The water-energy nexus: review of current studies and recommendations for future development of integrated assessments

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review existing studies and models which address the interdependencies of water and energy resources. Freshwater is becoming a limited resource in some parts of the world as a result of an increasing demands (due to population growth and urbanization) and decreasing water resources (due to climate change and pollution). There is increasing competition for this limited resource between the agriculture, residential, industrial and energy sectors. Inefficient water use in shortage situations has led to power cuts, crop failures and unaffordable residential water. Water and energy are increasingly becoming limiting factors in each other s day to day operations and thus new, as well as changes to existing, tools and techniques are being proposed to address these issues. The inspiration of these efforts as well as that of this paper is the creation of better integrated water and energy assessment methodologies and models. The paper reviews the existing literature to identify the benefits of integrated assessments as well as the drawbacks of a lack of such collaboration. Existing models and studies are analyzed for common themes and recommendations which are then compiled as a guide line for future projects.