Shortage Of Water Supply Research Articles

Water Scenarios Modelling for Renewable Energy Development in Southern Morocco

Water and energy are two pivotal areas for future sustainable development, with complex linkages existing between the two sectors. These linkages require special attention in the context of the energy transition. Against this background, this paper analyses the role of water availability in the development of solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants for the case of the Draa Valley in southern Morocco. Located in a semi-arid to arid mountainous area, the Drâa Valley faces high water stress - a situation expected to worsen due to climate change. At the same time, the region has one of the greatest potentials for solar energy in the world. To examine whether limited water availability could accelerate or delay the implementation of solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants, this paper compares regional water availability and demand in the Draa Valley for different scenarios, paying particular attention to potential socio-economic development pathways. The Water Evaluation and Planning System software is applied to allocate the water resources in the study region. The water supply is modelled under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 climate scenario, while the water demand for the Drâa Valley is modelled for a combination of three socio-economic and two energy scenarios. The climate scenario describes a significant decrease in water availability by 2050, while the socio-economic and energy scenarios show an increase in water demand. The results demonstrate that during a sequence of dry years the reservoirs water availability is reduced and shortages in water supply can result in high levels of unmet demand. If this situation occurs, oasis farming, water for drinking and energy production could compete directly with each other for water resources. The energy scenarios indicate that the use of dry cooling technologies in concentrated solar power and photovoltaic hybrid systems could be one option for reducing competition for the scarce water resources in the region. However, given that energy generation accounts for only a small share of the regional water demand, the results also suggest that socio-economic demand reduction, especially in the agricultural sector, for example by reducing the cultivated area, will most likely become necessary.

Optimizing reservoir operations for tradeoffs between economic objectives and legacy phosphorus management

Dam impoundment causes significant phosphorus (P) retention in reservoirs, leading to the emergence of legacy P release as a water quality threat under external pollution load reduction measures. Reservoir operations impact sediment P release through their complex influence on hydrodynamic and biogeochemical processes, but applicatory reservoir operation strategies for legacy P management have rarely been proposed. This study introduces a reservoir operation optimization approach for balancing economic objectives (i.e., water supply and hydropower generation) and P release mitigation. A coupled hydrodynamic-eutrophication-sediment model based on the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code platform is used to simulate sediment P release under multiple reservoir operation scenarios. The resultant simulation data are used to train a dynamic artificial neural network (ANN) to model the response of P release to reservoir operations. By coupling the ANN with a reservoir operation model, we develop a multi-objective optimization model to refine reservoir operations for a three-tier tradeoff (i.e., water supply, hydropower generation and P release mitigation). China's Danjiangkou Reservoir is chosen as a case study to generate optimal operation rules. The optimal operation scheme decreases multi-year averaged annual P release by 19% (from 6688 tons to 5436 tons) while inversely increasing annual economic loss caused by water supply shortages by 14% and decreasing hydropower generation by 5%. Pareto-optimal solutions are subsequently generated to analyze tradeoffs between water supply/hydropower generation and P release mitigation. This study demonstrates the efficiency of using reservoir operations for legacy P management and offers an optimization tool for reservoir operation decision-making processes.

Production-Use Water Pricing and Corporate Water Use in China: An Evolutionary Game Theory Model

Decisions related to pricing production-use water are a critical issue that local governments in China are facing. Its significance has increased in recent years, as a serious corporate water-supply shortage has surfaced with rapid economic development and urbanization. Different from developed countries, the pricing of production-use water is a complex issue in China that involves the distribution of benefits among local governments, water-supply companies, and water-consuming companies, where the overall balance is affected by every slight adjustment. Based on the evolutionary game theory, this study constructs an evolutionary game model involving water-supply companies and water-consuming companies with a systematic analysis of the interaction process between the policy formulation related to water pricing by water-supply companies and the decision making related to water consumption by water-consuming companies. The research finds that the difficulty of balancing corporate financial benefits and public water conservation benefits has led to the complexity of water pricing. Moreover, raising water prices will not necessarily cause companies to save water, but it will increase the production cost of the entire economy. This is the direct cause of low water prices, implemented by water-supply companies, in many regions of China.

