Water - IFs

Note: The documentation of IFs is 'under review' and is not yet 'published'!

Model Documentation - IFs
Model scope and methods - IFs Model concept, solver and details - IFs Temporal dimension - IFs Spatial dimension - IFs Policy - IFs Socio-economic drivers - IFs Population - IFs Economic activity - IFs Macro-economy - IFs Energy - IFs Energy resource endowments - IFs Fossil energy resources - IFs Uranium and other fissile resources - IFs Bioenergy - IFs Non-biomass renewables - IFs Energy conversion - IFs Electricity - IFs Heat - IFs Gaseous fuels - IFs Liquid fuels - IFs Solid fuels - IFs Grid, pipelines and other infrastructure - IFs Energy end-use - IFs Transport - IFs Residential and commercial sectors - IFs Industrial sector - IFs Other end-use - IFs Energy demand - IFs Technological change in energy - IFs Land-use - IFs Agriculture - IFs Emissions - IFs GHGs - IFs Pollutants and non-GHG forcing agents - IFs Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) options - IFs Climate - IFs Non-climate sustainability dimension - IFs Water - IFs Other materials - IFs References - IFs
Corresponding documentation
AIM-Hub BLUES C3IAM COFFEE-TEA DNE21+ GCAM GEM-E3 GRACE IFs IMACLIM MESSAGE-GLOBIOM PROMETHEUS WITCH
Previous versions
Archive of IFs version 7.36
Model information
Model link	https://pardee.du.edu/access-ifs
Institution	Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures, University of Denver (Pardee Center), Colorado, USA, https://pardee.du.edu/.
Solution concept
Solution method	Dynamic recursive with annual time steps through 2100.
Anticipation	Myopic

IFs represents water demand as the sum of the demand of three sectors—municipal, industrial (differentiating energy-related from other industrial demand), and agriculture. The data from AQUASTAT differentiates between these three sectors and many other water models represent these same sectors. AQUASTAT refers to these data series as “water withdrawal.” IFs treats water withdrawal as equivalent to water demand.

Water supply is defined as the sum of five components: surface water withdrawal, renewable groundwater withdrawal, non-renewable (fossil) water withdrawal, desalinated water, and direct use of treated wastewater.

The size of a country’s urban population and water use per capita for the urban population drive municipal water demand. Water use per capita for the urban population is driven by GDP per capita (at purchasing power parity), the portion of the population with access to piped water, and the portion of the population that lives in urban areas. Non-renewable electricity generation capacity and the overall size of a country’s manufacturing sector drive industrial water demand. The area of land under irrigation drives agricultural water demand. The shadow price index impacts all three water demand sectors.

Surface and (renewable) groundwater withdrawals are driven by the shadow price index and constrained by their country-specific exploitable limits. Estimated stocks constrain fossil water withdrawals. The price index and an initial growth rate (which can be altered by user) drive change in desalinated water. Direct use of treated wastewater is driven by the price index and the volume of wastewater which is treated. Total water demand and total water supply are used to adjust the price index. The water price index then impacts each sector of demand and most sources of supply the following year. This algorithmic logic keeps water demand and water supply in approximate equilibrium over time, even though it does not require exact equality in any time step.

Water available for agriculture in this equilibrating process affects both the efficiency of water use and the extent of irrigated land. The latter affects yield in the agricultural model.