Discourse over the sustainability of irrigation with desalinated water in light of the water-energy-food nexus

Abstract

Desalinated seawater has gained increasing popularity as an option for water-stressed regions worldwide to meet a general increase in water demand across most sectors. Considering current water and food crises that are exacerbating in many regions, desalination has gained traction as a suitable solution to alleviate these problems as a potentially limitless alternative water source. The agricultural industry is the largest global water consumer and the sector that is most likely to benefit from this technology to meet the increasing demand for irrigation. Despite the technology’s considerable potential, there are numerous issues related the technology’s sustainability that may prevent it from becoming a widely used solution for irrigation purposes. However, being affected by numerous interconnected factors, water resources problems are nuanced and multi-disciplinary. To account for these intricacies in the evaluation of the sustainability of this option for irrigation, the concept of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Security Nexus can be used. This paper provides a preliminary evaluation of the sustainability of the use of desalinated water for irrigation considering the WEF Security Nexus.