Water, sanitation and hygiene coverage and practices of a semi-arid county in the Eastern region of Kenya

Abstract Despite substantial progress in sanitation and hygiene in Kenya, its semi-arid regions still experience poor environmental conditions. Kitui County, a semi-arid region, is characterized by water supply shortages, poor sanitation and poor hygiene coverage. This study covers water, sanitation and hygiene coverage and practices in two subcounties of Kitui County. A cross-sectional survey using mixed methods of data collection was adopted. Seven hundred and fifty-seven households were included and household heads were interviewed. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Five focused group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted and data analyzed thematically. These revealed that a majority of people obtain their water from rivers (39.9%), with 57.4% walking more than 2 km to water sources. Only 11.9% of all water sources were available throughout the year. A total of 47.4% of people use 13.3 liters/capita/day with an average cost of Ksh. 35 per 20 liter jerry can, which was reported as costly. A total of 43.6% of people felt that the water they collected was not enough to meet their requirements. Filtering was the most common form of water purification, with a majority of people perceiving clear water as safe for drinking. Latrine coverage stood at 56.4% and open defecation at 8.5%. Access to safe and adequate water supply, hygiene and sanitation services to the community continues to be poor and hence WASH interventions need to be scaled up for meeting recommended national standards.

To what extend corruption and free-riding behavior affect technical and Water Use efficiencies of small scale irrigated farms.

This paper examines irrigation management within the Tunisian Water Users Association (WUA),in Nadhour public irrigated area (central of Tunisia). The functioning of 14 WUAs was evaluated based on questionnaires and related interviews. The methodology of this study consists of two main steps; (i) an estimation of technical efficiency scores of 90 smallholder farmers and the sub-vector of WUE (Water Use efficiency) using the non-parametric DEA model, (ii) a regression of a Tobit model to test the hypothesis regarding explanatory variables of differentiated technical efficiency scores. The investigation shows an average technical efficiency of 70.8% and WUE of 64.8%. It highlighted the Water turn, the infrastructure state, the water supply shortage, corruption, and free-riding behaviors as tightly correlated factors with farm’s productivity. This suggests that there is potential to improve production efficiency by implementing targeted programs and rules for inefficient farmers. The findings of this study show that it is important to fight corruption in the water sector by an increased government oversight, reform of regulations, and increased accountability

Assessment and treatment of floodwater in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta using a simple filter system based on silver nanoparticles coated onto activated carbon derived from rice husk.

The floods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta have long caused a shortage of clean water supply, which has a significant impact on the indigenous people in the region. We have conducted a preliminary survey of the water quality of the Hau Giang River (one of the two main branches of the Mekong River) before, during, and after the flood season. The obtained results demonstrated that the water in the Hau Giang River was highly turbid and contaminated with a large number of harmful microorganisms. Thus, in this study, a simple filter system based on silver nanoparticles coated onto activated carbon derived from rice husk (AgNPs@AC) has been proposed for treating floodwater from the Hau Giang River. The optimal conditions for AgNPs@AC preparation were established. The prepared AgNPs@AC was then characterized using various surface analyses such as SEM, TEM, XRD, BET, FTIR, and DLS. The initial floodwater source would be pre-treated with polyaluminum chloride using the coagulation–sedimentation method to remove the suspended solids before being discharged into the filtration column containing AgNPs@AC. The results showed that the filter system based on AgNPs@AC performed well in removing turbidity, dissolved solids, suspended solids, color, and bacteria from the floodwater. In addition, it was determined that the filter column with a 30 mm thick AgNPs@AC layer could continuously process 1300 m3 of the floodwater and had a service life of more than two months. The findings of this study not only added to our understanding of the floodwater treatment capacity of activated carbon coated nanoparticles, but they also provided valuable information for water treatment plants along the Hau Giang River, aquatic ecosystem researchers, and public health researchers.

