Jeremy Bird's presentation which was delivered at the 2014 Gerald Lacey Memorial Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers.

1. The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus-
is it really new?
Gerald Lacey Memorial Lecture
Jeremy Bird, IWMI
12 May 2014

2. Ringler, Bhaduri and Lawford, Current Opinion
in Environmental Sustainability , Science Direct,
2014 in press
Correlation of food and energy prices – and rising

3. Global Risks Report 2014, World
Economic Forum
‘Water crisis’ is
the third highest
global risk
..extreme weather,
climate change and
biodiversity loss also very
high
Nexus- why worry now?

5. Agricultural water
productivity gains
reduce water and
energy consumption
Energy efficiency
measures can reduce
water footprint
Sectoral “nexus wins”

6. Subsidy on electricity
for groundwater
pumping for irrigation
Shift to more water
intensive energy mix,
e.g. fracking
Sectoral “nexus losers”

7. …water, energy provision and food security certainly lie at
the heart of climate compatible development. An emphasis
on explicit negotiation of trade-offs in delivery of these
water-energy-food services could enhance climate
compatible development approaches.
Looking at how ‘nexus thinking’ and ‘climate compatible
development’ approaches could complement each other is a
fruitful area for further exploration. (Mairi Dupar, CKDN )
More complex than just water, energy and food ….

8. Other sectors are taking water
seriously – have we found the
entry point for dialogue?

9. Proportion of energy inputs to irrigated agriculture
Source: T. Jackson and MA Hanjra in Sustanable Energy Solutions in Agriculture, 2014
Surface irrigated Groundwater irrigated

10.  Increase policy coherence
• Identify synergies and trade-offs and incentivize cooperation
 Accelerate access
• Prioritize access for the poor and marginalized to water, sanitation, energy and
food
 Create more with less
• sustainable intensification use of land and water, increasing resource
productivity
 End waste and minimize losses
• To reduce demands on water, land and energy, and turn waste into a resource
 Value natural infrastructure
• Secure, improve and restore the multi-functional values of biodiversity
 Mobilize consumer influence
• encouraging the catalytic role of consumers
Bonn2011 Nexus: Key messages

11. Significant differences in water use intensity of biofuels

12. Different
situations
require different
solutions
– e.g. reducing
food waste in
different
contexts

13. New partnerships are
addressing nexus issues
Source:NexusDialogue
Source:InternationalHydropowerAssociation

14. Source:ADB
Source:TheWorldBank

15. Wiley, 2013
Extensive coverage in the
research community
Source:TVA

17. But, is the
nexus new?
.. compared to basin
planning and regional
development

18. Mahaweli Authority,
Sri Lanka

19. Trade off – irrigation and hydropower production –
Kotmale dam - Mahaweli system, Sri Lanka
Peronne and Hornberger, Wiley, 2013

20. Integrated Water Resources
Management
Acknowledgements to GWP
….a process which promotes the coordinated
development and management of water, land
and related resources in order to maximise
economic and social welfare in an equitable
manner without compromising the sustainability
of vital ecosystems.
… a cross-sectoral policy approach, designed to
replace the traditional, fragmented sectoral
approach to water resources and management
that has led to poor services and unsustainable
resource use.

21. Some question the efficacy of IWRM
1. “Ideas of IWRM are fine, but costs of IWRM implementation must not
be forgotten
2. IWRM principles should not have a monopoly on potential solutions.
3. There are imperfect alternatives to the IWRM package and its
components that can solve real world water problems
4. An implemented, imperfect solution is usually better than an
unimplemented ideal”.
M. Giodarno and T. Shah

22. Nexus dimension to much of IWMI’s work
Sustainable
groundwater use
Revisiting water
storage
Balancing built and
natural infrastructure
Recycling
waste
Urban expansion

23. Water Storage
Continuum
Source: McCartney &
Smakhtin 2010
Reduce vulnerabilities, enhance resilience through
complementary solutions

24. Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI)
Source: Pavelic 2012

25. E.g. new approaches to rehabilitate and adapt
• For example, encourage
distributed storage to improve
system flexibility and reliability
e.g. Rajasthan: farm-storages;
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh: village tanks
replenished by canal water
• Modernize irrigation systems
e.g. pressurized systems

26. Groundwater – a clear nexus issue
two contrasting cases from India
1. Gujarat - ‘free’ electricity
encouraged groundwater overuse
2. Eastern Gangetic Plain –
barriers to access

27. Jyotigram in Gujarat – separate feeders
• Pragmatic solution - separation of
electricity supply to villages and pumps
• Outcome - reduced electricity use, less
groundwater use, improved power
supply to domestic users
Tushaar Shah, IWMI

29. Halved subsidy to agriculture
Reduced groundwater overdraft
Increased yields
Spurred rural non-farm
enterprises
Now rolling out in other states
Result in Gujarat

30. West Bengal – easing regulatory and
pricing barriers
• Agricultural growth in West Bengal
had slumped by more than half
• Research identified that a major
obstacle to agricultural productivity
was getting access to groundwater
• New policies recommended by IWMI
were adopted to reduce ‘red-tape’
and improve groundwater access for
smallholder farmers.
• The policy change could benefit more
than 5.6 million smallholders

31. Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction
Aral Sea Basin
Groundwater irrigation (GWI) has higher energy and water use
efficiency compared to traditional Lift Irrigation (LI)
Crop Water productivity,
kg/m
3
Energy productivity
(kg/Kwh)
LI GWI LI GWI
Cotton 0.19 0.21 0.25 2.10
Vegetables 0.59 1.00 1.65 7.93
Maize for silage 1.99 1.46 2.61 14.17
Sorghum 0.55 1.66 1.54 3.30
Alfalfa 0.59 0.78 0.78 1.56
Apricots 0.16 0.51 0.44 4.92
Grapevines 0.11 0.70 0.15 1.37
GW irrigation

