International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,

www.ijtra.com Volume 2, Issue 2 (March-April 2014), PP. 73-77

WATER CLIMATE AND ENERGY

Architect Gaurav Chandra
Director: Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Handicapped,
U.P., Kanpur (India)
Abstract Today Water, Climate & Energy is related to every
aspect of human life: social equity, ecosystem & economic
sustainability. Water is used to generate energy; energy is used to
provide water. Water, energy and climate are inextricably linked,
which is of great concern and increasing importance for future.
Global primary energy demand is projected to increase by just
over 50% between now and 2030, which can be met by more
prod., consuming water & other natural resources, adopting
better technologies and also encouraging changes in energy use
pattern. Water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50% by
2025 in developing countries and 18% in developed countries.
The worst fallouts of the climate change are shrinking of water
resources. Climate change acts as an amplifier of the already
intense competition over water & energy sources.
Solving the interlinked challenges of water, energy & climate in
a sustainable manner is one of the fundamental goals of the
present generation. To achieve this, related research and
knowledge should be expanded and discussed with in technical
circles. Technology, innovation a sense of shared responsibility
and political will are factors that bring real solutions to keep pace
with increasing needs. Resolving growing issues will require
better and integrated policy frameworks & political engagement
for all stakeholders within and across water sheds. Leadership
from all parts of society is must for change to happen.
Key words Water, Climate, Energy, Sustainability,
Ecosystem.

I. INTRODUCTION
The vast majority of the Earths water resources are salt
water, with only 2.5% being fresh water. Approximately 70%
of the fresh water available on the planet is frozen in the
icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland leaving the remaining
30% (equal of only 0.7% of total water resources worldwide)
available for consumption. From this remaining 0.7%, roughly
87% is allocated to agricultural purposes (IPCC 2007)
These statistics are particularly illustrative of the drastic
problem of water scarcity facing the world. Water scarcity is
defined as per capita supplies less than 1700 m3/year (IPCC)
2007)
Other
3%

Agriculture
67%

Mining
2%

Manufacturi
ng 4%

Electricity &
Gas
Water 7%
supply
8%

Households
9%

Fig. 1 Water use in the World (2005)

There are four main factors aggravating water scarcity
according to the IPCC
Population growth in the last century, world
population has tripled. It is expected to rise from the
present 6.5 billion to 8.9 billion by 2050.
Increased urbanization will focus on the demand for
water among a more concentrated population.

High level of consumption as the world becomes more

developed; the amount of domestic water used by
each person is expected to rise significantly.
Climate change will shrink the resources of freshwater.

II. WATER SCARCITY AND WATER STRATEGIES

One of the most urgent challenges facing the world today is
ensuring an adequate supply and quality of water in light of
both burgeoning human needs and climate variability and
change. Despite water's importance to life on Earth, there are
major gaps in our basic understanding of water availability,
quality and dynamics, and the impact of both a changing and
variable climate, and human activity, on the water system. The
goal of the Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC)
solicitation is to understand and predict the interactions
between the water system and climate change, land use
(including agriculture, managed forest and rangeland systems),
the built environment, and ecosystem function and services
through place-based research and integrative models.
Variations in evaporation and precipitation patterns due to
climate and land use changes, as well as increasing water usage
to meet human needs, are the key factors for the above
mentioned shortcomings regarding water across the globe.
The central role that water plays in human existence, and
the challenges that face our society in adapting to our altered
water resources, lead to an overarching question that links
societal needs with fundamental science:
How can we protect ecosystems and better manage and
predict water availability for future generations given
alterations to the water cycle caused by climate variability and
human activities?
In order to address this question, we require a holistic,
predictive understanding of complex water cycle and water
resource processes, the feedbacks associated with the water
system, and the vulnerability and resilience of water systems to
climate and anthropogenic change. In this context, a water
system comprises the drainage basin and its physical, chemical,
and biological constituents, including water networks,
ecosystems, the built environment, the oceanic and atmospheric
systems that govern evaporation and precipitation in the basin,
and the source water bodies and terminal lakes or seas into
which the water flows. There have been few attempts to study
an entire water system with an integrative, systems science
approach or even study similar aspects of different water
systems in a comparative sense that will develop such a
framework.
Agricultural modelling needs related to the sustainability of
water resources through climate change ''arise from the
necessity to project crop, livestock, forestry, rangeland, and
aquaculture yields at multiple watershed and ground water
scales while balancing ecosystem needs. Increasing air
temperature, wide swings of air temperature over short periods
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International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,