Hydro-meteorological drought in Addis Ababa: A characterization study

Drought is one of the most natural hazards that cause damage to ecosystems, agricultural production, and water resources. This study has analyzed seasonal and annual rainfall trends using monthly data series of 33 years (1983–2015) in Addis Ababa city over three stations namely; Sendafa, Bole, and Observation. Here, we examined the occurrence of historical drought trends in the study jurisdiction. The Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) were employed to find long-term drought trends as well as to examine the occurrence of drought history at a longer duration. The analysis indicated that severe drought conditions were observed for SPI and RDI indices in the year 2013 for Bole station, while medium droughts were recorded for the years 1991 and 2002 for all stations. Similarly, the RDI indices for 1996 was recorded as severe drought for the Observatory station. On the other hand, higher variability (coefficient of variation) of rainfall during winter seasons were 95.8%, 95.9%, and 77.9% for Sendafa, Bole, and Observatory stations respectively. However, the lower coefficient of variation during annual rainfall was 15.59% for Sendafa, 14.38% for Bole, and 13.98% for the Observatory station. Furthermore, the drought severity classification for the long-term drought analysis of annual precipitation shows that 3% of severe drought, 12% of moderate drought, and 85% of the normal condition were recorded in Bole station. The severe and moderate drought indices due to the reduction of rainfall, temperature change, and other factors can cause a shortage of urban water supply. Thus, the results of this study will help the water sector professionals in forecasting weather variations and for better management of urban water resources.

Female fish farmers: How technically efficient are they? Evidence from Delta State Nigeria

The study investigated the technical efficiency of female catfish growers in Delta State, Nigeria. Data have been obtained using questionnaires from 112 female catfish farmers who have been randomly selected. Descriptive statistics, cost and return analysis as well as the stochastic model have been used in the analysis of data. The results showed that the mean age, farming experience and household size of the female fish farmers were 42 years old, 8 years and 6 persons respectively. Most of the participants are married and educated. The gross margin and net farm income were N490,378.46 and N416,242.82k respectively. With a rate of return on investment and a BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio) of 0.64 and 1.64, fish farming was found to be profitable. The Stochastic frontier outcome showed that the size of the pond, fingerlings, feed and water supply had a significant and positive effect on fish production, while the cost of medication had an inverse relationship with fish production. Age, education and household size have been found to increase technical performance, while technical inefficiency is increased by distance from farm location and credit access. The finding further revealed that a female fish farmer had a technical efficiency of 53.5% in the area of study. This is a signal that by implementing the technologies practiced by the best farmers, fish productivity can be improved by about 46.5% by the farmers. The coefficient of elasticity was 0.567, which indicated that the female catfish farmers were in Phase II. The failure of farmers to reach the production frontier may however be due to certain factors, including insufficient funding, high feed costs, water supply and fingerlings shortages. On the basis of the results, female fish farmers should be supported by means of professional training in fish production practices to ensure that their resources are optimally utilized.

Effects of hydrothermal conditions on agrophysical properties of typical chernozem and crop rotation productivity in the system of organic farming

Relevance of research. Having the variability of hydrothermal conditions, the rate of plant life, the intensity of photosynthesis and evaporation and the activity of plant nutrient consumption change. As a rule, the optimization of the water-air regime of the soil by conducting various types of amelioration makes it possible to significantly reduce the negative effects of adverse weather conditions and ensure high sustainability of agroecosystems. However, with regard to the requirements for organic agriculture in the regions with a shortage of water supply without sufficient water resources and without the use of fertilizers to effectively conduct agricultural production is problematic. Thus, the establishment of the patterns of the dynamics of agrophysical soil properties, taking into account their impact on the bioproductivity of agrophytocenoses under variable weather conditions is the theoretical basis for solving the problem of increasing agricultural sustainability, in particular using only natural fertility and obtaining organic crop products.
 Purpose and objectives of research: To establish the mechanisms of changes in the nutrient regime of typical chernozem, its agrophysical properties and crop yields in different crop rotations in relation to the dynamics of agrometeorological factors under the conditions of insufficient water supply in the eastern Forest-Steppe of Ukraine; to evaluate the productivity potential of cereals and grain crops in the system of organic farming without the use of mineral fertilizers.
 Research methods and techniques. Evaluation of the changes in agrometeorological resources of the territory was carried out using the method of mathematical and statistical analysis of the indicators of heat and moisture supply conditions: climatic water balance and precipitation. The data obtained from the stationary experiment were processed by the methods of system generalization, correlation, economic, calculation and comparative analyzes.
 Research results and main conclusions. Based on the information obtained in the course the stationary agrotechnical experiment it was established that the soil density changes over the years and depends on the hydrothermal conditions with the approximation certainity of (R2) 0.75. The inverse relationship between the specific weight of the soil and its water conductivity in terms of crop rotations with R2=0.8-0.9, by years with R2=0.6 was revealed. The variation coefficient of legumes yield was 30-33%, winter wheat – 33-37%, spring barley – 36-37%, which are the indicators of its low stability over the years. Crop yields, depending on the weather conditions of the year, also fluctuated significantly: peas between 0.8-3.2, lathyrus – 0.8-2.6, winter wheat – 0.6-6.8, buckwheat – 0.6-1.9, spring barley – 0.6-3.5 t/ha. Crop rotation with peas in terms of productivity of 2.4 t/ha of grain on average outperformed the others (2.2 and 2.0 t/ha) while maintaining the patterns of fluctuations of this indicator in relation to hydrothermal conditions.
 Having the average statistical selling price, the yield per 1 ha of crop rotation area of all studied crop rotations was almost the same with the fluctuations in the unfavorable years of 27-35 c. u./ha, in favorable ones – 97-104 c. u./ha, with the average value of 66-73 c. u./ha. If we assume that the selling price of organic products will be 25% higher than usual, the average annual yield will triple.
 Prospects for further research should correspond to the global trend of scientific research aimed at developing conceptual bases for the effects of hydrothermal conditions on agrophysical soil properties, taking into account their impact on bioproductivity of agrophytocenoses as a theoretical basis for solving the problem of increasing agricultural sustainability, in particular, using only the natural fertility of the organic-oriented model of developing the agricultural sector of the economy.

