Feasibility of adopting smart water meters in aquifer management: An integrated hydro-economic analysis

Zekri, Slim; Madani, Kaveh; Bazargan‐Lari, Mohammad Reza; Kotagama, Hemesiri; Kalbus, E.

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2016.11.022

Cited by 29 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The interlinkages between food, energy, and water (FEW) are increasingly recognized in the fledgling FEW nexus literature [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], offering high-level insights into efficient resource use for FEW security. The GEF nexus poses a challenging, yet critical resource management problem that is present in different forms in many countries [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. To date, little attention has been paid to the crippling long-term side effects of inefficient resource management from a GEF nexus perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Groundwater‒Energy‒Food Nexus in Iran’s Agricultural Sector: Implications for Water Security

Mirzaei

Saghafian

Mirchi

et al. 2019

Water

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104

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This paper presents the first groundwater‒energy‒food (GEF) nexus study of Iran’s agronomic crops based on national and provincial datasets and firsthand estimates of agricultural groundwater withdrawal. We use agronomic crop production, water withdrawal, and energy consumption data to estimate groundwater withdrawal from electric-powered irrigation wells and examine agronomic productivity in Iran’s 31 provinces through the lens of GEF nexus. The ex-post GEF analysis sheds light on some of the root causes of the nation’s worsening water shortage problems. Access to highly subsidized water (surface water and groundwater) and energy has been the backbone of agricultural expansion policies in Iran, supporting employment in agrarian communities. Consequently, water use for agronomic crop production has greatly overshot the renewable water supply capacity of the country, making water bankruptcy a serious national security threat. Significant groundwater table decline across the country and increasing energy consumption underscore dysfunctional feedback relations between agricultural water and energy price and groundwater withdrawal in an inefficient agronomic sector. Thus, it is essential to implement holistic policy reforms aimed at reducing agricultural water consumption to alleviate the looming water bankruptcy threats, which can lead to the loss of numerous agricultural jobs in the years to come.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Groundwater‒Energy‒Food Nexus in Iran’s Agricultural Sector: Implications for Water Security

Mirzaei

Saghafian

Mirchi

et al. 2019

Water

Self Cite

104

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“…All the scenarios that involve recharge in the upstream area are not economically feasible due to the very high investment cost to transport water by 16.5 km. Scenario B does not involve any recharge to the aquifer and the investment cost is related to the cost of installation of smart groundwater meters in each of the 1037 wells and online monitoring of the pumping (Zekri et al, 2017). Scenario B2 is a combination of scenarios A2 and B.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological and economic feasibility of mitigating a stressed coastal aquifer using managed aquifer recharge: a case study of Jamma aquifer, Oman

et al. 2019

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This study explored the hydrological and economic feasibility of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) using tertiary treated wastewater (TWW) to mitigate salinity in the coastal aquifer of Jamma, Oman. A steady-state groundwater flow and transport model, using MODFLOW software, was developed and calibrated. Different managerial scenarios were simulated and the results reveal that the Jamma aquifer will be further deteriorated in the next 20 a if it remains unmanaged. The groundwater table will decline further by more than 3 m on average; and the iso-concentration salinity line of 1500 mg/L will advance 2.7 km inland, which will severely affect the farming activities in the area. However, MAR using TWW when integrated with the management of groundwater abstraction (e.g., using modern irrigation systems to reduce the abstraction rate) becomes hydrologically feasible to augment the aquifer storage and control seawater intrusion, and hence improves the farming activities. The results indicate that: (1) injecting TWW in the vicinity of irrigation wells (Scenario A2); (2) investing in smart water meters and online control of pumping from the wells to reduce the abstraction rate by 25% (Scenario B); and (3) a combination of both (Scenario B2) are feasible scenarios with positive net present values. Recharge in upstream areas is found not economically feasible because of the very high investment cost of the installation of pipes to transport the TWW over a distance of 12.5 km. Because of securing funds are challenging, Scenario B would be the best option and the second-best option is Scenario A2. Scenario B2 has the lowest net benefit investment ratio and is very attractive because it entails integrated demand and supply management of groundwater. It is required to reduce pumping and to invest in injecting TWW to improve groundwater quality in the vicinity of irrigation wells and to form a hydrological barrier to control seawater intrusion in the long run.

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“…Additionally, the water resources systems studies do not always limit themselves to proposing solutions as Di Baldassare et al [13] argue. There are many studies in the water resources systems literature that look at "why" certain behavior or evolution path has emerged or might emerge in coupled human-water systems (e.g., [49,52,53,57,59,76,145,[149][150][151][152][153][154][155][156][157][158]).…”

Section: Where Are the Boundaries Of Socio-hydrology?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-Hydrology: A New Understanding to Unite or a New Science to Divide?

Madani

Shafiee-Jood

2020

Water

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The socio-hydrology community has been very successful in promoting the need for taking the human factor into account in the mainstream hydrology literature since 2012. However, the interest in studying and modeling human-water systems is not new and pre-existed the post-2012 socio-hydrology. So, it is critical to ask what socio-hydrology has been able to offer that would have been unachievable using the existing methods, tools, and analysis frameworks. Thus far, the socio-hydrology studies show a strong overlap with what has already been in the literature, especially in the water resources systems and coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) areas. Nevertheless, the work in these areas has been generally dismissed by the socio-hydrology literature. This paper overviews some of the general concerns about originality, practicality, and contributions of socio-hydrology. It is argued that while in theory, a common sense about the need for considering humans as an integral component of water resources systems models can strengthen our coupled human-water systems research, the current approaches and trends in socio-hydrology can make this interest area less inclusive and interdisciplinary.

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Feasibility of adopting smart water meters in aquifer management: An integrated hydro-economic analysis

Cited by 29 publications

References 26 publications

The Groundwater‒Energy‒Food Nexus in Iran’s Agricultural Sector: Implications for Water Security

The Groundwater‒Energy‒Food Nexus in Iran’s Agricultural Sector: Implications for Water Security

Hydrological and economic feasibility of mitigating a stressed coastal aquifer using managed aquifer recharge: a case study of Jamma aquifer, Oman

Socio-Hydrology: A New Understanding to Unite or a New Science to Divide?

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