54
However, disciplinary hydrology and water resource (HWR) studies of water
systems typically focus on the impacts on the water system rather than the effects of
water’s land and energy use. When your tool is a water balance equation, your
analysis tends to ignore factors that do not appear directly in that equation. The
commitment to core methods, concepts, and theories is both the greatest strength
and greatest weakness of the traditional disciplinary approach; it is a weakness for
systems work.
Some key considerations of the modern water system include the following:
• Massively centralized infrastructure dependency (Chap. 10);
• Growing global demand for water, especially for irrigated agriculture;
• Growing importance of managing life cycle water use and water footprints;
• The growth of human populations and economies in desert regions;
• The transition from a water-abundant world to a water-scarce world;
• Regional and planetary boundaries and carrying capacities for water;
• The conflict between environmental flow requirements and human demands;
• Humans as a major, or dominant, part of the water cycle;
• Groundwater mining and depletion;
• Outsourcing of water-intensive food production via virtual water (see Sect. 7.5);
• Informal water systems and water quality problems in low development status
countries;
• Water pollution and water quality;
• The impact of both floods and droughts, often in proximity;
• The impact of existing and new hydropower development.
A study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE 2014) represented the estimated US energy and water flows in 2011 (Fig. 2.4). This study illustrates the connections and trade-offs that come with the interactions between food, energy, and
water systems, using a Sankey flow diagram. The energy flows into the transportation, industrial, residential, and commercial sectors include energy for water and
food systems. The water flows into thermoelectric cooling, and agriculture are
very large.
It is important to note the difference between water consumption and water
withdrawal. Consumption is different between water withdrawn from the
immediate aquatic environment as compared with the quantity of water that is
returned (discharged) to the same immediate environment at a similar time,
place, and quality. Generally, water consumption is due to evaporation and
evapotranspiration or its embodiment in some products (e.g., food). However,
the water returned to a watershed may be altered by its use. For example, water
use for cooling in a thermoelectric power plant typically raised the temperature
of the water. In another example, water use in agriculture may result in the addition of nutrients. Both of these examples can result in significant ecological
impact when non-consumed water is returned to a watershed, via thermal or
chemical pollution.
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell
However, disciplinary hydrology and water resource (HWR) studies of water
systems typically focus on the impacts on the water system rather than the effects of
water’s land and energy use. When your tool is a water balance equation, your
analysis tends to ignore factors that do not appear directly in that equation. The
commitment to core methods, concepts, and theories is both the greatest strength
and greatest weakness of the traditional disciplinary approach; it is a weakness for
systems work.
Some key considerations of the modern water system include the following:
• Massively centralized infrastructure dependency (Chap. 10);
• Growing global demand for water, especially for irrigated agriculture;
• Growing importance of managing life cycle water use and water footprints;
• The growth of human populations and economies in desert regions;
• The transition from a water-abundant world to a water-scarce world;
• Regional and planetary boundaries and carrying capacities for water;
• The conflict between environmental flow requirements and human demands;
• Humans as a major, or dominant, part of the water cycle;
• Groundwater mining and depletion;
• Outsourcing of water-intensive food production via virtual water (see Sect. 7.5);
• Informal water systems and water quality problems in low development status
countries;
• Water pollution and water quality;
• The impact of both floods and droughts, often in proximity;
• The impact of existing and new hydropower development.
A study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE 2014) represented the estimated US energy and water flows in 2011 (Fig. 2.4). This study illustrates the connections and trade-offs that come with the interactions between food, energy, and
water systems, using a Sankey flow diagram. The energy flows into the transportation, industrial, residential, and commercial sectors include energy for water and
food systems. The water flows into thermoelectric cooling, and agriculture are
very large.
It is important to note the difference between water consumption and water
withdrawal. Consumption is different between water withdrawn from the
immediate aquatic environment as compared with the quantity of water that is
returned (discharged) to the same immediate environment at a similar time,
place, and quality. Generally, water consumption is due to evaporation and
evapotranspiration or its embodiment in some products (e.g., food). However,
the water returned to a watershed may be altered by its use. For example, water
use for cooling in a thermoelectric power plant typically raised the temperature
of the water. In another example, water use in agriculture may result in the addition of nutrients. Both of these examples can result in significant ecological
impact when non-consumed water is returned to a watershed, via thermal or
chemical pollution.
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell