CALFEWS#
The California Food-Energy-Water System (CALFEWS) is an open-sourced, Python/Cython-based model for simulating the integrated, multi-sector dynamics of water supply in the Central Valley of California. CALFEWS captures system dynamics across multiple scales, from coordinated management of inter-basin water supply projects at the state and regional scale, to agent-based representation of conjunctive surface water and groundwater supplies at the scale of irrigation and water storage districts. Its flexible, adaptive, rules-based representation allows CALFEWS to explore alternative climate, infrastructure, and regulation scenarios, and it is also interoperable with power dispatch and agricultural production models. This tool can provide decision-makers and analysts with a platform to generate a wide range of internally consistent scenarios for the integrated management of water supply, energy generation, and food production.
The CALFEWS GitHub repository contains two helpful Jupyter Notebooks for new users: an Intro Tutorial that demonstrates how to set up and run CALFEWS and analyze results, as well as a Paper Notebook that reruns all simulations, analyses, and visualizations from Zeff et al. (2021).
More information on the CALFEWS model, and comparison of model output to historical data, can be found in the following paper:
Zeff, H.B., Hamilton, A.L., Malek, K., Herman, J.D., Cohen, J.S., Medellin-Azuara, J., Reed, P.M., and G.W. Characklis. (2021). California’s Food-Energy-Water System: An Open Source Simulation Model of Adaptive Surface and Groundwater Management in the Central Valley. Environmental Modelling & Software, 141: 105052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105052
Additionally, the following paper used CALFEWS to analyze many alternative infrastructure investment partnerships and compare the water supply benefits and financial risks for water provider partners:
Hamilton, A.L., Zeff, H.B., Characklis, G.W., & P.M. Reed. (2022). Resilient California Water Portfolios Require Infrastructure Investment Partnerships that are Viable for All Partners. Earth’s Future, 10(4): e2021EF002573. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002573