Water, energy, and food constitute essential resources crucial for human survival and development. Water security, energy security, and food security are critical issues related to human sustainable development. Northwest China is endowed with abundant energy and mineral resources. Simultaneously, the region serves as a significant reserve base for grain production in China. However, Northwest China faces challenges related to water scarcity. The rapid increase in water demand for energy development and agricultural production intensifies competition for water resources among food and energy. Water scarcity has emerged as a significant constraint on the development of the energy and food industries in the region. Given the interrelated, mutually restrictive, and interdependent nature of water, energy, and food, scientifically revealing and coordinating the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) interaction in Northwest China holds great scientific significance. To address this, we selected two cases in Northwest China: Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base and Yulin City. Firstly, we proposed and developed an agent-based water–energy–food model based on MESA library for Ningdong Energy and Chemical Base. This model aims to simulate the complex dynamic interactions in the supply and demand process of WEF sectors under different scenarios. Secondly, for Yulin City, we constructed a Water-Energy-Food Integrated Management Model to deal with multiple Uncertainties, called IMMU-WEF model. This model was employed to explore the water resources allocation mode, agricultural planting structure, energy exploitation and production mode in Yulin City under uncertain conditions. Through the two cases, we aim to provide a valuable reference for the management of WEF nexus in Northwest China. This has significant implications for ensuring the sustainable economic and social development of Northwest China.

Keywords: Water-energy-food nexus; multi-agent based modeling; IMMU-WEF model; Northwest China

How to cite: Wang, X., Sun, J., Zhang, J., and Jiang, Y.: Case study of Water-Energy-Food Nexus management in Northwest China, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-20586, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20586, 2024.

Water resource planning has been promoted to improve access to water in terms of quality and quantity. To make planning a reality, both resources and engagement of stakeholders in the areas of analysis are required. However, based on our experience in several Latin American countries, taking watershed management plans through to implementation is complex. The integration of sectoral water users in a more active way, especially where agricultural and other producers can evaluate the benefits of water and environmental planning to have continued access to sufficient quantity and quality of water is essential for implementation.  We conducted a transdisciplinary research project for the sustainable management of water, energy, and food (WEF) resources of the Sevilla River, Colombia, one of five rivers that originate in the Sierra Nevada and flow to the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. Río Sevilla is the main source of surface and groundwater for domestic supply, agricultural irrigation, and livestock in the Zona Bananera municipality. Various natural factors including scarce rainfall during El Niño years, the intermittent surface water regime of tributary streams, and concurrent human impacts of water diversion and land use change, the watershed is experiencing significant decreases in flow, the loss of water connectivity with the Ciénaga, and the resulting ecological fragmentation. By applying the WEF Nexus framework, the study assessed the relationship between oil palm, banana, and coffee production, and the water volumes and estimates of energy consumed. Using national databases and information provided by local associations of these sectors (Fedepalma, Cenipalma, Federación Nacional de Cafeteros, Asbama, and Agrosavia) as well as conservation organizations (WWF and the Water Stewardship Platform it coordinates) and the Magadalena Departmental Environmental Authority, we developed a Water Evaluation and Planning System WEAP model to quantify water supply, demand, and their interrelationships. These and other stakeholders together with the research team jointly identified problems and evaluated alternative actions to address identified challenges. The participatory Scenariothon ‘serious games’ methodology promoted dialogue, communication, and consensus-building in three stages: 1) a social mapping workshop to identify the main WEF problems and locations, 2) identification of actions that could be implemented by individual stakeholders and their expert knowledge to reduce water and energy consumption and achieve water-efficient crop production, and 3) a synthesis workshop to identify and evaluate collective and coordinated actions and compare these with individual actions from (2) using the WEAP model. The model includes all users and simulates different outcomes of the actions, including crop production and energy consumption by type of irrigation system (flood, sprinkler, or drip). Indicators were defined to compare actions, considering crop production efficiency, water availability, and energy consumption. Scenariothon WEAP simulations of the impacts of stakeholder-identified actions were assessed (https://latinoamericasei.shinyapps.io/JuegoSerio_CuencasSevillaFrio/). This methodology and indicators can be used as a robust planning process to better integrate environmental and sectoral water planning, gain stakeholder support for the implementation of plans, and improve river basin management outcomes. 

