Water for irrigation or hydropower generation?—Complex questions regarding water allocation in Tanzania

Kadigi, Reuben M. J.; Mdoe, N.S.Y.; Ashimogo, G.C.; Morardet, Sylvie

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2008.03.008

Cited by 42 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…Both studies concluded that hydropower development increased and would continue to increase dry-season streamflow, the main water source for dryseason irrigation due to the monsoon climate of this region. Studies in Pakistan (Yang et al 2016), Tanzania (Kadigi et al 2008), Turkey (Yüksel 2010), Sri Lanka (Molle et al 2008) and for the Western US (Chatterjee et al 1998) also reported differing relationships between irrigation and hydropower.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower versus irrigation—an analysis of global patterns

Zeng

Cai

Ringler

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

109

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Numerous reservoirs around the world provide multiple flow regulation functions; key among these are hydroelectricity production and water releases for irrigation. These functions contribute to energy and food security at national, regional and global levels. While reservoir operations for hydroelectricity production might support irrigation, there are also well-known cases where hydroelectricity production reduces water availability for irrigated food production. This study assesses these relationships at the global level using machine-learning techniques and multisource datasets. We find that 54% of global installed hydropower capacity (around 507 thousand Megawatt) competes with irrigation. Regions where such competition exists include the Central United States, northern Europe, India, Central Asia and Oceania. On the other hand, 8% of global installed hydropower capacity (around 79 thousand Megawatt) complements irrigation, particularly in the Yellow and Yangtze River Basins of China, the East and West Coasts of the United States and most river basins of Southeast Asia, Canada and Russia. No significant relationship is found for the rest of the world. We further analyze the impact of climate variables on the relationships between hydropower and irrigation. Reservoir flood control functions that operate under increased precipitation levels appear to constrain hydroelectricity production in various river basins of the United States, South China and most basins in Europe and Oceania. On the other hand, increased reservoir evaporative losses and higher irrigation requirements due to higher potential evaporation levels may lead to increased tradeoffs between irrigation and hydropower due to reduced water availability in regions with warmer climates, such as India, South China, and the Southern United States. With most reservoirs today being built for multiple purposes, it is important for policymakers to understand and plan for growing tradeoffs between key functions. This will be particularly important as climate mitigation calls for an increase in renewable energy while agro-hydrological impacts of climate change, population and economic growth and associated dietary change increase the need for irrigated food production in many regions round the world.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower versus irrigation—an analysis of global patterns

Zeng

Cai

Ringler

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

109

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“…Economic allocation was found by Bakken et al to be sensitive to selection of economic valuation method, but acknowledged that this method could be useful in those cases where the same economic valuation method was applied across all functions served by the reservoir. Kadigi et al underline that use of economic valuation methods could underestimate the social value of water.…”

Section: Dilemmas Related To the Applied Methodologymentioning

confidence: 88%

The Water Footprint of Hydropower Production—State of the Art and Methodological Challenges

2017

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energy production, which has boosted large-scale investments in solar, wind, and hydropower. [5] There is a growing understanding of the close relation between water and energy, sometimes entitled the waterenergy nexus. [6][7][8][9][10] Water is highly needed in the development of energy resources, and access to energy is a prerequisite in the provision of water services. According to ref.[10], primary energy production and power generation accounted for roughly 10% of total worldwide water withdrawals and around 3% of total water consumption in 2014, which corresponds to withdrawals of around 400 billion m 3 annually. Several regions now experience water stress, [11] and access to water might constrain the further development of energy sources.Production of hydropower is exclusively dependent on the availability of the local water resources, and reduction in the available water will immediately reduce the power production. Among the world's 45 000 registered large dams and reservoirs, [12] ≈75% are classified as single purpose, meaning that they are used exclusively for one specific purpose. [13] The most common single purpose is irrigation (47%), followed by hydropower (19%), water supply (11%), flood control (9%), and the remaining recreation, navigation, and "unclassified." Among the multipurpose reservoirs, serving two or more functions, which is ≈25% of the registered dams, irrigation is also the most frequent purpose. 61% of the registered multipurpose reservoirs have irrigation as one of several functions, followed by flood control (50%), water supply (44%), hydropower production (40%), recreation (30%), and navigation (6%).The world's reservoirs are expected to play an even more important role for the society in the future. Climate change might reduce the available water in arid areas of the world, increase the runoff in wet areas, and change the seasonality. Large developments of intermittent power sources, such as wind and solar power, can also increase the need for flexible energy production, [10] served by for instance by hydropower with reservoirs. [14] This paper aims at:1. Reviewing published estimates of water consumption from hydropower production. 2. Presenting the methodology applied, identify shortcomings and propose improvements.

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“…This was demonstrated for the case of Glen Canyon Dam storing the water of Lake Powell, giving 55 % of the burden to hydropower. We would, however, underline that the financial value does not tell the whole story, as "social value" of water, for example irrigation might be very high (Kadigi et al, 2008).…”

Section: Assignment Of Losses In Multi-purpose Reservoirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased losses or water footprints of electricity production will not cause any imbalance to the global hydrological cycle. We would hence argue that the water consumption must be accompanied by a local or Pasqualetti and S. Kelly (personal communication, 2008) G Attribution according to allocation ratios given by Jain 1364 (2007) c -giving a 42 % share to hydropower a The "low" value is the agricultural value (US$ 0.01 pr m 3 ) taken directly from the study of Kadigi et al (2008). All the water losses are attributed to irrigation and hydropower production only.…”

Section: The Water Footprint Concept and Its Lack Of Connection To Immentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water consumption from hydropower plants – review of published estimates and an assessment of the concept

Bakken

Killingtveit

Engeland

et al. 2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Since the report from IPCC on renewable energy (IPCC, 2012) was published; more studies on water consumption from hydropower have become available. The newly published studies do not, however, contribute to a more consistent picture on what the "true" water consumption from hydropower plants is. The dominant calculation method is the gross evaporation from the reservoirs divided by the annual power production, which appears to be an oversimplistic calculation method that possibly produces a biased picture of the water consumption of hydropower plants. This review paper shows that the water footprint of hydropower is used synonymously with water consumption, based on gross evaporation rates. This paper also documents and discusses several methodological problems when applying this simplified approach (gross evaporation divided by annual power production) for the estimation of water consumption from hydropower projects. A number of short-comings are identified, including the lack of clarity regarding the setting of proper system boundaries in space and time. The methodology of attributing the water losses to the various uses in multi-purpose reservoirs is not developed. Furthermore, a correct and fair methodology for handling water consumption in reservoirs based on natural lakes is needed, as it appears meaningless that all the evaporation losses from a close-to-natural lake should be attributed to the hydropower production. It also appears problematic that the concept is not related to the impact the water consumption will have on the local water resources, as high water consumption values might not be problematic per se. Finally, it appears to be a paradox that a reservoir might be accorded a very high water consumption/footprint and still be the most feasible measure to improve the availability of water in a region. We argue that reservoirs are not always the problem; rather they may contribute to the solution of the problems of water scarcity. The authors consider that an improved conceptual framework is needed in order to calculate the water footprint from hydropower projects in a more reasonable way.

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Water for irrigation or hydropower generation?—Complex questions regarding water allocation in Tanzania

Cited by 42 publications

References 1 publication

Hydropower versus irrigation—an analysis of global patterns

Hydropower versus irrigation—an analysis of global patterns

The Water Footprint of Hydropower Production—State of the Art and Methodological Challenges

Water consumption from hydropower plants – review of published estimates and an assessment of the concept

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