PNNL

Abstract

Increasing demands for energy production and national objectives for securing energy independence from domestic sources of energy, both renewable and non-renewable, are heavily dependent on available water resources. This explicit interdependency between energy production and required water resources is commonly referred to as the “water-energy nexus” The competition for available water resources can, in part, be understood by evaluating the quantity, timing and spatial distribution of water availability and use. The location and timing at which water is available and consumed dominantly affects the extent to which not only energy and water influence one another, but also the greater cross-sector dependencies that for example, influence agriculture, industry, environment, economics, and social well-being. The understanding of water resources and its use, from a spatiotemporal perspective, is critical for shaping future water use policy and management, planning for change-based impacts at the local level, and resolving prevalent issues and priorities now and into the future. To this end, we present a systematic method for both spatial and temporal disaggregation of United States Geological Survey (USGS) annual, county-scale water use data to a consistent 1/8° spatial resolution at a monthly time-step. The utility of this approach and the resulting data are demonstrated by examining water scarcity at varying spatiotemporal resolutions in the context of food and energy security.