotvand, and Dez reservoirs are utilized for the simulation's calibration, verification, and modelling. On the supply side, results revealed that by increasing the nexus variable of Karun-4's firm energy by about 5%, the reservoir net head is related to the Karun-3 power plant decreased by 1.93 m. Also, the largest increase in net reservoir head was related to the Karun-1 power plant, about 54 cm. There has also been a decrease of 18 MCM and an increase of 25.8 MCM in the volume of water used by the turbines at the aforementioned power plants, respectively. On the demand side, results of receiving nexus variables from the water and food subsystems showed that Potato has the highest energy consumption (150 PJ), while Barley has the lowest (20 PJ). In terms of water consumption, Potato and Barley have the highest (3.5 BCM) and lowest (1.5 BCM) water requirements, respectively. This study suggests expanding Barley cultivation in the region under consideration. Barley requires significantly less water and energy than other crops. In addition, based on the results of the CESNeX simulation model, it is recommended that less Potato be grown in this region due to its relatively higher water and energy needs.

Fingerprint Networked Reinforcement Learning via Multiagent Modeling for Improving Decision Making in an Urban Food–Energy–Water Nexus

Food–energy–water (FEW) nexus analyses are critical to sustainable development. Nexus analyses form a unique multiagent decision-making arena that requires using a system engineering approach to simultaneously improve food and water security as well as energy efficiency. To tackle the complexity in decision making within a FEW nexus with respect to dynamic behaviors and interactive logics, we model the FEW nexus as a multiagent system (MAS) under a mixed competitive and cooperative environment from the perspective of a Markov game. Then, we propose a fingerprint networked reinforcement learning (FNRL) framework for the collective learning of a MAS by following the logic flows of human decision making. FNRL can alleviate the problems caused by stationary issues in a MAS environment by integrating a long short-term-memory-driven neural network model into the context of multiagent reinforcement learning (RL) to extract fingerprint information via historical data. Numerical simulations for an urban FEW nexus analysis in Florida (USA) demonstrate that applying the FNRL framework can drive agents in the MAS toward achieving optimality via RL in a dynamic environment.

Simulation of crop yield using the global hydrological model H08 (crp.v1)

Abstract. A better understanding of the food–water nexus requires the development of an integrated model that can simultaneously simulate food production and the requirements and availability of water resources. H08 is a global hydrological model that considers human water use and management (e.g., reservoir operation and crop irrigation). Although a crop growth sub-model has been included in H08 to estimate the global crop-specific calendar, its performance as a yield simulator is poor, mainly because a globally uniform parameter set was used for each crop type. In addition, the effects of CO2 fertilization and vapor pressure deficit on crop yield were not considered. Here, through country-wise parameter calibration and algorithm improvement, we enhanced H08 to simulate the yields of four major staple crops: maize, wheat, rice, and soybean. The simulated crop yield was compared with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) national yield statistics and the global dataset of historical yield for major crops (GDHY) gridded yield estimates with respect to mean bias (across nations) and time series correlation (for individual nations). Our results showed that the effects of CO2 fertilization and vapor pressure deficit had opposite impacts on crop yield. The simulated yield showed good consistency with FAO national yield. The mean biases of the major producer countries were considerably reduced to 2 %, 2 %, −2 %, and −1 % for maize, wheat, rice, and soybean, respectively. The capacity of our model to capture the interannual yield variability observed in FAO yield was limited, although the performance of our model was comparable to that of other mainstream global crop models. The grid-level analysis showed that our model showed a similar spatial pattern to that of the GDHY yield in terms of reproducing the temporal variation over a wide area, although substantial differences were observed in other places. Using the enhanced model, we quantified the contributions of irrigation to global food production and compared our results to an earlier study. Overall, our improvements enabled H08 to estimate crop production and hydrology in a single framework, which will be beneficial for global food–water nexus studies in relation to climate change.

Valuing soil erosion control investments in Nigerian agricultural lands: A hedonic pricing model

The effects of climate change are often writ large in the nexus of water and land. In Nigeria, predominantly rainfed agriculture is confronting the consequences of climate extremes in the form of excessive rainfall, especially in the southern region. Relatedly, the hazard of soil erosion represents one of the most pressing forms of land degradation, thereby threatening agricultural production and farmers’ livelihoods. The objective of this analysis is to estimate the economic value of investing in a climate change adaptation strategy, specifically soil erosion control measures on agricultural lands in Nigeria. The analysis employs a hedonic pricing model, using household-level self-reported land values from the Nigeria Living Standards Measurement Survey, 2015–2016 and 2018–2019. Results indicate that undertaking soil erosion control facilities is heavily capitalized into Nigerian agricultural land values. The estimated marginal implicit price (MIP) for undertaking soil erosion control is approximately 26% of mean land values. This value represents around half the annual nominal median income of a Nigerian agrarian household. The estimated MIP of soil erosion control adoption is positive in areas that experience moderate rainfall. Results are maintained across a variety of robustness checks. Our findings suggest that soil erosion control adoption can be an important source of wealth creation among smallholder farmers who are mainly engaged in subsistence farming. Results support wider adoption of erosion control by landowners in accordance with highly variable weather patterns, and more broadly suggest the need to recognize the long-term gains from climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices and target investment aid towards sustainable agriculture.

