The 2017 Texas Water Development Board's State Water Plan predicts a 41% gap between water demand and existing supply by 2070. This reflects an overall projection, but the challenge will affect various regions of the state differently. Texas has 16 regional water planning zones characterized by distinct populations, water demands, and existing water supplies. Each is expected to face variations of pressures, such as increased agricultural and energy development (particularly hydraulic fracturing) and urban growth that do not necessarily follow the region's water plan. Great variability in resource distribution and competing resource demands across Texas will result in the emergence of distinct hotspots, each with unique characteristics that require multiple, localized, interventions to bridge the statewide water gap. This study explores three such hotspots: 1) water-food competition in Lubbock and the potential of producing 3 billion gallons of treated municipal waste water and encouraging dryland agriculture; 2) implementing Low Impact Developments (LIDs) for agriculture in the City of San Antonio, potentially adding 47 billion gallons of water supply, but carrying a potentially high financial cost; and 3) water-energy interrelations in the Eagle Ford Shale in light of well counts, climate dynamics, and population growth. The growing water gap is a state wide problem that requires holistic assessments that capture the impact on the tightly interconnected water, energy, and food systems. Better understanding the trade-offs associated with each 'solution’ and enabling informed dialogue between stakeholders, offers a basis for formulating localized policy recommendations specific to each hotspot. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Approaching water, energy, and food, as interconnected system of systems, as an alternative to traditional silo-based resources planning and management approaches continues to fall short of expectations of its research-backed benefits. The lack of nexus applications in policy and decision making can be related to numerous factors, with the main barrier being the complex nature of “nexus” systems combined with the disarray of tools attempting to model its interconnections. The paper aims to provide a method for comparing the perceived complexity of nexus tools identified by international organizations as well as primary literature sources. Eight separate criteria are introduced and discussed as measures of a tool “complexity index” and used to score the relative simplicity, or complexity, of a given tool. The result of this process is used to identify trends within existing nexus-assessment tools while guiding potential users towards appropriate tool(s) best-suited for their case study needs and objectives. The main objectives of this paper are to: 1) categorize nexus assessment tools according to a criteria-set which allows for suitable tool selection; 2) identify a method for rapid evaluation of the trade-offs for choosing different tools (simple-complex spectrum). The results of the comparative analysis of the selected nexus assessment tools concur with literature citing a growing gap between nexus research and applications in actual policy and decision-making settings. Furthermore, results suggest that tools receiving higher complexity scores, while being able to capture details to specific resource interactions, are unable to cover a larger number of interactions and system components simultaneously, as compared to lower complexity score tools. Lastly, the outcome of the analysis point towards the need for integrating more preliminary assessment capabilities, i.e. diagnostics, guidelines, and capacity building, into existing tools that improve the communication and translation of model outputs into policy and decision-making. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

The San Antonio Region is home to a rapidly growing population with developing energy and agricultural sectors competing for water, land, and financial resources. Despite the tight interconnectedness between water, energy, and food challenges, little is known about the levels of communication and coordination among the various officials responsible for making the decisions that affect the management and planning of the three resource systems. It has been postulated that efficient communication is a prerequisite to developing resource allocation strategies that avoid potential unintended negative consequences that could result from inefficient allocation of natural resources and competing demands. Factors that may impact communication are identified and their potential roles are considered in improving existing levels of communication between San Antonio's water officials and those at other energy, food, and water institutions in the San Antonio Region. A questionnaire designed to gather information on stakeholder concerns, frequency of communication, and participation in engagement forums was sent to public water officials in the Region. Using social network analysis and bivariate Ordinary Least Square regression analysis, the authors conclude that while modest levels of communication exist among water institutions, a very low level of communication exists between water institutions and those responsible for food and energy. It was further concluded that the frequency of communication among officials at different water institutions is higher among those that participated in stakeholder engagement activities. However, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that participation in stakeholder engagement activities improves communication frequency between water stakeholders and those in the food and energy sectors. There is also insufficient evidence to conclude that people at water institutions in San Antonio would have a higher frequency of communication with other water, energy, and food stakeholder in correlation with a higher level of concern about future water availability in the Region. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.