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Are Reservoirs Water Consumers or Water Collectors? Reflections on the Water Footprint Concept Applied on Reservoirs

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  • T. Bakken
  • F. Kjosavik
  • Å. Killingtveit
  • K. Alfredsen

Abstract

IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources (2011) revealed potentially very high water consumption rates from hydropower production compared to other renewable technologies, but suffered from few studies and methodological problems. More recent studies present new estimates values far beyond those presented by IPCC, some claiming that hydropower is a large-scale water consumer, but do not provide a more consistent picture of the ‘true water consumption of hydropower’. We compiled data from ICOLD’s World Register of Dams, considered being the most extensive and complete global dataset of reservoirs and dams larger than 15 m containing description of close to 40 000 dams and reservoirs. We coupled this dataset with water scarcity information about the location of the individual projects and found that only very few reservoirs located in water-scarce areas are used exclusively for hydropower production or have that as their main purpose (fewer than 0.1 %). As the purpose of the majority of the reservoirs located in water-scarce areas are to collect water in the wet season to secure adequate supply of water for irrigation, domestic supply, industry and more purposes in the dry season, we find it fundamentally problematic to assign a water footprint to such an infrastructure, even though the purpose of these reservoirs might also be to produce electricity. Rather opposite - the fact that reservoirs increase the availability of water in the dry season make reservoirs needed. We conclude that assigning water footprint/consumption values of reservoirs will convey the wrong message to decision-makers unless the reservoirs’ effect on the availability of local water resources is fully accounted for. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • T. Bakken & F. Kjosavik & Å. Killingtveit & K. Alfredsen, 2015. "Are Reservoirs Water Consumers or Water Collectors? Reflections on the Water Footprint Concept Applied on Reservoirs," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 4919-4926, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:29:y:2015:i:14:p:4919-4926
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-015-1104-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. J. Maestre-Valero & D. Martínez-Granados & V. Martínez-Alvarez & J. Calatrava, 2013. "Socio-Economic Impact of Evaporation Losses from Reservoirs Under Past, Current and Future Water Availability Scenarios in the Semi-Arid Segura Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(5), pages 1411-1426, March.
    2. Strzepek, Kenneth M. & Yohe, Gary W. & Tol, Richard S.J. & Rosegrant, Mark W., 2008. "The value of the high Aswan Dam to the Egyptian economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 117-126, May.
    3. Gerbens-Leenes, P.W. & Hoekstra, A.Y. & van der Meer, Th., 2009. "The water footprint of energy from biomass: A quantitative assessment and consequences of an increasing share of bio-energy in energy supply," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1052-1060, February.
    4. Julian Fulton & Heather Cooley & Peter Gleick, 2014. "Water Footprint Outcomes and Policy Relevance Change with Scale Considered: Evidence from California," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(11), pages 3637-3649, September.
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    1. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    2. Rui Shu & Xinchun Cao & Mengyang Wu, 2021. "Clarifying Regional Water Scarcity in Agriculture based on the Theory of Blue, Green and Grey Water Footprints," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(3), pages 1101-1118, February.
    3. Tor Haakon Bakken & Christian Almestad & Jørgen Melhuus Rugelbak & Marisa Escobar & Steven Micko & Knut Alfredsen, 2016. "Climate Change and Increased Irrigation Demands: What Is Left for Hydropower Generation? Results from Two Semi-Arid Basins," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, March.

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