www.ijtra.com Volume 2, Issue 2 (March-April 2014), PP. 68-72
of time (e.g., warm conditions followed by a hard frost early
during the growing season), increased precipitation or drought
in different areas, changing intensity and timing of precipitation
and snowmelt patterns increasing length of growing season,
conditions accelerating crop maturation, and severe weather are
factors that are likely to affect hydrologic processes on
different scales, and in different parts of the country.
Developing the next comprehensive integrated watershed /
groundwater and climate model is a major challenge requiring
engagement by researchers from many disciplines. The next
generation hydrologic and climate models will need to be high
resolution, enabling predictions in the decadal timeframe and at
regional scales. They will need to incorporate and advance
sophisticated understanding of natural and human-moderated
systems; not only their physical aspects, but also biological and
human, including contributions from the built environment.
These models include:
Hydrologic models for watersheds and groundwater
yielding data on water availability and quality that can
interact with new or existing climate and crop models
that can be down-scaled to predict impacts on
agricultural production and processing systems,
forests, rangelands and grasslands.
Hydrologic models that can be used to predict the
potential impact of climate variability and change,
land use, and human activity on water availability for
agricultural lands, forests or rangelands and rural
community needs.
Coupled climate and hydrologic models to help
manage water allocations from snowmelt, reservoirs,
ground water, and surface water, to deal with
competing demands from agricultural, energy,
environmental, urban/industrial, and western land
management uses.

can cool the Earth by reflecting energy back to space Ocean

currents transport heat away from the tropics and release it in
high latitudes, but they also bring moisture, which under
suitable conditions can induce the growth of ice sheets. Boldly
simplified, water acts as the Venetian blind, central heating
system and as fridge, all at the same time for our planet.
Water in its various forms has always worked as a great
amplifier of changes, such as variations in isolation or tectonic
changes that are imposed on the climate system. Similarly,
water is intimately involved in the way the more recent
addition of anthropogenic greenhouse gases affects climate.

III. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER AND CLIMATE

A. BACKGROUND: ENERGY USE OF WATER

Energy is embedded in water. Water utilities use energy to
pump groundwater, move surface water supplies, treat raw
water to potable standards, and distribute it to their customers.
Customers use energy to heat, cool, and pressurize water; and
wastewater treatment plant use energy to treat wastewater
before discharging it (figure 3). The amount of energy
embedded in water- its energy intensity varies
substantially, depending on this source of the raw water, the
end use, and water quality requirements for discharge. New
water supplies will almost certainly be more energy intensive
than existing supplies: Groundwater pumped from greater
depths, water conveyed over longer distances, and lower
quality water (requiring more advanced treatment) will all
demand more energy than existing supplies. The following
sections present the energy used for water at each stage of the
water supply process.

The hydrological cycle is intimately linked with changes in

atmospheric temperature and radiation balance. Warming of the
climate system in recent decades is unequivocal, as is now
evident from observations of increase in global average air and
ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and
rising global sea level.

Fig. 2 Hydrological cycle

A large number of feedback cycles, some of them opposite
in effect to others, are involved in this distribution of the
incoming energy from the Sun. Water vapor in the atmosphere
is the most important greenhouse gas, but clouds and ice sheets

A. PROJECTED CHANGES IN CLIMATE RELATED TO

WATER
Water is involved in all components of the climate system
(atmosphere, hydrosphere, crysophere, land surface and
biosphere.)Therefore climate change affects water through a
number of mechanisms resulting in changes in water related
variables and projections of future changes. Major climate
change projections, indicate that decadal average warming over
each inhabited continent by 2030 is very likely to be at least
twice as large (around 0.20 C per decade) as the corresponding
model-estimated natural variability during the 20th century.
Continued greenhouse gas emissions at or above current rates
would cause further warming and induce many changes in the
global climate system during the 21st century, very likely to be
larger than those observed during the 20th century. Projected
global average temperature change for 2090-2099 (relative to
1980-1999), ranges from 1.80C to 4.00C. Warming is
projected to be greatest over land and at most high northern
latitudes, and least over the Southern Ocean and parts of the
North Atlantic Ocean. It is very likely that hot extremes and
heat waves will continue to become more frequent.
IV. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER AND ENERGY

Fig 3 Energy is used to pump, treat, distribute, use

potable water, and to treat wastewater.

