General Design of Dynamic Models for Water Uses

Abstract

Water plays a special role in dynamic water use and water infrastructure models because it is involved in both production and reproduction activities. The extraction of required raw materials, which are combined to create desired consumption and capital goods, generates inter-temporal concentration changes of non-renewable resources in the natural environment. Increasing amounts of water are needed to transport the undesired residuals that are created by the economic activities to the wastewater treatment sector. It will be shown that the use of free energy and human labour inputs for water production and wastewater treatment are closely connected to the changes in concentration of the residuals that are generated by the different processes in the economic system. The general design of dynamic models includes the model structure as well as the characteristics of the different processes that make up the water production and wastewater treatment sectors. The dynamics of the model are determined by the development of the capital stocks, which carry innovation effects in terms of human labour and energy inputs.