Governing the Nexus of Water, Energy and Food: The Case of Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture
Synergies are required to ensure coordination between UN agencies (on norms and indicators), Member States (on coherence of policy instruments), and consumers (on perceptions of safety and affordability of services) to advance the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.3, which focuses on the reuse of wastewater. In this paper, we employ theoretical insights derived from an agent-based modeling approach to undertake a critical examination of the recent UN-Water directive on SDG target 6.3 and advocate for an improved understanding of the factors that determine whether and how effective wastewater reuse will be possible while accommodating for regional variation and institutional change.
We demonstrate that by applying the Nexus approach, it is feasible to overcome siloes by forging concepts of trade-offs and synergies to draw out coupled perspectives of bio-physical and institutional dimensions of water-energy-food interactions. By employing this proposition, the paper advocates for place-based observatories as a mechanism that can support the valorization of data and methodological assumptions as a precursor to robust monitoring of the SDGs.
The systematic use of literature reviews and expert opinion to develop and pilot-test composite indices via place-based observatories raises the prospect of a data-light approach to monitoring SDGs, specifically, what are the merits of relying on extensive survey data compared to composite indices that are amenable to supporting benchmarking and scenario analysis and can provide the insight needed to inform decision-making and robust monitoring of global goals?
Monitoring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 6.3 on Wastewater Reuse: Method, Data and Applications of Agent-Based Modeling
The failures to ensure coordinated action could exacerbate the unintended consequences of policy action. In existing literature on public choice and New Institutional Economics (NIE), we can find some theoretical propositions that promote understanding of synergies in environmental planning and management. For instance, rational choice scholars imply that improved information could potentially overcome the effect of siloes through coordinated and evidence-based decision-making. NIE scholarship, on the other hand, focuses on the aspect of strategic interaction in the decision-making process.
This scholarship implies that the decisions of officials within public agencies need not be made merely based on available information (i.e., data and evidence) but more on strategic considerations. The analysis of the role of data and evidence in the decision-making process would be enhanced by acknowledging the historical specificities of the institutional environment. This is precisely because these historical specificities shape subsequent choices in environmental planning and management, i.e., whether to prioritize infrastructure construction or service delivery, promote centralized or decentralized governance, and emphasize public or private service delivery models.
Against this background, it is feasible to overcome siloes by forging concepts of trade-offs and synergies to draw out a coupled perspective of bio-physical and institutional dimensions of water-energy-food interactions. By employing this proposition, the paper advocates for place-based observatories as a mechanism that can support the valorization of data and methodological assumptions as a precursor to robust monitoring of the SDGs.
Our proposed approach advocates for an improved understanding of the factors that determine whether and how effective wastewater reuse is possible while accommodating for regional variation and institutional change. As demonstrated in this paper, the proposed Wastewater Reuse Effectiveness Index (WREI) composed of both bio-physical and institutional components, relied upon data valorization, expert opinion, and the coupling of bio-physical and institutional perspectives of water-energy-food interactions with the potential to effectively monitor SDG 6.3.
Political Economy of Public Decision Making in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
While results of planetary scale analysis may emphasize the finiteness of water, soil, and waste resources and advocate for the recharge of aquifers, restoration of soils, multiple uses of forest ecosystems, extended life-cycle management of infrastructure, or tax rebates for the adoption of renewable energy, administrative scale decisions need not necessarily support policies, projects, or programs that emphasize circular economy pathways such as reuse, re-manufacture, replace, reduce, and retrofit. On the contrary, political economy compulsions may drive decision-makers to commit more resources toward the exploitation of newer sources of water and energy without ensuring that established infrastructure is properly functioning.
Given the stark divergence between planetary and administrative scales of analysis, five contemporary trends within the agriculture sector necessitate particular attention to enable a transition from a narrow focus on crop systems toward food systems:
- Decoupling of GDP growth from labor force participation in agriculture
- Increasing diversion of water from agriculture toward urban water supply
- Changes in diets away from staples toward processed food
- Land sub-division with potential to affect the viability of farming operations
- Growing influence of transnational corporations for seeds, capital, pesticides, marketing, and mechanization
Trade-off analysis can inform the targeting of development interventions in line with locally defined norms of fairness. For example, who are the beneficiaries of energy subsidies, and how does this compare with the interests of farmers with the potential to benefit from the adoption of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM)? Further, are the equity concerns relating to increased women’s workload under irrigated agriculture likely to override the interests of those benefitting from expanded urban water supply because of catchment protection interventions?