Climate change and economic efficiency of agricultural production in the Steppe zone

Relevance of research. Due to ongoing climate change, almost the entire territory of the Steppe of Ukraine by annual humidity factor belongs to the dry and very dry zones, the relative area of ​​which has increased by 13.2% of the total area of ​​the country compared to the 1960-1990s. At the same time, for today in Ukraine only about 500 thousand hectares are actually irrigated, that is 19% of the potential area.
 Purpose of research. To determine the patterns and trends of climate change in the western part of the dry Steppe of Ukraine and analyze the economic indicators of production activity in the region as to the variable weather conditions.
 Research methodology. Climate change was estimated on the basis of Climate Water Balance (CWB) and Hydrothermal Coefficient (HTC) values. The analysis of the economic efficiency of agricultural production was carried out by analyzing the statistical data for Odessa region and for the chosen agricultural enterprise.
 Research results and conclusions. The use of significant heat supply in the dry Steppe zone is limited by insufficient water supply conditions. In the years of 1991-2016 the average annual rainfall was 480 mm and since the early 2000s there has been a slight increase in that. However, even having 500-550 mm of average annual rainfall that has been observed over the past five years, it is not enough for providing high-yield agricultural production. High thermal regime couses high evaporation that in turn, leads to water supply deficit, which at the end of the growing season amounts to 336-436 mm. According to the HTC index in the region 80% of cases show severe and moderately arid vegetation conditions. At the same time, irrigation area in the region has decreased to a minimum, which has led to the domination of winter cereals and sunflower in the cropping system. Under variable weather conditions, winter wheat yields ranged from 19.4 to 38.5 c/ ha (31.4 c/ha on average) and sunflower - from 12.2 to 21.4 c/ha (17.4 c/ha on average), winter rape - from 13.1 to 20.9 c/ha (18.2 c/ha). It was proved a close direct relationship between the sale price of products of all studied crops and their cost price, as well as the inverse relationship of these indicators with the crop yield. The profitability of winter wheat from 2011 till 2016 ranged from 17 to 153 USD/ha with an average value of 86 USD/ha, winter rape - from 39 to 273 USD/ha with an average value of 166 USD ha and sunflower - from 116 to 315 USD/ha with an average value of 192 USD/ha. Corn and soybeans have proven to be unprofitable in some years, which obviously explains rather small areas under these crops in the region.
 Above mentioned demonstrates the high economic instability of agricultural production in changing weather conditions, which is accompanied by significant risks for producers, especially when attracting credits. This situation, in turn, leads to a limited use of intensification means, in particular mineral fertilizers, which promotes agrochemical soil degradation. Under unstable water supply, the magnitude of net profit variation per hectare of arable land in Odessa region is 33-188 USD/ha (111 USD/ha on average). It is possible to increase these indicators by increasing the share of winter rape in the cropping system. With the optimization of the water and air soil regimes as well as crop rotation factor, the profitability of agricultural production in the region can be increased up to 580-600 USD/ha. Similar results were obtained after analyzing the statistical data from the southern regions within the dry steppe zone.

