Sustainability and groundwater in the context of Water-Energy-Food Nexus: a review of the literature

Abstract

The sustainability of groundwater is contingent upon the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. In this context, the article aimed to analyze the state of the art in this field by using the Scopus database and the following keywords: “Sustainability”, “Nexus”, and “Groundwater”. The analysis was based on articles published over the last 79 years, from 1945 to August 2024. The results indicated that the production of articles on this topic started in 2008 and increased significantly from 2015 to 2023, with the USA having the highest number of publications. The publications encompass a multitude of disciplines, including environmental sciences, energy, engineering, social sciences, agricultural and biological sciences, earth and planetary sciences, business, management and accounting, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, chemical engineering, economics, econometrics, and finance. This demonstrates that the topic is inherently multidisciplinary, a conclusion supported by the variety of keywords identified. The keyword analysis yielded three clusters. The first area of focus is the nexus between climate change, agriculture (particularly crops and irrigation), energy, and sustainable water resources management. The second area of focus addresses the interrelationship between agriculture, ecosystems, food security, and the quality and availability of water resources. Moreover, the third area is related to hydrogeology and management of underground water resources. The identified gaps in the nexus include the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the nexus as a system, the absence of policy development to analyze synergies among all factors, the need for multi-sector integration, the dearth of socioeconomic impacts, the scarcity of local and specific data availability, and limited mention of the role of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in integrated water resource management. The identified trends highlight the convergence of climate change, agriculture, and water resource management, emphasizing food security and ecosystem protection. Technologies are becoming more energy-intensive, increasing the interdependence between water and energy. Mathematical models and machine learning are employed to predict the quality and quantity of groundwater.