Abstract:
The rising demand for both water and energy has intensified the urgency of addressing the
water–energy nexus. Energy is required for water treatment and distribution, and energy production
processes require water. The increasing demand for energy requires substantial amounts of water,
primarily for cooling. The emergence of new persistent contaminants has necessitated the use of
advanced, energy-intensive water treatment methods. Coupled with the energy demands of water
distribution, this has significantly strained the already limited energy resources. Regrettably, no
straightforward, universal model exists for estimating water usage and energy consumption in power
and water treatment plants, respectively. Current approaches rely on data from direct surveys of plant
operators, which are often unreliable and incomplete. This has significantly undermined the efficiency
of the plants as these surveys often miss out on complex interactions, lack robust predictive power
and fail to account for dynamic temporal changes. The study thus aims to evaluate the potential of
mathematical modeling and simulation in the water–energy nexus. It formulates a mathematical
framework and subsequent simulation in Java programming to estimate the water use in hydroelectric
power and geothermal energy, the energy consumption of the advanced water treatment processes
focusing on advanced oxidation processes and membrane separation processes and energy demands
of water distribution. The importance of mathematical modeling and simulation in the water–energy
nexus has been extensively discussed. The paper then addresses the challenges and prospects
and provides a way forward. The findings of this study strongly demonstrate the effectiveness of
mathematical modeling and simulation in navigating the complexities of the water–energy nexus.