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International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,

www.ijtra.com Volume 2, Issue 2 (March-April 2014), PP. 68-72
Water utilities that rely on groundwater, in contrast, use
substantially more energy on their water supplies. The energy
used to pump groundwater depends on the depth of the aquifer
and whether the aquifer is under artesian pressure.
Pumping and treating just one gallon of water/wastewater
requires 14 Watt-hours of electricity, or the equivalent of
running a 60 Watt light bulb for 15 minutes.
Energy required to deliver 1 m3 of clean water from

Water conservation offers important energy savings;

reducing per capita water use results in dramatic energy saving
for water utilities. We profile several water conservation
measures and assess their energy savings and greenhouse gas
reductions. Accelerating implementation of these water
conservation measures would provide even greater energy and
carbon savings.

Fig. 4 Water and Energy

B. WATER IN DIFFERENT ENERGY TYPES
1) Hydropower
Hydropower produced 89% of the worlds renewable
electricity in 2006, and 16.6% of total electricity
generation worldwide. Two-thirds of worldwide
economic potential remains unexploited this
resource is concentrated in the developing world.
25% of dams worldwide are used for hydropower and
only 10% have hydropower as their main use. Most of
them are used for flood control or irrigation, or for
multiple purposes.
Hydropower uses and releases water instantaneously
or with a delay but do not consume water. Their main
losses stem from evaporation when air temperatures
are high.
Energy output from hydropower is dependent on
sustainable upstream water use as well as hydrological

patterns, and is therefore susceptible to climate change

impacts.
Hydropower reservoirs store both water and energy
and are becoming increasingly important for the
management of climate change.
2) Solar, wind and ocean energy
Solar thermal power plant water consumption is about
1 m3 of water per 103 kWh (electric) or 227 m3 of
water per 1,000 Gj.
Wind energy and photovoltaic cells that produce
electricity directly from sunlight are considered to
have negligible water use.
Wave energy is still a largely untapped source of
renewable energy, which, like hydropower, uses water
but does not consume it.
3) Biomass electricity
Non-hydro renewable energy supply technologies,
particularly solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, are currently
small overall contributors to global heat and electricity supply,
but are increasing most rapidly, albeit from a low base. Growth
of biomass electricity is restricted due to cost, as well as social
and environmental barriers. In general, the substitution of fossil
fuels by biomass in electricity generation will reduce the
amount of cooling water discharged to surface water streams.
4) Geothermal energy
Geothermal resources have long been used for direct heat
extraction for district urban heating, industrial processing,
domestic water and space heating, leisure and balneotherapy
applications.
Geothermal fields of natural steam are rare, most being a
mixture of steam and hot water requiring single or double flash
systems to separate out the hot water, which can then be used in
binary plants or for direct heating. Re-injection of the fluids
maintains a constant pressure in the reservoir, hence increasing
the field's life and reducing concerns about environmental
impacts.
5) Nuclear energy
There are two types of cooling system for nuclear power
plants:
Open-loop water cooling, where water is withdrawn
from a river, lake or the sea, and then returned to it
after cooling. The average amount of water consumed
is approximately zero and the water required and then
returned is approx. 160 m3 / MWh (equivalent to 44,
444 m3 per 1,000 Gj).
Closed-loop water cooling, where water flows into a
closed circuit and part of it is evaporated through a
cooling lower into the atmosphere. The average
amount of water consumed (through evaporation) is
approx. 2 m3 / MWh (555 m3 per 1,000 Gj) and the
water required and then returned is approx. 6 m3 /
MWh (equivalent to 1,666 m3 per 1,000 Gj).
V. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIMATE AND ENERGY
Improving observations of ocean temperature confirm that
Earth is absorbing more energy from the sun than it is radiating
to space as heat, even during the recent solar minimum. This
energy imbalance provides fundamental verification of the

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International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,

www.ijtra.com Volume 2, Issue 2 (March-April 2014), PP. 68-72
dominant role of the human-made greenhouse effect in driving
global climate change. Observed surface temperature change
and ocean heat gain constrain the net climate forcing and ocean
mixing rates. We conclude that most climate models mix heat
too efficiently into the deep ocean and as a result underestimate
the negative forcing by human-made aerosols.
The planetary energy imbalance caused by a change of
atmospheric composition defines a climate forcing. Climate
sensitivity, the eventual global temperature change per unit
forcing, is known with good accuracy from Earth's pale climate
history. However, two fundamental uncertainties limit our
ability to predict global temperature change on decadal time
scales.
First, although climate forcing by human-made greenhouse
gases (GHGs) is known accurately, climate forcing caused by
changing human-made aerosols is practically unmeasured.
Aerosols are line Particles suspended in the air, such as dust.
Sulfates and black soot .Aerosol climate forcing is complex,
because aerosols both reflect solar radiation to space (a cooling
effect) and absorb solar radiation (a warming effect). In
addition, atmospheric aerosols can alter cloud cover and cloud
properties.
Therefore,
precise
composition-specific
measurements of aerosols and their effects on clouds are
needed to assess the aerosol role in climate change.
Second, the rate at which Earth's surface temperature
approaches a new equilibrium in response lo a climate forcing
depends on how efficiently heat perturbations are mixed into
the deeper ocean. Ocean mixing is complex and not necessarily
simulated well by climate models. Empirical data on ocean heat
uptake are improving rapidly, but still suffer limitations.
VI. CHALLENGES ARISING FOR HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS AND EARTH

