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Pareto Optimization of Water Resources Using the Nexus Approach

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Abstract

The continuously growing population in combination with the escalating urbanization and economic growth increase the pressure on water, energy and food resources of our planet. This entails an urgent need for proper water resources management within the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus concept. The WEF nexus considers water, energy and food as three continuously interconnected sectors, whose complex interactions lead to an increased number of trade-offs and potential conflicts. Computational modeling can be used to quantify these interactions, reduce trade-offs and promote synergies. We investigate the water resources in the Upper Blue Nile River (UBNR) basin, one of the two main sources of the Nile, using the Hydronomeas tool. Hydronomeas is based on the parameterization-simulation-optimization method; optimization is implemented in two levels, using a holistic approach and multiple criteria. We assign various targets, constraints and priorities to the UBNR system of reservoirs, hydropower plants and irrigation projects and derive a Pareto front that contains alternative, optimal solutions, for which improvement of one objective can be achieved only at the expense of another. By visualizing the trade-offs between the conflicting objectives of hydropower and irrigation, we aim to help decision makers understand changes due to different management policies and thus, achieve greater efficiency in water resources management in the Nile region.

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Acknowledgements

A previous shorter version of the paper has been presented in the 10th World Congress of EWRA “Panta Rhei” Athens, Greece, 5-9 July 2017 (see Stamou and Rutschmann 2017).

The present study is part of the NIMA-NEX project, with main partners the Technical University of Munich, Germany and the University of Alberta, Canada.

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Water Irrigation and Electricity of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, the Abbay Basin Authority as well as ENTRO and the IWMI for providing some of the main data and information for the present study.

Funding

This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (GSC 81, International Graduate School of Science and Engineering).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Civil, Geo and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333, Munich, Germany

    Athanasia-Tatiana Stamou & Peter Rutschmann

Authors
  1. Athanasia-Tatiana Stamou
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  2. Peter Rutschmann
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Correspondence to Athanasia-Tatiana Stamou.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Stamou, AT., Rutschmann, P. Pareto Optimization of Water Resources Using the Nexus Approach. Water Resour Manage 32, 5053–5065 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-2127-x

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