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WATER‐ENERGY LINKAGES IN NEBRASKA 1
Author(s) -
Gilliland Martha W.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1984.tb02839.x
Subject(s) - water conservation , agriculture , natural resource economics , water use , irrigation , water energy nexus , farm water , incentive , environmental science , groundwater , energy consumption , environmental protection , water resource management , agricultural economics , economics , geography , geology , engineering , ecology , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , nexus (standard) , microeconomics , biology , embedded system , electrical engineering
Nebraska is well endowed with water, particularly groundwater, but has few fossil fuel reserves. However, it is located adjacent to states which have almost no water but have enormous quantities of coal and oil shale. Recent court cases facilitate the movement of water from water‐rich states such as Nebraska to water‐short states, such as Colorado and Wyoming. The possibility of an energy‐water partnership exists and raise numerous policy questions. Within Nebraska, energy consumption patterns are similar to those of the nation's, with consumption of electricity in the agricultural sector growing fastest. Water consumption in the state is dominated by agriculture, and future development of groundwater for irrigation is expected to be intense. Although water and energy are both factors of economic production, an equivalent amount of water consumption provides more jobs in the energy industries than in agriculture. Water and energy are also interdependent. Each is required to produce the other and conservation of one will cause conservation of the other. If both agriculture and electricity are involved, such as in irrigation, the conservation effects are synergistic. Current water policy in Nebraska is biased toward agriculture relative to the energy industries and provides little incentive for water conservation. Given recent court cases and economic conditions, the advantages and disadvantages of the sale of water for export or the use of water with Wyoming coal for energy development need to be compared systematically with those of using water only for agriculture.