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The global demand for food, water and energy are on rise with limited resources and exceeding demands, creating a vacuum to achieve universal food, water and energy security. The vacuum so created increases intra as well as inter-sectoral competition for the resources resulting in tradeoffs. This gives rise to the concept of “The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus” which evaluates the interdependency of sectors.
India in the 1960s was dwindling with severe food crisis which led to the green revolution of the country. The Gangetic belt of Punjab and Haryana were selected to employ various technologies in order to achieve long term food security. This paved the way for intensive agriculture practices in the state of Punjab giving it the status of “Food Bowl of India.” However, persistent intensive agriculture has caused a reduction in the production, over-exploitation of groundwater and an increase in the consumption of electricity, raising the burden of the power subsidy given by the state government. The demand for water in every sector is on the rise and therefore, understanding the nexus becomes imperative. This paper, uses the model prepared by CIPT to assess the nexus through an integrated approach. The model estimates the sectoral demand- supply for water that is resulting in the over-exploitation of groundwater. Further, the model makes projections for various future scenarios. Reduction in the usage of groundwater is seen through using various water efficient technologies. However, though crop diversification reduces the burden on groundwater, intelligent water saving technologies also make a substantial difference. Thus, future course of action could be based on the outcomes of this study.
Key words- Water-Energy-Food Nexus, groundwater, electricity consumption.