How to cite: Santos, T., Gonzalez, C., Scott, C., Prieto, J., Lungo, M., Tarazona, M., and Orrego, S. A.: Transdisciplinary planning using WEF Nexus serious games: Towards watershed management implementation, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-1187, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-1187, 2024.

Irrigated agriculture plays a foundational role for global food security while also being the largest water consumer worldwide. With little room to expand surface water irrigation, agricultural planners turn increasingly to groundwater for building climate resilience food security. This strategy has transformed major food baskets into highly productive but groundwater depleting systems. Outside these 'hotspots' however, there is still ample scope for promoting productive and sustainable groundwater use for agriculture. Here we present a big data approach for targeting groundwater irrigation investments in rice production across 4 states of India in safe shallow groundwater zones. Our results indicate that promoting one additional irrigation in parts of safe shallow groundwater zones where yield responses are especially high, can provide annual rice consumption needs for another 50m people. The spatial strucuture of the irrigation investment priority zones can further aid research and sustainable development planning. We conclude that combining increasingly abundant agronomic and hydrological data for sustainable development in low and middle income countries can help to guide the financing of more targeted and cost-effective sustainable development programs.

How to cite: Urfels, A., McDonald, A., Mkdondiwa, M., Arena Calles, L., Shankar, H. N., Karki, S., Srivastava, A., Sherpa, S., and Kumar, V.: Targeting irrigation investments for people and planet: A novel big-data approach, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-2313, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-2313, 2024.

How to cite: He, X. and Liu, Z.: Balancing-oriented hydropower operation makes the clean energy transition more affordable and simultaneously boosts water security, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-5916, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-5916, 2024.

Water, energy and the environment are inextricably linked. Complex and volatile global situations pose serious challenges to long-term stable and sustainable social development, resulting in many uncertainties in maintaining regular water and energy supplies and avoiding environmental degradation. Based on the nexus theory, it has become an urgent global and regional need for policy makers and scientists to consider water, energy, and the environment nexus (WEEN) as a complex system in order to deal with the water and energy issues brought about by rapid urbanization, the synergistic response of the environment under climate change, and the corresponding potential risks. Aiming at these problems, a simulation and optimization framework for WEEN complex systems is proposed by combining the system dynamics model, Gaussian white noise, and NSGA-II method. A system dynamics model integrated with Gaussian white noise is used to characterize the feedback relationships among the elements within the different subsystems of water resources, energy, and environment under uncertainty. Taking the city cluster in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (CCMRYR) in China as the research object, the evolution of the WEEN complex system is simulated under different uncertainty conditions such as climate change conditions and policy backgrounds. In addition, an optimization method based on NSGA-II algorithm is constructed for solving the optimal development strategy of WEEN complex system. The results show that: Following the current development path, by increasing the proportion of energy conservation and environmental protection expenditures by 0.033%, as well as adjusting the ratio of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries from 5.8:29.0:59.1 to 6.9:28.3:59.7, it is possible for CCMRYR to achieve a reduction of 1.31 billion tons of total water consumption, a reduction of 12.17 million tce of total energy consumption, and a decrease of 0.13×10⁶ of total pollution equivalent in 2035.

How to cite: Liu, H. and Zhang, X.: An optimization and simulation framework for water-energy-environmental nexus under uncertainties: A case study in the city cluster along the middle reach of the Yangtze River, China, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-6429, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6429, 2024.

Plant water storage (PWS), which protects plants from water stress during severe droughts, also regulates a number of aspects of the spatio-temporal dynamics of water transport in the soil-plant system. Overestimation or underestimation of transpiration is possible if we equate the amount of water that is absorbed by the roots to the total sap flux that is transpired to the atmosphere through the leaves. Experiments suggest that shoot/stem storage fluxes contribute to 2-15% of the total sap flux in trees. Most of the above ground storage fluxes contributing to the total sap flux in trees come from the middle segment of the plant stem. While experiments have been done to measure shoot storage contribution to sap flux, root storage contributions to sap flux still remains unknown. Experiments have also shown that root biomass contributes up to 40% of the total tree biomass which is significant, it
becomes important to quantify root storage fluxes in the trees. There are models available estimating water storage fluxes within the trees. Nevertheless, these models do not quantify the water storage fluxes and its contribution to the sap flux explicitly within the roots.

How to cite: Pathak, V. S. and Srinivasan, V.: Quantifying the buffer storage effects of a plant, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-11378, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-11378, 2024.

