Application and evaluation of water, food and energy nexus approach in agricultural water resource management (Case study: Borkhar plain - Isfahan)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Ph.D condidate, Kish International Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The approach of water, energy and food correlation can be defined as an approach to evaluate the development and implementation of policies that emphasize the security of these things at the same time. The purpose of this research is to provide a method to analyze the relationship between water, food and energy in the crop production chain. Based on the proposed method and according to the amount of water and energy consumption, four indicators of water and energy consumption and water and energy productivity, and also based on these indicators, a combined index of water, food and energy nexus is proposed. This research has conducted on the Borkhor plain of Isfahan province and the MODFLOW model has used to simulate the watershed quantitatively and since the objective functions in this study are linear, multi-objective linear programming was chosen to solve the optimization problem. The goal of solving the optimization problem is 4 scenarios of water consumption minimization, energy consumption minimization, profit maximization, as well as water, food and energy maximization scenario. The results show that although each of the scenarios alone reflect the positive effects of reducing water and electricity consumption, but by using the scenario of combining water, food and energy, in addition to reducing water and electricity consumption, farmers' profits have also increased significantly, so that the amount of water consumption before optimization was 50 million cubic meters per year, but after optimization and applying the scenario of maximizing the correlation of water, food and energy, it decreased by 8% and reached 46 million cubic meters per year, and the amount of consumption Energy decreased by 9.7% from 13150330 kilowatt hours per year to 11867563 kilowatt hours per year and in addition, the profitability of the products before optimization was 6301966 million Rials, which after applying the scenario of correlation of water, food and energy with 21 The percentage of increase reached 8015264 million rials and on the other hand, with the continuation of the optimal scenario, the level of underground water in the state of maximizing the correlation of water, food and energy will decrease by 0.478 meters less than the existing conditions and and on the other hand, by continuing this trend in the long term, we will see a significant impact on the level of underground water.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1]. Mahdavi M. Applied Hydrology. 1nd ed. Tehran: University of Tehran  Press – Publishing Company; 2019. [Persian]
[2]. Kolahzari Moghadam F. Examining the differences in the perspective of water, energy, food nexus and the approach of integrated management of water resources. Resources Management in Coastal Plains. 2019. [Persian]
[3]. Mahdavi Moghadam M. water – energy- food nexuse in integrated management of warer resources. KHwaja Nasiruddin Tusi University of Tehran. 2014. [Persian]
[4]. Garcia D, You F. The water- energy – food nexuse and prosses systems engineering. A new focus. Computers & Chemical Engineering. 2016.
 
[5]. Mark Howells S.H, Manuel Welsch, Morgan Bazilian, Rebecka Segerström,  Thomas Alfstad,  Dolf Gielen,  et al. Integrated analysis of climate change, land-use, energy and water strategies. Nature Clhmate Change. 2013; 3: 621-626.
[6] Rasul  G. Food, water and energy security in south Asia: a nexus perspective from the Hinda Kush Himalayan region. Environ, Sci, Policy. 2014;  35-48.
[7]. Daher  B.T, Mohtar R.H. Water–energy–food (WEF) Nexus Tool 2.0: guiding integrative resource planning and decision-making. Water International. 2015; 748-771.
[8]. Howarth C, Monasterolo I. Understanding barriers to decision making in the UK energy-food-water nexus: The added value of interdisciplinary approaches.  Environmental Science & Policy. 2016; 53-60.
[9]. Kent Kovacs  M.P.Y.X.G.W. Tradeoffs among multiple ecosystem services and economic returns from groundwater depletion on a farm landscape. Econpapers. 2016; 1-45.
[10]. Al-Ansari T,  Development of the Energy, Water and Food Nexus Systems Mode,  in Department of Earth Science and Engineering.  Imperial College London. 2016.
[11]. Zhang X, Vesselinov V. Integrated modeling approach for optimal management of water, energy and food security nexus, Advances in Water Resources. 2017; 1-10.
[12]. Martinez-Hernandez  E, Leachb  M,  Yangc  A. Understanding water-energy-food and ecosystem interactions using the nexus simulation tool NexSym. Applied Energy.2017;  1009-1021.
[13]. Ximing  C, Kevin  W, Majid SJ,  Landon  M. Understanding and managing the food-energy- water nexus:  opportunities for water resources research.  Advances in Water Resources.2018;  259-273.
[14]. Fernandez G. Water Energy Nexus in Irrigated
Areas: Lessons from Real Case Studies. University of Cordoba, Cordoba,  Spain.  2018.
[15]. wicaksono A, Kang  D. Nationwide simulation of water, energy and food nexus: case study in South korea and Indonesia. Journal of Hydro-Environment Research.2019; 70-87.
[16]. Nhama  L, Mabhaudhi T, et al. An integrative analytical model for the water – energy – food nexus: case study in South Africa. Environmental Science and Policy.2020; 15-24.
[17]. Li, Ma. Evaluating the environ mental impacts of the water - energy- food nexuse with a life-cycle approach.  Resour,  Conserv,  Recycle. 2020.
[18]. Eslami Z, Janatrostami S, Ashrafzadeh A, Pourmohammad Y. Water, Energy, Food Nexus Approach Impact on Integrated Water Resources Management in Sefid – Rud Irrigation and Drainage Network. Journal of Water and Soil. 2020; 11-25. [Persian]
[19]. Chamanpira Gh, Zehtabian Gh, Ahmadi H, Malekian A. Optimal management pattern for water resources utilization, case study: Alashtar Plain. Journal of Water Engineering and Management. 2015; 274-285. [Persian]
[20]. Mafakheri S, Veisi H, KHoshbakht K, Nazari M.R. Evaluation of water – energy- food nexuse in agricultural products of Dehgolan County.Environmental Sciences. 2022; 287-306. [Persian]
[21]. Niksokhan M.H , Kamali A. Development of a Model for Calculation of Sustainability Index of Groundwater Resources. 2017; 1071-1087. [Persian]
[22]. Delavar M, Morid S, Moghadasi M. Developing an Optimization – Simulation Risk Based Water Allocation Model using Conditional Value at RISK (Cvar), Case Stady: Zayandehrood Irrigation Networks. Iran – Water Resources Research. 2014; 1-14. [Persian]
Iranian journal of Ecohydrology
Volume 10, Issue 2
July 2023
Pages 187-201

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 05 January 2023
  • Revise Date: 31 January 2023
  • Accept Date: 13 March 2023
  • First Publish Date: 22 June 2023
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics