Strategic discharge or full reuse? Circular water economy assessment under WEFE-Climate Change Nexus
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY, cilt.182, sa.104442, ss.1-15, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 182 Sayı: 104442
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104442
- Dergi Adı: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), EMBASE, Environment Index, Geobase, Greenfile, Public Affairs Index
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-15
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
In an era marked by resource scarcity and climate instability, circular water economy (CWE) is a critical paradigm for sustaining water security, ecosystem integrity, and socio-economic resilience. On the other hand, it is still unclear how macro-scale application of CWE strategies creates trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem, food, water and energy. This study assesses 52 CWE alternatives within the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem-Climate Change Nexus, focusing on the semi-arid Porsuk Watershed which is under significant agricultural, industrial, and domestic pressure. The sustainability of CWE alternatives was evaluated using the Extended VIKOR method with basin-specific indicators representing ecosystem, socio-economic, and climate change. Notably, the best-performing cluster offers a more balanced and climate-resilient configuration than full-reuse strategies. In the most preferred cluster, treated water is primarily redirected for internal industrial recycling, reducing groundwater dependency while lowering operational costs and carbon emissions. At the same time, urban treated wastewater is largely discharged, which helps sustain environmental flows. Specifically, the equal-weight most preferred alternative recycles and reuses approximately 34.1 million m³ of treated water annually, contributing to a reduction of over 127 million m³ in surface water and nearly 43 million m³ in groundwater uses. All CWE alternatives meet environmental flow requirements under the annual-average threshold used in this study. These outcomes highlight the potential of circular water strategies to support ecological sustainability while enabling balanced cross-sectoral water allocation. The proposed framework thus provides a scalable and adaptable tool for basin-level transition.