Agent-based modeling emphasizes the importance of coordinated action to overcome siloes in decision-making. When planning over-emphasizes either bio-physical or administrative imperatives, rebound effects are bound to be amplified either in the form of environmental risks or institutional siloes. Historical institutionalist literature enables us to identify three components of robust synergies:
- Social networks that support information flows and knowledge exchange
- Deployment of complementary skill sets (capacity) by key players
- A critical mass of financing and technology that can be appropriated by agencies and departments
There are also several enabling factors for robust synergies, notably:
- A clearly articulated legal and policy framework
- Clear set of policy instruments for implementation
- Data and evidence on distribution of bio-physical and institutional risks
- Manageable levels of administrative discretion
- Incentive structure (penalties and rewards) for compliance
Agent-based modeling while highlighting tensions between the application of Nexus principles in research and development practice has the potential to identify pathways that can overcome silos in environmental planning and management.
Wastewater Reuse Effectiveness Index (WREI): An Integrative Monitoring Methodology for SDG 6.3
Wastewater reuse in agriculture assumes significance from the perspective of examining both the policy orientation of research and the role of feedback loops in governance systems. When wastewater is better managed, significant economic benefits can be derived in developing countries through reuse for productive purposes like agriculture, kitchen gardens, and poultry rearing.
The Wastewater Reuse Effectiveness Index (WREI) relied on review of documentation provided by UN-HABITAT on SDG 6.3, discussions with academics and policymakers, and a review of secondary literature. Expert opinion was sought through discussions with a panel drawn from academia and government agencies. The expert opinion revealed that governance and political stability, as measured by indicators such as levels of corruption, fragmentation of water and sanitation sectors, and the existence of a legal and policy framework, were critical to sustaining effective reuse of wastewater.
The combination of bio-physical and governance dimensions in an index portrays the difference between theory and reality because conventional reuse indices by emphasizing the bio-physical dimension fail to explain the institutional conditions that would enable the translation of reuse potential into effective reuse of wastewater. To measure the effectiveness in wastewater reuse, the bio-physical component is calculated by referring to the institutional and socio-economic component of the index.
The finalized WREI composed of biophysical and governance indicators was constructed using India data that is mainly drawn from secondary sources to develop a typology of variables to model effective wastewater reuse for India. The bio-physical component includes the proportion of wastewater treated, the proportion of water bodies with good ambient water quality, and the proportion of wastewater reused of the total. The governance and socio-economic component includes 11 variables covering aspects such as per capita GDP, awareness, and institutional decentralization.
Plotting the hypothetical component-wise scores of WREI for different countries/regions helps in understanding the role of governance/institutions in mobilizing public action in the form of finances, technology, and skill sets to support an effective response to challenges posed by the fact that planetary boundaries are being reached. Such an approach to global monitoring can present a clear picture of the constraints various counties face and can serve as a basis for capacity building in support of normative change.
Conclusion
The goal of global monitoring ultimately is not to prescribe institutional change in the form of budget allocations and staff reorganization but to consolidate the normative basis for effective wastewater reuse that incorporates a balanced view of both bio-physical dimensions associated with planetary boundaries and institutional ones of effectively delivering public services.
Place-based observatories can play an important role in developing and validating composite indices as a mechanism for monitoring global goals. The continuous back and forth that is required between theory, method, and active engagement with considerations of revenue and expenditure that preoccupy policymakers can be supported by online learning platforms, co-curation of data and models, and co-design of research questions.
The systematic use of literature reviews and expert opinion to develop and pilot-test composite indices via place-based observatories raises the prospect of a data-light approach to monitoring SDGs, specifically, what are the merits of relying on extensive survey data compared to composite indices that are amenable to supporting benchmarking and scenario analysis and can provide the insight needed to inform decision-making and robust monitoring of global goals?