SUSTAINABLE ISLAND (SAIL): AN INNOVATIVE WAY FOR REACHING A SIGNIFICANT RISE IN INDONESIA WATER, ENERGY, AND FOOD NEXUS INDEX

Indonesia, being an archipelagic country, ranks third in terms of climate risk. Sustainable islands (SAIL) are novel ideas offered as an effective way of achieving Indonesia's sustainable development while also accelerating climate change mitigation and adaptation. The water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus approach will be used to expand SAIL's programs. In this nexus, water is the most essential governing factor for the ecosystem and society. Thus, the SAIL program is adopting rainwater harvesting (RWH), a sustainable technology that supplies water with low energy and cost. To irrigate the crops and generate electricity, the island RWH tank is created by impounding surface runoff over natural landscape depressions equipped with a hydrokinetic power system. An RWH system with a pico-hydropower system is installed on the roofs of all island buildings for both household water consumption and electricity generation. The immediate implementation of the SAIL concept promises to boost Indonesia’s WEF nexus index. Keywords: Island; Nexus; RWH; Sustainability; WEF.

Understanding the Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus in Mixed Irrigation Regimes Using a Regional Hydroeconomic Optimization Modeling Framework

AbstractUnderstanding the nexus between food, energy, and water systems (FEW) is critical for basins with intensive agricultural water use as they face significant challenges under changing climate and regional development. We investigate the food, energy, and water nexus through a regional hydroeconomic optimization (RHEO) modeling framework. The crop production in RHEO is estimated through a hierarchical regression model developed using a biophysical model, AquaCropOS, forced with daily climatic inputs. Incorporating the hierarchical model within the RHEO also reduces the computation time by enabling parallel programming within the AquaCropOS and facilitates mixed irrigation—rainfed, fully irrigated and deficit irrigation—strategies. To demonstrate the RHEO framework, we considered a groundwater‐dominated basin, South Flint River Basin, Georgia, for developing mixed irrigation strategies over 31 years. Our analyses show that optimal deficit irrigation is economically better than full irrigation, which increases the groundwater pumping cost. Thus, considering deficit irrigation in a groundwater‐dominated basin reduces the water, carbon, and energy footprints, thereby reducing FEW vulnerability. The RHEO also could be employed for analyzing FEW nexus under potential climate change and future regional development scenarios.

Transdisciplinary approaches to graduate student training for food–energy–water challenges

AbstractSystems‐level approaches are required for addressing the world's major challenges at the food–energy–water nexus. Taking on complex issues, such as rising food insecurity, malnutrition, and food waste, concomitant with unprecedented levels of stress on environmental systems, will necessitate that future scholars and decision makers be prepared through transdisciplinary student training. However, in higher education, students tend to be siloed within their discipline. In this study, we present a case for the development of transdisciplinary graduate student training based on an inter‐institutional and fully remote group of graduate students who assembled during the COVID‐19 pandemic to address the issue of food waste. We use our wide‐ranging disciplinary backgrounds, high‐performance transdisciplinary team training, and stakeholder feedback to develop and conduct a weeklong social media campaign to share educational resources for reducing household food waste. This work offers valuable lessons learned through the student's lens to those seeking to create or improve future transdisciplinary training methods for tackling food waste and other global grand challenges. Key insights from this process include the importance of accountability and open communication when conducting collaborative teamwork, the utility of various mobile and online tools for effectively facilitating remote group work, and the vital role of transdisciplinarity in devising creative solutions.

