Water-energy nexus

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), water stress also poses risks to the transport of fuels and materials.

In 2022, droughts and severe heatwaves led to low water levels in key European rivers such as the Rhine, limiting barge transport of coal, chemicals and other materials.

[7] Increasingly controversial has been the use of water resources for hydraulic fracturing of shale gas and tight oil reserves.

[8] With rising energy prices in North America and Europe in the 2020s it is likely that government and industry interest in hydraulic fracturing will grow.

[13] In addition to electricity, 30% of California's natural gas consumption was due to water-related processes, mainly residential water heating, and 88 million gallons of diesel was consumed by groundwater pumps for agriculture.

[13] The residential sector alone accounted for 48% of the total combined electricity and natural gas consumed for water-related processes in the state.

[14][15] According to the World Energy Outlook 2016, in the Middle East, the water sector's share of total electricity consumption is expected to increase from 9% in 2015 to 16% by 2040, because of a rise in desalination capacity.

The Arab region which includes the following countries:  Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauretania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait will face difficulty to meet the demand for desalination if the current trend continues.

In some cases the moderation of flows can be seen as a rivalry of water use in time may also need to accounted for in impact analysis.

[23] Galy-Lacaux et al conducted a study to measure the emissions produced by the Petit Saut Dam on the Sinnamary River in French Guyana for a two year period.

The researchers found that About 10% of the carbon stored in soil and vegetation was released in gaseous form within 2 years.