The changing nature of the water–energy nexus in urban water supply systems: a critical review of changes and responses

Abstract This paper provides a review of the changing nature of the water–energy nexus in urban water supply systems (UWSSs) due to the primary long-term drivers of climate change, population growth and technological development from the ‘energy for water’ perspective. We identify both the physical changes in UWSSs, as well as the changes in the attributes of the system, both of which contribute to the changing nature of the water–energy nexus. We provide an overview of responses to this change in the water–energy nexus through the lens of four application areas, namely long-term planning, system design, system operation and system rehabilitation, based on the review of 52 papers. Ten responses in three categories are found to be commonly considered in each of the four application areas. The three categories are energy or greenhouse gas reduction, integrated modelling and planning, and improving social benefits. The main drivers of these responses may vary with the application area. Based on the review outcomes, we outline the gaps in the responses in relation to the changing nature of the water–energy nexus in UWSSs, providing directions for future research on improving UWSS efficiency considering the long-term drivers.

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Understanding the water-energy nexus in urban water supply systems with city features

Energy Procedia ◽

10.1016/j.egypro.2018.09.121 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 152 ◽

pp. 265-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Chenfan Huang ◽

Yue Li ◽

Xuyao Li ◽

Hongtao Wang ◽

Jinyue Yan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Water Supply Systems ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Supply ◽

Water Energy Nexus ◽

Supply Systems

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Balancing Local and Global Sustainability of Urban Water Supply Systems with Water Security and Resilience Goals

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20100 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Elisabeth Krueger ◽

Dietrich Borchardt ◽

James Jawitz ◽

Suresh Rao

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Water Supply Systems ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water Supply ◽

Ecological Footprints ◽

Global Sustainability ◽

Governance Strategies ◽

Supply Systems ◽

New Framework

The sustainability of urban water systems is commonly analyzed based on local characteristics, such as the protection of urban watersheds or the existence of nature-based solutions for stormwater drainage. Water embedded in food and other goods consumed within cities, or the pollution caused by their production is generally not assessed as part of urban water system sustainability. However, indirect feedbacks can produce negative impacts (e.g., drought and water quality impairments) resulting from these water and ecological footprints. We therefore suggest that, within the context of nexus thinking, embedded water and ecosystem impacts should be part of urban water governance considerations.We quantify the local and global sustainability of urban water supply systems (UWSS) based on the performance of local sustainable governance and the size of global water and ecological footprints. Building on prior work on UWSS security and resilience, we develop a new framework that integrates security, resilience, and sustainability to investigate trade-offs between these three distinct and inter-related dimensions. Security refers to the level of services, resilience is the system&#8217;s ability to respond to and recover from shocks, and sustainability refers to the long-term viability of system services. Security and resilience are both relevant at local scale (city and surroundings), while for sustainability cross-scale and -sectoral feedbacks are important. We apply the new framework to seven cities selected from diverse hydro-climatic and socio-economic settings on four continents. We find that UWSS security, resilience, and local sustainability coevolve, while global sustainability correlates negatively with security. Approaching these interdependent goals requires governance strategies that balance the three dimensions within desirable and viable operating spaces. Cities outside these boundaries risk system failure in the short-term, due to lack of security and resilience, or face long-term consequences of unsustainable governance strategies. Our findings have strong implications for policy-making, strategic management, and for designing systems to operate sustainably at local and global scales, and across sectors.The corresponding article was accepted for publication in Environmental Research Letters on Jan. 15, 2020.

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