Effectively addressing the water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) Nexus at watershed scale requires the need of software tools to support planning towards sustainable development, even in the medium-long term. Because spatial data are largely available and hydrologic models starts to be common tools to manage the water resources, expanding modelling capabilities to the WEFE Nexus may provide valuable support.

Within the NEXUS NESS PRIMA project (www.prima-nexus-ness.org/) the free & open source FREEWAT-Q3 software for water resources management is developed. FREEWAT is a free and open source, QGIS integrated interface for planning and management of water resources, with specific reference to groundwater. The FREEWAT platform couples the power of GIS geo-processing and post-processing tools in spatial data analysis with that of process-based simulation models. The FREEWAT environment allows storage of large spatial datasets, data management and visualization, and running of several distributed modelling codes (mainly belonging to the USGS MODFLOW family). The ongoing FREEWAT-Q3 version works from QGIS 3.30 version. It includes the following codes: MODFLOW-2005, MODPATH, MT3D-USGS, SEAWAT, along with codes for conjunctive use of surface and groundwater (MF-OWHM v.2.0) and for the simulation of crop yield at harvest. A WEFE NEXUS toolbox provides capabilities to include NEXUS related indicators in the analyses. The code is freely distributed along with a set of tutorials, dataset, and learning material.

The software is applied to the Val di Cornia Ecohydrological Observatory (Italy), a watershed scale laboratory for investigating the long-term impact of climate change and the intertwined direct impacts caused by human activities on the water resources, and to assess nature-based solutions effectiveness. The implementation of a model whose construction and maintenance is shared with the main stakeholders in the area (united under the umbrella of a NEXUS Ecosystem Lab) greatly supports the path towards sustainable development at the watershed scale.

Acknowledgement

This contribution is presented within the framework of the NEXUS-NESS project. The NEXUS-NESS received funding from the PRIMA Programme, an Art.185 initiative supported and funded under Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

How to cite: Rossetto, R., Joodavi, A., Ercoli, L., Sebastiani, L., Masi, M., Fabbrizzi, A., Benvenuto, R., Borsi, I., and Nardi, F.: Modelling the Water-Energy-Food NEXUS in the Val di Cornia UNESCO Ecohydrological Observatory. A FREEWAT-Q3 implementation., EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-13190, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-13190, 2024.

Water is a critical shared resource for food and energy production, and its scarcity is becoming more evident under the combined effects of economic expansion and climate change. This has heightened the debate on the competition for increasingly scarce water resources between the food and energy industries. To comprehensively assess water competition and synergy mechanisms, both water quantity and quality dimensions must be considered. Here, we establish two scenarios based on the water footprint perspective: water quantity (blue water footprint) and water quality-quantity (blue and grey water footprints). By integrating the Lotka-Volterra model with water footprint theory, we propose a method to assess water synergy and competition within the food and energy industries, illustrated through a case study in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). Results show that from 2000 to 2020, urbanization and industrialization have reshaped water competition in the YRB, shifting it from food-producing areas to those focused on energy production. The inclusion of water quality exacerbates the water competition within the food and energy industries, particularly in resource-rich and economically developed cities. Moreover, our study highlights the sensitivity of water competition in the YRB to fluctuations in industrial structural configuration, advancements in water utilization efficiency, and the shifts in policy directives. This indicates that, in charting a path forward, the YRB should consistently enforce water pollution control regulations and embrace advanced water-saving technologies to effectively mitigating conflicts that may arise from water competition.

How to cite: Han, X., Hua, E., Guan, J., Yin, J., Engel, B. A., Sun, S., and Wang, Y.: Water Competition within The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in The Yellow River Basin: Insights from Water Quantity and Quality Dimensions, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-13453, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-13453, 2024.

Abstract: The Haihe River Basin (HRB) in North China, characterized by a warm and humid environment, has witnessed a transformation in agricultural water supply patterns, influenced by both climatic changes and groundwater withdrawal restrictions. Despite the impact of these changes on irrigation activities, comprehensive monitoring of irrigation water use (IWU) is lacking, with existing studies predominantly focusing on the influence of irrigation on climatic factors and crop yield. Few studies address the effects of warming and humidification on IWU, and the impacts of human activities associated with groundwater withdrawal restrictions remain underexplored. This study introduces a novel IWU estimation method and examines changes in IWU across the HRB from 2003 to 2022. By quantifying the contribution of irrigation water to different destinations (evapotranspiration consumption, root zone soil water increment, and groundwater recharge), key drivers of IWU change are revealed. The accuracy of IWU estimates proves high, effectively reflecting spatiotemporal changes in irrigation activities.

