Water-energy-environment nexus: a new approach towards sustainable development
Student name: Ms Richa Prasad
Guide: Dr Ritu Mathur
Year of completion: 2015
Host Organisation: Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Deepak Gupta
Abstract: Today with burgeoning population and rapid urbanization the society has started relying upon highmagnitude
flows of water and energy. Energy flows in the form of electricity or as fuel has supported
many day to day activities of the society. Be it be in transport, in electricity or to deliver water,
energy is supporting the modern lifestyle. On the other hand water irrespective of modernization is
continuously been used for irrigation, power generation, industrial processes and domestic supply.
This interdependent relationship between water and energy is popularly known as “Water-Energy
Nexusâ€. These two resources in turn have environmental impacts associated from its extraction till
its end use and disposal. In the present study an attempt has been made to understand how, can nexus
be formed between water-energy-environment, identify the roles and responsibilities of each action
fields and recommend plausible steps that can be taken to improve this nexus. Further nexus was
broken and one component i.e. energy for water was chosen. Energy for water was further
fragmented and demand side was taken as the study area. To develop in depth knowledge two sectors
mainly agriculture and domestic were taken. For agriculture sector a SWOT and PEST analysis was
done to understand the strengths and weaknesses these two vital resources (water and energy) have
and then these challenges were incorporates in PEST, to study the bigger picture where water and
energy along with land are three most crucial resources for this sector. Through these two analysis
recommendations were drawn about how can we exploit and increase our opportunities and try
minimizing the threats with prime focus on irrigation system. Under domestic sector a household
survey was conducted through 200 households. The study revealed that out of total electricity
consumption per capita, pumps consume 2.7% electricity in summers and 3.6% in winters. Water
purifiers consumed 0.17% of electricity in summers and 0.38% in winters. Further a comparison was
done between existing pumps and energy efficient pumps through a CBA to check the economic
viability of switching from old pumps to energy efficient pump sets. It was noted that if the current
pumps are replaced with energy efficient ones then we can achieve electricity savings and carbon
saving of 50%. The study also suggests some mitigation measures for both agriculture and domestic
sector.
Key words: Water-energy-environment nexus, per capita electricity consumed by pumps, per capita
electricity consumed by water purifiers, energy efficient pumps, electricity and carbon savings