Shortage of safe drinking water and Unhygienic

sanitation conditions.
Constraints on water withdrawals.
Energy supply will struggle to keep pace with
increasing demand linked to increasing population and
affluence.
Constraints on energy efficiency and reduced
emissions.
Reduced water availability and increasing energy
demand.
Shortage of water for agriculture.
Rising of water infrastructure cost.
Adverse effects on human health.
Extra burdening over water management plans or
schemes.
Ecological imbalances.
Climatic changes.
VII. CONCLUSION

Encourage best practice through innovation, appropriate

solutions and community engagement by
Efficiency: Significant water and energy efficiency
gains can be achieved by minimizing water losses in
water supply systems, due to not only wasting the

water itself, but also the energy used to pump and

distribute it.
Renewable energy: Renewable energy use can be
encouraged for water treatment processes, as well as
wastewater plants.
System design: The design of future water and energy
systems needs to take into consideration the trade-offs
and synergies between both resources.
Policy: Policy needs to be long-term and flexible to
allow for the use of the most appropriate approach,
depending on local conditions.
Data: There is a need for both in-situ (via data
collection) and satellite observations. This must
include a key assessment, both in the short-term and
long-term, of the impacts of climate change, not only
on water quality and quantity, but also water timing
(e.g., seasonal or monthly data, in addition to annual
data).
Models: Better predictions and early-warning systems
about the effects of climate change at a regional scale
are increasingly needed. This includes greenhouse gas
(GHG) effects on the hydrological cycle and
precipitation patterns, which means understanding the
complexity of the water cycle and aquatic ecosystems
and how these react to climate change.
Analysis tools: Interim management tools, such as
scenario building, are necessary to be able to deal with
the complexity of variables including climatic,
economic, demographic and regional changes.
Technology, innovation, a sense of shared responsibility
and political will are factors that bring real solutions as we
strive to keep pace with increasing needs from a growing
population.
Resolving growing issues surrounding water and
energy priorities will require better and integrated
policy frameworks and political engagement to
address them satisfactorily for all stakeholders within
and across watersheds.
Leadership from all parts of society is a condition for
change to happen.
We need:
1) To get more energy out of each drop of water, and we
need to get more water out of each unit of energy.
2) Diversified energy mixes and alternative water
supplies, e.g., industrial wastewater recycling,
municipal wastewater reuse, desalination, even though
these are energy-intensive.
3) More natural infrastructure, such as rehabilitating
wetlands and mangroves to mitigate flooding, thus
reducing the impacts of climate change in optimal
combination with the cost of engineered
infrastructure.
A. BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS

Pay for increased operational costs.

Save water and energy.
Treat and recycle own water and wastewater (with
associated energy costs).

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www.ijtra.com Volume 2, Issue 2 (March-April 2014), PP. 68-72

Recover and reuse water and energy (e.g., using steam

or heat, recycle other industrial and municipal
wastewater).
Developed new markets for water-and energy-saving
technologies and services.
Measure water and energy impacts.
Engage with communities to reduce potential for
conflict and risks to license to operate.
Identity best approach depending on local conditions,
for example, in water scarce countries.
Wave energy is still a largely untapped source of
renewable energy, which, like hydropower, uses water
but does not consume it.

REFERENCES
[1] Climate change and water, Technical Paper VI by IPCC.
[2] Issue on Water, Energy and Climate change by World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
[3] WBCSD, Powering a Sustainable Future: An agenda for
concerted action, facts and trends, 2006.
[4] Research Paper from Water, Energy and Climate Change.
[5] Research Paper on Water Sustainability and Climate (WS)
[6] World Water Development Report 3: Climate Change and Water
by UNESCO.
[7] Report on Water Conservation = Energy Conservation for
CWCB.

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