Results demonstrate declining trends in irrigation water intensity and the proportion of irrigation area, with changes in irrigation water intensity dominating overall IWU variations. Shifts in cropping patterns, such as the southward relocation of winter wheat planting and increased drought-tolerant corn cultivation after 2012, explain regional disparities in IWU values. The proportion of irrigation water consumed by evapotranspiration and root zone water increment was 0.58 and 0.39, respectively. Utilizing the least partial square regression method, cropping pattern changes emerge as common drivers for irrigation water intensity in the three main administrative regions (Hebei Province, Beijing, and Tianjin). Irrigation management factors prevail in Hebei Province and Tianjin, while climate factors, particularly in Beijing, play a significant role. Increased water supply and a wetter climate over the past 20 years contributed to decreased irrigation water intensity, particularly in Hebei Province and Beijing. Additionally, optimization of cropping patterns and the adoption of water-saving agriculture further reduced irrigation water intensity in the HRB. This study provides a thorough understanding of the evolving irrigation landscape and associated mechanisms in the HRB over the past two decades. The findings offer insights into combatting climate change and groundwater depletion, informing strategies for sustainable water resource management.

Keywords: Irrigation water use; drivers; cropping patterns; North China Plain

How to cite: Long, D., Zhang, C., Cui, Y., and Dong, L.: Unraveling the Dynamics of Irrigation Water Use in North China: Patterns and Influencing Factors over the Early 21st Century, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-16815, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-16815, 2024.

Improving Maize Water Use Efficiency: Strategies for Mitigating Water Demand Challenges in a Changing Environment

Abstract

Maize, a significant food source compared to other crops, has seen yield improvements due to genetic enhancements. However, to meet future demands, further enhancements are essential. Stagnant crop water use efficiency (WUE) poses a challenge to food security, emphasizing the importance of addressing inefficient crop water use. The current CO₂ saturation in maize crop photosynthesis (A_net) offers a potential avenue for enhancing water use efficiency by genetically reducing stomatal conductance (g_s). While this reduction in g_s is anticipated to lower transpiration without impacting A_net, it simultaneously raises leaf temperature (T_leaf) and water vapor pressure deficits (VPD). Here, we use a mechanistic C₄ leaf model (vLeaf) to explore the impact of g_s reduction on leaf-level processes, revealing both direct effect (primary) and indirect feedback (secondary) of g_s reduction on leaf WUE. Our simulations show that secondary effects can counteract the water-saving advantages derived from decreased transpiration, leading to a decline in WUE gains from 40% to 20%. Despite this notable decrease, it is important to highlight that these reductions do not nullify the WUE benefits associated with lowered g_s. Moreover, simulations conducted under anticipated future conditions, characterized by elevated CO₂ levels and drier air, indicate that a reduction of g_s by 29% can yield WUE improvements of up to 28%. This study emphasizes the potential of reducing g_s as an effective strategy to tackle the issue of water demand.

How to cite: Srivastava, A. and Srinivasan, V.: Improving Maize Water Use Efficiency: Strategies for Mitigating Water Demand Challenges in a Changing Environment, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-19626, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-19626, 2024.

The study aimed to assess the viability of utilizing canopy temperature-based crop water stress index (CWSI) for scheduling of irrigation in wheat crop (Triticum Aestivum L.). Field experiments were carried out for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 cropping periods at irrigation laboratory of Civil Engineering Department at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India. The experimental field was divided into six plots, each subjected to different irrigation treatments based on the depletion of total available soil water (ASW) within the crop's root zone. These irrigation treatments maintained varying levels of water depletion in the soil (WDS) of TASW, encompassing 10%, 25%, 35% and 50%, as well as fully irrigated (non-stressed) and extremely dry (fully stressed) conditions. To establish a baseline, multiple regression analysis between meteorological variable and crop parameters were conducted.  The CWSI was subsequently calculated for various levels of WDS of ASW using an empirical method. It was found that the irrigation treatment corresponding to 50% WDS, with a mean CWSI of 0.36, resulted in optimal yield and maximum water use efficiency. The findings of the study suggest that the established CWSI value can effectively identify stress levels and serve as a valuable tool for scheduling irrigation in wheat crop.

