Network environ analysis for socio-economic water system

Sustainability, 2020

There is a growing consensus that sustainable development requires a behavioral change, forced by firm decision-making. However, existing decision-supporting tools are unlikely to provide relevant information, hampered by the complexity of combined socioeconomic and natural systems. Protecting the intrinsic value of ecosystems and providing sufficient natural resources for human use at the same time leads up to a wide span of management, ranging from species traits to governance. The aim of this study is to investigate the interactions between the natural and economic systems from the perspective of sustainable development. The way to reduce systems complexity by selecting key factors of ecosystem functioning for policy and management purposes is discussed. To achieve this, the Pentatope Model is used as a holistic framework, an ecosystem nodes network is developed to select key factors, and a combined natural and socioeconomic valuation scheme is drawn. These key factors-abiotic resources and conditions, biodiversity, and biomass-are considered fundamental to the ecosystem properties habitat range and carrying capacity. Their characteristics are discussed in relation to sustainable water management. The conclusion is that sustainable development requires environmental decision-making that includes the intrinsic natural value, and should be supported by ecological modelling, additional environmental quality standards, and substance balances.

One of the most critical challenges in the anthropocentric age is the sustainable management of the planet's increasingly strained water resources. In this avenue, there is a need to advance holistic approaches and objective tools which allow policy makers to better evaluate system-level properties and trade-offs of water resources. This research contributes to the expanding literature in this area by examining the changes to system-level network configurations of the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin from 2000 to 2009. Specifically, through the ecological network analysis (ENA) approach, this research examines changes to the system-level properties of efficiency , redundancy, and evaluates the trade-offs to the resiliency of ecosystem water services of the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin. Our results indicate that while the efficiency of the middle reaches has increased from 2000 to 2009 by 6% and 78% more water is released to the lower reaches, the redundancy of the system has also decreased by 6%. The lower level of redundancy, particularly due to the changes in the groundwater body levels, has critical long-term consequences for the resilience of the water ecosystem services of the middle reaches. In consideration of these holistic trade-offs, two hypothetical alternative scenarios, based on water recycling and saving strategies, are developed to improve the long-term health and resilience of the water system.

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 2020

In the era of the Anthropocene, understanding the dynamic interactions between humans and water is crucial for supporting both human well-being and the sustainable management of resources. The current water management challenges are inherently unpredictable and difficult to control. Social-ecological systems (SESs) approaches explicitly recognize the connections and feedbacks between human and natural systems. For addressing the complex challenges of the Anthropocene, consideration of SES attributes such as causality (or interdependence), feedback, non-linearity, heterogeneity, and cross-scale dynamics is important. In addition, innovative qualtitative and quantitative methods such as Bayesian networks, agent-based modelling, system dynamics, network analysis, multicriteria analysis, integrated assessment and role-play games have recently been used in SES research. The overall goal of this review is to gauge the extent to which SES attributes and methods are considered within the current interdisciplinary water paradigm. The paper therefore develops the normative theoretical characteristics of SES in terms of its key attributes (i.e. causality, feedback, heterogeneity, nonlinearity, and cross-scale dynamics) incorporated in the water paradigm approaches. The paper then compares the methods applied in the interdisciplinary water paradigm and examines how they can complement each other. Finally, the paper reflects back on the usefulness of SES attributes and methods for assessing the interdisciplinary water paradigm and makes recommendations for future research

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016

Eco-efficiency has recently become an important concept of environmental decision making, serving as a policy objective and, if linked with resource efficiency, can be a measure of progress towards sustainability. The need for improving eco-efficiency leads to the challenge of identifying the most promising alternative solutions which improve both the economic and the environmental performance of a given system ("eco-innovations"). A methodological framework for the eco-efficiency assessment of a water use system at the meso level has been developed in the context of the EcoWater research project and consists of four distinct steps. The first step leads to a clear, transparent mapping of the system at hand and the respective value chain, while the second step provides the means to assess its eco-efficiency, following a life-cycle oriented approach using the midpoint impact categories. An important novelty is the distribution of economic costs/benefits and environmental pressures over different stages and stakeholders in the value chain. The third step includes the selection of innovative technologies, which are assessed in the last step and combined with midterm scenarios in order to determine the feasibility of their implementation. The proposed methodological framework has been applied to eight alternative water use systems, revealing all their environmental weaknesses and identifying potential opportunities for eco-efficiency improvement. At the same time, through the systemic approach all the involved actors are urged to cooperate in order to (a) propose and build innovative technological solutions that will improve the overall eco-efficiency of the system; and (b) make suggestions on the necessary policy framework that will facilitate and promote their uptake. This ensures that upstream decisions in the value chain are coordinated with downstream activities and all potential synergies are identified, leading to the creation of "meso-level closed resource loops" and thus the promotion of a circular economy.