Public Perception of the Main Constraints of Water Supply Shortage and the Availability of Water Supply Resources in Libya

Water is a key driver of economic and social development. It also has a basic function in maintaining the integrity of the natural environment. Bearing in mind that water is only one of a number of vital natural resources, it is imperative that water issues are not considered in isolation. Both public and private sector managers, have to make appropriate decisions on water allocation. Water shortage, which can extensively be comprehended as the absence of access to sufficient amounts of water for human and environmental uses.
 This study aims at investigating the technical, financial, environmental and social constraints that affect water supply shortages in the study area. The results and findings were based on the 359 survey questionnaires that were collected and analysed using Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) Software version 16.0. Statistical analysis showed that all the Environmental, Technical and Financial research items were at the high and very high levels of acceptance and only all cultural research items were at a high level of acceptance. The empirical results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that the water supply management model fit indicates that the factors of this work are convenient and reasonably contribute to the performance of the water supply management model in the study area. This study has a number of recommendations for achieving sustainable water management and solving water shortage problems within the Libyan cities, such as Al Marj.

Participatory mapping of water collection by Sexaxa community in Okavango, Botswana

Access to potable water by rural communities in Africa is a challenge. Water supply deficit or scarcity has been persistent, and the situation continues to deteriorate. The deficit has negatively impacted rural livelihoods, especially those that are dependent on water resources. Botswana is equally affected. Despite Sexaxa village proximity to an annually flowing Thamalakane river and the tourism capital, Maun, the residents have endured prolonged water deficit while others do not have access to potable water. The water shortage has forced residents to use untreated water in the river, walking long distances to the source to fetch water for domestic use. This study examines the opportunity cost and time lost by travelling long distances to off-premises water sources by Sexaxa residents in Botswana. The study sourced data from 120 residents using questionnaires and participatory mapping simultaneously. The map indicated that the public standpipes are approximately 0.6 km from the farthest household while the river is 0.5 km from the village. Collection of water in Sexaxa takes 18.75% of the daily activities time, with women largely implicated at 20%. On average, residents spend approximately BWP250 per month in energy to treat water, specifically through boiling. Housing construction costs associated with water use increases by almost 30% for the residents, with the bulk of the costs associated with the transportation costs. The study recommends drilling a borehole to supply the village to relieve residents’ time and financial resources to other beneficial activities.

Multi-objective optimization and cost-based output pricing of a standalone hybrid energy system integrated with desalination

The design and operation of hybrid energy systems, which are relevant to remote islands characterized by energy and water supply shortage, have been extensively investigated. However, determining the costs of different system outputs is still a challenging task. In this study, a multi-objective optimization was performed to obtain the optimal design parameters of a hybrid energy system integrated with desalination. As each consumer demand (inclusive of electrical, cooling, and water demands) is highly coupled to the other, output pricing was performed based on cost allocation using the cooperative game theory. The results show that cooling, electricity, and desalinized water can be co-generated efficiently and economically, and the electrical, cooling, and water demands should bear 13.40%, 53.90%, and 32.70%, respectively, of the annualized costs of the entire hybrid energy system. In the proposed model, the cooling demand has the strongest coupling characteristic, whereas the electrical demand has the weakest, because the electricity waste from the photovoltaic/thermal panels allows easier integration of the cooling demands with other demands, for the consumption of excess solar power.

Remote Sensing and Modelling Based Framework for Valuing Irrigation System Efficiency and Steering Indicators of Consumptive Water Use in an Irrigated Region

Water crises are becoming severe in recent times, further fueled by population increase and climate change. They result in complex and unsustainable water management. Spatial estimation of consumptive water use is vital for performance assessment of the irrigation system using Remote Sensing (RS). For this study, its estimation is done using the Soil Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) approach. Performance indicators including equity, adequacy, and reliability were worked out at various spatiotemporal scales. Moreover, optimization and sustainable use of water resources are not possible without knowing the factors mainly influencing consumptive water use of major crops. For that purpose, random forest regression modelling was employed using various sets of factors for site-specific, proximity, and cropping system. The results show that the system is underperforming both for Kharif (i.e., summer) and Rabi (i.e., winter) seasons. Performance indicators highlight poor water distribution in the system, a shortage of water supply, and unreliability. The results are relatively good for Rabi as compared to Kharif, with an overall poor situation for both seasons. Factors importance varies for different crops. Overall, distance from canal, road density, canal density, and farm approachability are the most important factors for explaining consumptive water use. Auditing of consumptive water use shows the potential for resource optimization through on-farm water management by the targeted approach. The results are based on the present situation without considering future changes in canal water supply and consumptive water use under climate change.