How to cite: Workneh, A. C., Prasad, K. S. H., and Ojha, C. S. P.: Utilizing crop water stress index for efficient irrigation scheduling of wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.), EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-20135, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20135, 2024.

Water, energy, and food (WEF) are interlinked and create a dynamic system that impacts both human well-being and ecology. Given the importance of ecology within the WEF system, water resources serve as the core issue. The allocation of water resources in irrigation districts is a challenging problem for the coordinated development of agricultural production, water resources, and the ecological environment. The integration of stochastic multi-objective programming, fuzzy credibility-constrained programming, and mixed integer programming offers a solution to this issue, with the construction of a fuzzy credibility-constrained stochastic multi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. The applicability and validity of this model were verified by applying it to the Kaikong Irrigation District (KID) of the Tarim River Basin in northwest China, with notable findings indicating that the optimized system reduces agricultural costs by 5.82%, increases irrigation water use efficiency by 1.80%, and reduces global warming potential by 6.45%. This study investigates the effects of diverse allocation strategies of water and land resources on the social, economic, and ecological subsystems and their interactions by downscaling four subprocesses PBs to the KID scale. The optimization model reveals that only the nitrogen footprint of Kuerle City surpasses the nitrogen boundary of the KID. The proposed solutions based on the model can encourage the green and ecologically-friendly development of agricultural production and can be applied to agricultural systems in arid regions with similar conditions. 

How to cite: Zhang, Y. and Yang, P.: An inexact multi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming approach for water-soil-fertilizer management under uncertainty considering “footprint family-planetary boundary” assessment, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-20431, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20431, 2024.

Water scarcity can have far-reaching sectoral impacts beyond where it physically occurred through the propagation of virtual water flows. Both fast (e.g., interannual meteorological variability) and slow physical processes (e.g., phase changes in sea surface temperature [SST] modes) can affect water availability and use, leading to changes in both direct and virtual water scarcity. In this study, we use a two-stage regression to investigate how interannual meteorological variability and SST-phase changes contribute to variations in water shortage in China, both locally (through the Local Water Scarcity Risk index, LWSR) and remotely (through the Virtual Water Scarcity Risk index, VWSR). More specifically, LWSR and VWSR are estimated using the regression-based water stress indices and agricultural water uses under varying meteorological forcings and SST phases, holding the region-by-sector input-output relationships constant. Our findings indicate that interannual meteorological variability affects LWSR on the order of 10–1000% and VWSR on the order of 10% in most sectors and provinces, with a limited portion of impacts attributable to SST-phase changes. In particular, the positive phase of the second investigated SST mode results in significantly higher (on the order of 5%) LWSR and VWSR for nearly all sectors and provinces compared to the negative phase. These results highlight the importance of using longer time series to accurately assess local and virtual water scarcity situations. Decision makers in susceptible provinces and sectors should consider interannual variabilities in LWSR and VWSR and plan for potential occurrences of extreme conditions.

How to cite: Wang, Y., Cao, T., Zhang, S., and He, X.: Impacts of Interannual Climate Variability on Direct and Virtual Water Shortage Risks in China, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-5071, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-5071, 2024.

A shift from stating ‘what the weather will be’ to understanding ‘what the weather will do’ marks the importance of early warning and early action and highlights the role and potential value of climate information and services. Within this recognition, however, there is an implicit assumption of availability of and access to credible, salient, and legitimate information about the hazard threat as well as understanding of locational exposure and vulnerability. Effective communication of threat is also implied, as it is vital to align with the risk perceptions of users, communities, and organisations in order to motivate responses which are available and perceived to be feasible and helpful.

This research explores these underpinning assumptions of climate information and climate risk management practices through a behavioural and psychological science lens. We do this within the construct of the CLARE “Behavioural Adaptation for water Security and Inclusion” (BASIN) project, which focuses on improving water security and inclusion in a changing climate in Africa. Noting that progress towards inclusive water security and equitable climate adaptation is underscored by understanding risk management decisions, the BASIN project focuses on how such decisions are shaped by social structures to support behaviour change in the water community and wider society. As such, this paper will synthesise behavioural and psychological science insights to support equitable and effective climate information use given a review of available early warning information and consideration of local knowledge and decision-making realities.

How to cite: Dookie, D. S. and Conway, D.: Behavioural Insights for Climate Information and Services in Africa, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-13216, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-13216, 2024.