Water Resources: Issues & Opportunities

The BIG Picture – How Do Biofuels Fit In?

Rick Cruse

Iowa State University

THE BIG PICTURE

Future Bioeconomy and Its Impacts on Water (and soil) ResourcesDo we have the scientific knowledge to

identify acceptable feedstock management?

Can we balance energy needs, financial interests, and water/soil conservation in the bioenergy industry?

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ReportDuring the next 50 years, demand for food

crops is projected to grow by 70–85% under the MA scenarios, and demand for water by between 30% and 85%.

Working Lands

Our agricultural lands must work.

Current working agricultural lands sacrifice water quality.

Current Working Lands & Water Quality

Cox, Craig, Andrew Hug, and Nils Bruzelius. 2011. Losing Ground. Environmental Working Group. Available at:http://static.ewg.org/reports/2010/losingground/pdf/losingground_report.pdf

Current Working Land and Soil Erosion

2007

Oki, Taikan and Shinjiro Kanae. 2006. Global hydrological cycles and world water resources. Science. 313:1068-1072

Published by AAAS

Irrigation~ 40% of world food comes from 18% of

world’s cropland1

India 3/5 of grain harvestChina 4/5 of grain harvest

1W Danielle Nierenberg, Linda Starke and Erik Assadourian. 2007State of the World – 2006. World Watch Institute.

Countries over-pumping aquifers in 2005 and population (million)

China India Iran Isreal Jordan MexicoMoracc

oPakista

n

1,316 1,103 70 7 6 107 31 158

S. Arabia

S. Korea Spain Syria Tunesia U.S Yemen Total

25 48 43 19 10 291 21 3,262

Brown, Lester (Lead Author);Brian Black, Galal Hassan Galal Hussein (Topic Editor) "Aquifer depletion". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth January 23, 2010; Last revised Date March 22, 2011; Retrieved March 13, 2012 http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquifer_depletion

Precipitation minus Evaporation for Western US

(25N-40N, 95W-125 W)

R. Seager, et al. 2007. Model Projections of an Imminent Transition to a More Arid Climate in Southwestern North America. Science, Vol. 316. no. 5828, pp. 1181 - 1184

Land Resources

Globally, 25% of agricultural land is considered highly degraded such that livelihoods have been compromised, production capacity has been seriously diminished, and opportunities to renovate are limited or nonexistent.

FAO. 2011. State of the world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture. Summary Report. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome

U.S. Agricultural Land Conversion

Six million acres eroded at 20 – 100 times the soil renewal rate in 2007.

Cox, Craig, Andrew Hug, and Nils Bruzelius. 2011. Losing Ground. Environmental Working Group. Available at:http://static.ewg.org/reports/2010/losingground/pdf/losingground_report.pdf

“One of the clearest trends in the United States observational record is an increasing frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events… Over the last century there was a 50% increase in the frequency of days with precipitation over 101.6 mm (four inches) in the upper midwestern U.S.; this trend is statistically significant “

Karl, T. R., J. M. Melillo, and T. C. Peterson, (eds.), 2009: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Cambridge University Press, 2009, 196pp.

Cedar Rapids Data

Cedar Rapids Data

4.2 days 57% increase 6.6 days

1.25 inches

Cedar Rapids Data

4.2 days 57% increase 6.6 days

1.25 inches

2

13Years having more than 8 days

Big PictureDemand for Energy increasingDemand for food and water increasingBiofuels must compete with food production

for land and water resources in a world with Greater climate variability

Production impacts Water and soil impacts

Soil and water degradation problemsPolitical environment less stable than climate