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- Title
Salvation in an Age of Water Scarcity.
- Authors
Jia Chen; Zhengkang Xu; Yuwei Xiao
- Abstract
As drought worsens in the western United States, the Colorado River--the "lifeline of the Southwest"--is in dire straits. In the Colorado River basin, it is important to allocate water wisely. We propose a plan for allocating water from the river to serve water and a water hydroelectric power needs under varying environmental conditions. We analyze the river's reservoirs at the Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dams, finding the relationship between water height and volume of water in each reservoir. To allocate water and hydropower, we set up a transportation model. Its objective is to supply from the two dams the minimum amount of water to meet needs. The constraints are mainly water demand for general use and the water flow necessary for generating electricity. We analyze the relationship between water flow direction and water resource transfer between the two dams. We account for the loss of water and electricity during transportation. We find the longest time to be able to meet the demands without addition of water. We extend our transportation model to balance the competing interests of industry, agriculture, and residents. The supply of water has social, economic, and environmental effects; the supply of electricity has social and economic effects. We consider the economic effect of industrial, agricultural, and residential use objects in five states when there is no water shortage. When there is one, we combine the three effects and carry out multi-objective planning. Additionally, we propose a water allocation plan for Mexico. Finally, we conduct sensitivity analysis on the influence of changes over time in the demands for water and electricity, the development of renewable energy technology, and water and electricity conservation measures.
- Subjects
MEXICO City (Mexico); WATER shortages; ELECTRIC power conservation; ENERGY development; WATER conservation; WATER supply; RENEWABLE energy sources
- Publication
UMAP Journal, 2022, Vol 43, Issue 4, p403
- ISSN
0197-3622
- Publication type
Article