Thermoeconomic investigation for a multi-stage solar-thermal vacuum membrane distillation system for coastal cities

There were around 55% of people living in urban areas in 2018, and 68% of the world's population is projected to live in cities by 2050. Therefore, an urban area would experience fresh water supply shortage from conventional fresh water treatment plants. Since many cities are located on the coastal area, the building type vertical desalination system, the vacuum membrane distillation integrated with solar-thermal collectors is proposed in this study. By applying a barometric water column for vacuum membrane distillation to save the vacuum pump power consumption, the gained output ratio is over 47 for a 28-stage system. The effects of design parameters including the overall areas of membrane, heat exchangers and solar-thermal collectors, and the number of stages were investigated. Results reveal that the system performance gets better with increasing stage number, albeit the area of components is increased. The economic feasibility was accessed based on the assumptions of 1 kW∙m−2 of solar insolation for 5 h and night time operation for 19 h. The levelized cost analysis with the real insolation data of Miami, FL resulted in 0.97 $∙m−3. The derived results will be useful to develop an advanced solar-thermal desalination system, especially for coastal cities.

Colorado River water supply is predictable on multi-year timescales owing to long-term ocean memory

Skillful multi-year climate forecasts provide crucial information for decision-makers and resource managers to mitigate water scarcity, yet such forecasts remain challenging due to unpredictable weather noise and the lack of dynamical model capability. Here we demonstrate that the annual water supply of the Colorado River is predictable up to several years in advance by a drift-free decadal climate prediction system using a fully coupled climate model. Observational analyses and model experiments show that prolonged shortages of water supply in the Colorado River are significantly linked to sea surface temperature precursors including tropical Pacific cooling, North Pacific warming, and southern tropical Atlantic warming. In the Colorado River basin, the water deficits can reduce crop yield and increase wildfire potential. Thus, a multi-year prediction of severe water shortages in the Colorado River basin could be useful as an early indicator of subsequent agricultural loss and wildfire risk.

LEAP-WEAP analysis of urban energy-water dynamic nexus in Beijing (China)

Based on LEAP and WEAP, this paper establishes the coupled model of energy and water in cities. With Beijing as a case, 26 scenarios are designed to explore the energy saving/water saving of different policies in Beijing in the future and its nexus effect, including the sensitivity analysis of the results. The results show that the total energy consumption in Beijing will grow slowly by year. Carbon emissions will peak in 2020, and fluctuate after 2035 it will slowly increase until 2050. Total water demand is stable between 3.6 and 4.1 billion cubic meters. According to the forecasted water supply capacity, there is no shortage of water supply and demand. The proportion of groundwater from the source of water supply fell to 27%, and the proportion of water in the South-to-North Water Transfer increased to 40%. The total energy saving of the “13th Five-Year Plan” water saving policy is 1.003 million tons of standard coal, which is equivalent to 8.165 billion kWh of electricity. The energy saving policy has reached 276 million cubic meters of water, equivalent to 140 Kunming Lakes. The energy demand of residents' lives, service industry, construction industry and traditional manufacturing industry has a good correlation with water demand value, which proved they are important water-coupled sectors. In terms of energy-saving/water-saving effects in different scenarios and recent/long range periods, the industrial structure optimization policy showed good energy-saving potential in the short-term, but the long-term energy-saving effect was not obvious, while it was accompanied by an increase in water consumption. The irrigation technology innovation and planting structure optimization scenarios in the agricultural sector have better energy saving and water saving effects in the short term. However, with the occurrence and further expansion of water shortage, the medium and long term the water saving effect is sill, while the energy saving effect is not significant. The sensitivity analysis shows that the parameters of the scenario such as economic slowdown, industrial structure optimization, development of public transportation, and planting structure optimization are more sensitive. For the synergistic effect of water and energy conservation, the synergy effect is more obvious in the energy saving scenarios of the service industry and the industrial sector. For the policies of the same department, the synergistic saving effect of the situation of improving energy intensity is obvious. From the perspective of the difficulty in policy implementation process and overview effects, the water saving and energy saving policies of the industrial sector face more difficulties while implementation. The external power regulation policy and the capital rising residents’ wareness of water saving policy has good performance both in the difficulty of implementation and overview effects.