Water, energy, and food nexus with agroforestry system for sustainable development goals

Water, energy, and food nexus with agroforestry system for sustainable development goals

Solar energy development on farmland: Three prevalent perspectives of conflict, synergy and compromise in the United States

As farmland has become a key place for grid-scale, ground-mounted solar energy development, there needs to be more analysis to explore what energy transitions mean for the future of agriculture. This article uses the food–energy–water (FEW) nexus framework to delineate three different perspectives of solar energy development on farmland. The first two perspectives fit into the FEW nexus language of “trade-offs” and “synergies” respectively, arguing that solar energy development either conflicts with agricultural land use and food security or, alternatively, that the two land uses can be co-located appropriately to create agrivoltaic systems. The third perspective is a compromise, arguing that solar energy - neither a complete trade-off to nor completely synergetic with continued agriculture - preserves farmland for future agricultural use. By analyzing these perspectives together, we further understand implications of solar energy development. While each of these perspectives is important, agrivoltaics has the greatest potential to play a positive role across both energy and agricultural transitions. Nonetheless, there are several key barriers to agrivoltaic development, including the need for sufficient access to water, local knowledge and appropriate agricultural resources, and sustained interest from solar energy developers. The development of agrivoltaics, and solar energy in general, should raise important political questions of land access and resource use.

Editorial: Cross-cutting issues in the water, land, energy and food security nexus: Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa

Editorial: Cross-cutting issues in the water, land, energy and food security nexus: Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa

A spatial and temporal assessment of resource security in the water, energy, food and waste nexus in Spain

The effects of climate change, such as droughts and decreased rainfall, as well as population growth and globalization are aggravating the availability of water, energy and food. As a result, meeting the population's demand will be a major challenge in the near future. For this reason, assessing the situation of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is of great importance to know the vulnerabilities of the system and take actions to correct or improve them. The contribution of this work is the formulation of a composite index called the WEF-Waste index that includes 13 indicators, 4 of which are indicators to measure aspects of the water sector that include availability, independence, treatment and recycling; 3 energy indicators that include availability, independence and renewable energy; 4 food indicators that measure availability, food independence, ecological area planted and food waste; and 2 urban solid waste indicators that measure the level of separation and reuse. The WEF-Waste index was evaluated in Spain at the national level and in the 17 autonomous communities over a period of 10 years in order to focus on the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of the WEF nexus. Results show that the indicator with the lowest scores over the years was water availability, which indicates a very important water deficiency. On the other hand, high values in the water treatment indicator were obtained, showing that a high percentage of the water supplied to the network and used is processed in wastewater treatment plants. The WEF-Waste index has an improving trend from 2010 to 2014. However, by 2016 it suffered a decay and from that year to 2020, it again presented a positive trend in the scores of the communities.

Framing a novel holistic energy subsystem structure for water-energy-food nexus based on existing literature (basic concepts)

It is interesting to note that the country of Iran is essential in terms of energy production and consumption, and the economy of Iran is mainly dependent on energy revenues. Therefore, thermal and hydropower plants consume water to produce various energy carriers. Considering that Iran is suffering from water stress, the nexus of water and energy becomes very important. This paper frames a comprehensive structure for Iran's energy subsystem within the Water, Energy, and Food (WEF) nexus system. The energy subsystem's supply and demand side in the proposed framework are formulated using data and physic-based equations. The presented framework addresses most interactions between WEF subsystems in a dynamic and adaptive setting. It is shown that through analysis of binding interactions between WEF, different management scenarios can boost the flexibility of the supply and demand side of the energy subsystem. In addition, by incorporating this framework, the water subsystem will manage the allocated and consumed water on the supply side and arrive at the most desirable outcome for the water sector. Also, the optimal cropping pattern could be evaluated based on energy consumption.

Water crisis in Iran: A system dynamics approach on water, energy, food, land and climate (WEFLC) nexus

Water scarcity is a highly complex, multifaceted and dynamic issue, which has become a severe global challenge. Water scarcity is a hyperconnected phenomenon and thus should be studied through nexus approach, however current water-energy-food (WEF) nexus underrepresents the impacts of land use change and climate change on water scarcity. Therefore, this study was investigated to expand the WEF nexus coverage of further systems, improving the accuracy of nexus models for decision-making and narrowing science-policy gap. Current study developed a water-energy-food-land-climate (WEFLC) nexus model to analyze the water scarcity. Modeling the complex behavior of water scarcity enables the analysis of the efficiency of some adaptation policies in addressing water scarcity and will provide suggestions for improving adaptation practices. The results showed that there is a substantial water supply-demand gap in study region, with an excess consumption of 62,361 million m3. Under baseline scenario, the gap between water supply and demand will enlarge, leading to water crisis in Iran as our study region. Climate change was found to be the prime cause of exacerbating water scarcity in Iran, raising evapotranspiration from 70 % to 85 % in 50 years, and considerably increasing the water demand in various sectors. In terms of policy/adaptation measure analysis, the results showed that neither supply-side nor demand-side scenarios could solely address water crisis, and mixed supply-demand side interventions can be the most effective policy to alleviate water crisis. Overall, the study suggests that water resource management practices and policies in Iran should be reevaluated to include a system thinking management approach. The results can be used as a decision support tool that can recommend suitable mitigation and adaptation strategies for water scarcity in the country.