Joint Water Quantity-Quality Management in a Biofuel Production Area—Integrated Economic-Hydrologic Modeling Analysis
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 136, Issue 4
Abstract
Water management in the Pirapama River Basin in northeastern Brazil is affected by both water quantity and water quality constraints. The region is known for significant sugarcane-based ethanol production—which is the key to the Brazilian economy and expected to grow dramatically under recent changes in climate and energy policies. Sugarcane production in the region goes hand in hand with controlled fertirrigation practices with potentially significant adverse impacts on the environment. To assess sustainable water allocation in the basin, an integrated hydrologic-economic basin model is adapted to study both water quantity and quality aspects. The model results show that incorporating water quality aspects into water allocation decisions leads to a substantial reduction in application of vinasse to sugarcane fields. Embedding highly nonlinear water quality constraints in a basin optimization model is demonstrated to be an effective tool to address the water management problems in rapidly developing biofuel areas of Brazil and elsewhere.
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Acknowledgments
The second writer is sponsored by a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Project, EFRI-083598. Writers 1 and 4–6 were sponsored by CTHidro—Fundo Setorial de Recursos Hídricos, FINEP—Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos and CNPQ—Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazilian government agencies.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 136 • Issue 4 • July 2010
Pages: 502 - 511
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 22, 2008
Accepted: Aug 30, 2009
Published online: Sep 29, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2010
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