A novel irrigation canal scheduling approach without relying on a prespecified canal water demand process

The creation of an efficient and environmentally friendly irrigation canal schedule strongly depends on the accuracy of the prespecified water demand (PSWD) process in existing scheduling practices and modeling studies. Overestimating water demand would result in spillage losses from over-irrigation, while underestimating water demand would lead to crop yield losses due to deficit water supply. However, prespecifying an accurate water demand often poses various challenges for both farmers and canal administrators, as it involves the temporal variability in agrometeorological conditions, the spatial diversity of soil properties, and the sensitivity of crops to water stress at different growth stages. Therefore, to reduce the uncertainty of prespecifying water demand and avoid the adverse effects of an inaccurate water demand on canal water allocation, this paper proposes an alternative canal scheduling model that maximizes canal scheduling service quality by targeting the ultimate objectives of the irrigation system (UOIS) without considering the prespecified water demand as the model input. The UOIS canal scheduling (UOIS-CS) model aims to optimize the canal water delivery schedule via simulation of soil water and salt migration using the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) model, to provide the most suitable soil moisture content and soil salinity for crops. The UOIS-CS model is used for the Hetao Irrigation District, Inner Mongolia, a typical agricultural watershed in China, where supplementary irrigation is performed after the autumn harvest (i.e., autumn irrigation) to leach excessive soil salt and preserve a moderate amount of soil moisture for the beginning of the next spring sowing period. To evaluate the irrigation performance of the UOIS-CS model further, a comparative analysis between the UOIS-CS model and the widely used PSWD-based canal scheduling (PSWD-CS) model is conducted. Compared with the PSWD-CS model, the proposed UOIS-CS model exhibits a superior irrigation performance in terms of leaching soil salt and preserving soil water, and a lower risk of canal overload operation during a higher water demand period. The improved performance of the UOIS-CS model is attributed to its greater adaptability to the spatial diversity of soil properties and the temporal variability in agrometeorological conditions, which originates from the full use of the equifinality of model performance metrics and model inputs. The UOIS-CS model provides managers with an effective approach to formulate a canal water delivery schedule with improved irrigation efficiency and lower overload risk. The proposed framework is generic and can be applied to non-crop growing seasons.

Determinants of Group Loan Repayment Performance of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises: Case Study Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company (EasternWollega Zone Branch)

The study was intended to analyze the determinants of group loan repayment performance of MSE’s sectors a case of Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company operating in the East Wollega Zone. The survey data was conducted by using the structured questionnaire in order to collect primary data from the purposively selected branches whereas secondary data were collected from published and unpublished documents. Out of 424 total number of groups owned of MSE’s sectors 168 sample size were selected and only 162 of the respondents have filled the questionnaire properly by their respective enterprise’s group leaders. The collected data were analyzed by employing descriptive statistics and ordered logit model by using STATA soft ware version 12. Result of this study shows that out of the predicting variables used in this study, group leaders education level, group leaders experience in similar business, the enterprise’s beginning capital, loan repayment period, loan follow up, Training offered by the loan officers of OCSSCO and access to output market for the enterprises finished products were found to positively influence while the enterprises group size, additional loan they received, problem of information disclosure among members, the problem of financial statement recording experience in the business, loan interest rate, problem of power interruption and shortage of water supply around the enterprise working area have negatively influenced the group loan repayment performance of MSE‘s sectors in the study area. Based on this result, the author recommended that OCSSCO has to focus on the smaller the group size through which the problem of information disclosure would be resolved ,they has to give frequent training about the financial statement recording experience, they have to deal with the concerned body to solve the problem of power interruption as well as about the shortage of water supply around the enterprise’s business area and encouraging them to increase their beginning capital at the enterprise start up that used to build confidence in their loan repayment performance in thestudy area. Keywords : Loan repayment performance, Micro and Small Scale Enterprises, Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-19-04 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Safety Analysis in Water Supply Systems

Abstract In the aspect of water management, the Water Directive regulates water management with the principle of sustainable development, in shaping, protecting, using and managing water resources. Analysis and assessment of the CWSS safety is a complex issue, including the analysis of potential threats, their effects and safety systems (barriers). The analysis is performed in terms of the water consumers health safety, threats of lack or deficit in water supply and threats to the environment. This process should include the analysis of the existing condition, possible potential threats and safety and repair procedures.