Quantifying interactions between smart irrigation technologies and energy transformation in the Indus Basin
Abstract
Irrigation is the primary consumer of water for human activities and implementation of modern so-called smart technologies, such as digital metering and control devices, demonstrate tremendous potential for solving the dual problems of water scarcity and access inequality. However, there is little quantitative analysis of the broader impacts and adaptation strategies within the context of the water-energy nexus. This research aims to fill this gap by assessing synergies and tradeoffs between smart irrigation technologies and long-term energy pathways for the Indus Basin. The Indus is one of most water-scarce river basins in the world, home to about 300 million people and features a tight coupling between water and energy systems due to the world's largest contiguous irrigation system, highly-distributed groundwater wells, and large-scale hydropower schemes. Investment and operational decisions for conventional and smart irrigation technologies are incorporated into the framework to quantify interactions with water and greenhouse gas emission constraints. Results indicate modern irrigation technologies play an important role in improving upstream water availability and how this interacts with energy and climate change targets aiming to reduce emissions together with improving energy access. The increased upstream water availability in the industrial and domestic sectors avoids expanded use of fossil groundwater and advanced water treatment. Associated investment costs for the new irrigation technologies and approaches could pose a barrier to implementation for low-income farmers and local governments. The current study can play a vital role in understanding sustainable resources use investment costs, and the applied analytical methods can be adapted to other regions of the world with similar hydro-climatology.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMGC51I0908V
- Keywords:
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- 1616 Climate variability;
- GLOBAL CHANGE