32. …back on the agenda in Africa and India – groundwater a major source
Unlocking the potential for
smallholder agriculture to
improve the lives of
smallholder farmers in 5
countries in sub-Saharan
Africa and 2 states in India
Small-scale irrigation
(Giordano et al, 2012)

33. Development puts pressure on electricity, groundwater
supply and water quality - Jaffna

34. Urban expansion - Hyderabad, 2003-14

35. Pulling water in from an increasing distance
Hyderabad, India
Krishna River
Himayat Sagar
Osman Sagar
GW
Musi River
GW – Ground Water
NJS – Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir
Hyderabad
Waste water irrigation
industry
Godavari Basin
Krishna Basin
NJS
Musi River
P ET
Manjira
Singur
Godavari River water
W
a
te
r
p
u
m
p
e
d
Waterpumped
Source: van Rooijen, D.; Turral, H.; Biggs, T.W. 2005. Sponge city: Water balance of mega-city
water use and wastewater use in Hyderabad, India. Irrigation and Drainage 54: 81-91.

36. Water quality improves over 40 km along the Musi River
Hyderabad
Sources: IWMI/J. Ensink

37. Managing transfers from rural to urban -
Zhanghe Irrigation District, China
• Top-down approach with water
reallocated to cities
• Farmers “induced” to respond with
construction of 1000s of small
reservoirs to capture runoff and
return flow.
• Research provided ways to grow
more rice with less water through
alternative wetting and drying and
extension got the message out.

38. Result - less water, but stable production
Agricultural
production levels
maintained…
…as allocation to
agriculture reduced
and transferred to
urban use

39. In most cities in sub-Saharan Africa, S. Asia and SE Asia, population growth has
outpaced the development of sanitation infrastructure, making the management
of urban waste, human excreta and wastewater ineffective. Investment in
treatment will not catch up for decades.
Waste – another nexus issue
Source:LiqaRaschid-Sally

40. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Diluted
wastewater
or polluted
water
Untreated
wastewater
Groundwater Treated
wastewater
River Other
surface
water bodies
Rainfed Irrigation
canal
Open
drainage
Numberofcities
Source: IWMI, RR 127
Global survey of irrigation source in urban and peri-urban areas:
In and around three of four cities in the developing world, farmers use
polluted irrigation water for the production of high-value crops

41. Challenge:
closing the
nutrient loop
?
Enhance efficient resource use and reuse

42. Waste to fertilizer – closing the nutrient loop
Co-composting

43. Introducing business models to turn waste into
an asset
• Solid waste and fecal sludge composting
in Asia and Africa could save billions of
US$ per year, assuming a market for only
25% of the urban organic waste.
• Not a new concept, but many pilots not
viable or sustainable
• Business models for resource recovery
& reuse (RRR) target private and public
investors and business schools.

44. Resource recovery and reuse -
Sustainable waste and wastewater treatment
Source: Drechsel
Nexus benefits:
Energy reduction in: Water
treatment, chemical fertilizer
production and transport
Environmental benefits: Reduced
pollution of water bodies,
reduced nitrogen and
phosphorous demand, reduced
GHG emissions

45. Interactions between “agricultural” and “natural”
ecosystems – providing multiple services
Sources: McCartney, Senaratne Sellamuttu, de Silva
Sustainable use of wetlands:
fulfilling multiple needs
through
ecosystem services including
food production, fisheries,
storage

46. Benefit from functioning ecosystems
Natural basin
Crops
Hydropower
Industrial Regulation of
water balance
Erosion control
Climate
regulationSoil
formation
Nutrient
cycling
Recreation
Crops
Hydropower
Industrial Regulation of
water balance
Erosion control
Climate
regulationSoil
formation
Nutrient
cycling
Recreation
Intensively utilized basin
Crops
Hydropower
Industrial Regulation of
water balance
Erosion control
Climate
regulationSoil
formation
Nutrient
cycling
Recreation
Multifunctional “green” basin
Provisioning services
Regulatory services
Cultural services
Supporting services

47. Acknowledgements:
Meynell, P-J.
Constructed wetlands in reservoirs

48. Mekong:
influence
of
upstream
dams –
dry
season
2014
Source: MRCS

49. www.iwmi.org
A water-secure world
Sri Lanka Environmental Flow Calculator (SLEFC)
A software package to provide a preliminary planning
estimate of how much water should be left in rivers to
ensure they remain healthy

50.  Awareness raising is spreading
 Knowledge base expanding
 Analytic tools being developed
 Increasing evidence of engagement across sectors,
particularly private sector
? Policy formulation – still predominantly sector based
? Planning systems mainly fragmented
Nexus scorecard

51. Concluding thoughts on the nexus
 No its not entirely new, but ‘the nexus’ frames the debate differently at a
time of heightened competition – it has convening power
 There is no single nexus – multi-dimensional – water, energy, food, land,
climate change, natural resources, etc
 In a world of increasing water demands, the consequences of not taking a
cross-sectoral approach are more significant now than a generation ago
 We shouldn’t turn nexus concept into a structured framework – its value lies
in its principles and flexibility
 Doesn’t displace other forms of planning (regulatory frameworks, SEA,
IWRM, etc), but provides a focus or ‘lens’ for integration
 Important to extend the knowledge base and analysis of nexus issues
 Ultimate test is who is ‘sitting at the table’ to discuss the consequences and
implications of policy and planning interventions

52. Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction
Water, Land and Ecosystems Program

53. . . . with targeted interventions in a number of
priority focal regions

54. iwmi.org
CGIARResearch Programon Water,Landand Ecosystems
wle.cgiar.org