Recent Advances in IT, Tourism, Economics, Management and Agriculture, 2018

Water intensive production is a big challenge for economic and environmental problems in post-soviet transitive economies. Intensity of water consumption differs among the geographical regions of targeted region. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the regional inequalities of water consumption in Ukraine as one of post-soviet republic. To examine water resources issues in targeted country, basic mathematical and statistical tools are applied. In order to examine the sustainability of water consumption by social and environmental factors, we take into account all the administrative units of the country under review and conduct a comparative analysis.

2020

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may Spatial Economics of Information Flow between Head and Branch Offices TOSHIAKI TAKITA* * Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy and Social Studies, Yamagata University, 1-4-12 Kojirakawa-machi, Yamagata 990-8560, Japan (E-mail: takita@human.kj.yamagata-u.ac.jp) This paper aims to develop a new spatial economic model for analyzing information flow between hea...

Water Resources and Industry, 2020

Matching regional water supply and demand can be improved by allocating local renewable water resources through decentralized water supply networks (WSNs). The feasibility of decentralized WSNs depends on the costs for the required pipeline infrastructure. The lowest costs for pipeline infrastructure depend on the local landscape characteristics. We present a model that designs decentralized WSNs to supply water with regional supply sources. The objective of the model is to include the effects of landscape characteristics on infrastructure costs and to minimize overall WSN costs. We tested the model on a case study in the freshwater scarce region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the southwestern part of The Netherlands with known (hydro)geological, geographical and climate data. The model was tested to supply a large industrial water user with groundwater resources operated within sustainable yields. The generated WSNs cover a demand between 0.5 and 5.5 million m 3 year À 1. Between 1 and 12 supply locations are needed to cover the demand. The pipeline infrastructure needed ranges from 25.1 to 114.5 km. The model determines the optimal pipeline route, the amount of water flowing over each pipeline segment, and reveals if a small increase in demand causes a relatively large increase in costs. The results can be used to determine if water transport is preferred over other water supply options, such as wastewater re-use or desalination of saline water resources.

Applied Geography, 2012

The Yellow River, the second longest river in China, is facing increasing water scarcity due to rising water consumption of a fast growing economy and an increasingly urbanized population with water-intensive consumption patterns. The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is divided into three regions: the upper, middle and lower reaches; each with very different characteristics in terms of water resources, economic structure and household income and consumption patterns. Virtual water has been recognised as a potentially useful concept for redistributing water from water-rich to water-poor regions. In this study, we develop a Multi-Regional InputeOutput model (MRIO) to assess the regional virtual water flows between the three reaches of the basin and the rest of China distinguishing green and blue water, as well as rural and urban household water footprints. Results show that all three reaches are net virtual water exporter, i.e. production and consumption activities outside the basin also put pressure on the water resources in the YRB. The results suggest a reduction of the export of virtual blue water that could instead be used for producing higher value added but lower water-intensive goods. In particular, the lower reach as the most water scarce region in the basin should increase the import of water intensive goods, such as irrigated crops and processed food products, from other more water abundant regions such as the South of China. Thus, trading virtual water can help sustain the economic growth of the regions within the basin thus easing the pressure from water shortage. In addition, there is a huge gap between urban and rural household water footprints in the basin. The average urban household's water footprint is more than double the water footprint of a rural household in the basin. This is due to the higher urban household consumption of water-intensive goods and services, such as processed food products, wearing apparel and footwear, hotel and catering services and electricity.

Environmental Science & Technology, 2011

2020

Efficiency of water resources is essential; just as important is the terminology that describes it. Paradoxes in terminologies used by various international institutions and professionals in the agricultural, urban and environmental domains are examined. Integrated terminologies are proposed, starting from flow-path types in water balance and expanded into the "macro, meso, and micro-efficiencies" (3ME) formulation. The 3ME is a systemic framework based on the principle of the conservation of mass, integrating water-flow paths of a water system, their beneficial and quality attributes (the usefulness criterion), climate, and two types of water totals. These terminologies, with nine examples for urban (three types) and agricultural areas (rainfed, surface, drip and sprinkler), are used to discuss the 3ME framework and possible flawed policy implications.