Gaining Perspective on the Water−Energy Nexus at the Community Scale

Water and energy resources are interrelated but their influence on each other is rarely considered. To quantify the water and energy portfolios associated with a community’s water−energy nexus (WEN) and the influence of geographic location on resources, we present the WEN tool. The WEN tool quantifies a community’s transport (consumed for or lost before delivery) and nexus (energy for water and water for energy) resources so communities can assess their resource flows. In addition, to provide insight into the full range of impacts of water and energy resource acquisition and to frame the influence of geography on resources, we coin the term “urban resource islands”. The concept of urban resource islands provides a framework for considering the implication of geography on a community’s water and energy resource acquisition and use. The WEN tool and the concept of resource islands can promote communities to think about their hidden resources and integrate such concepts into their sustainability trade-off analyses and policy decisions. In this paper, we use Tucson, Arizona, United States as a case study.