WEAP is a software tool for integrated water resources planning that attempts to assist rather than substitute for the skilled planner. It provides a comprehensive, flexible and user-friendly framework for planning and policy analysis. A growing number of water professionals are finding WEAP to be a useful addition to their toolbox of models, databases, spreadsheets and other software. This introduction presents WEAP's purpose, approach, and structure; a detailed technical description of WEAP capabilities is available in a separate publication, the
WEAP User Guide.
Background
Many regions are facing formidable freshwater management challenges. Allocation of limited water resources, concerns regarding environmental quality, planning under climate variability and uncertainty, and the need to develop and implement sustainable water use strategies are increasingly pressing issues for water resource planners. Conventional supply-oriented simulation models are not always adequate for exploring the full range of management options.
Over the last decade, an integrated approach to water development has emerged which places water supply projects in the context of demand-side management, and water quality and ecosystem preservation and protection. WEAP incorporates these values into a practical tool for water resources planning and policy analysis. WEAP places demand-side issues such as water use patterns, equipment efficiencies, re-use strategies, costs, and water allocation schemes on an equal footing with supply-side topics such as stream flow, groundwater resources, reservoirs, and water transfers. WEAP is also distinguished by its integrated approach to simulating both the natural (e.g., evapotranspirative demands, runoff, baseflow) and engineered components (e.g., reservoirs, groundwater pumping) of water systems. This allows the planner access to a more comprehensive view of the broad range of factors that must be considered in managing water resources for present and future use. The result is an effective tool for examining alternative water development and management options.
WEAP operates in many capacities:
Water balance database: WEAP provides a system for maintaining water demand and supply information.
Scenario generation tool: WEAP simulates water demand, supply, runoff, streamflows, storage, pollution generation, treatment and discharge and instream water quality.
Policy analysis tool: WEAP evaluates a full range of water development and management options, and takes account of multiple and competing uses of water systems.
The WEAP Approach
WEAP operates on the basic principle of a water balance and can be applied to municipal and agricultural systems, a single watershed or complex transboundary river basin systems. Moreover, WEAP can simulate a broad range of natural and engineered components of these systems, including rainfall runoff, baseflow, and groundwater recharge from precipitation; sectoral demand analyses; water conservation; water rights and allocation priorities, reservoir operations; hydropower generation; pollution tracking and water quality; vulnerability assessments; and ecosystem requirements. A financial analysis module also allows the user to investigate cost-benefit comparisons for projects.
The analyst represents the system in terms of its various supply sources (e.g., rivers, creeks, groundwater, reservoirs, and desalination plants); withdrawal, transmission and wastewater treatment facilities; water demands; pollution generation; and ecosystem requirements. The data structure and level of detail can be easily customized to meet the requirements and data availability for a particular system and analysis.
WEAP applications generally include several steps.
Study definition: The time frame, spatial boundaries, system components, and configuration of the problem are established.
Current accounts: A snapshot of actual water demand, pollution loads, resources and supplies for the system are developed. This can be viewed as a calibration step in the development of an application.
Scenarios: A set of alternative assumptions about future impacts of policies, costs, and climate, for example, on water demand, supply, hydrology, and pollution can be explored. (Possible scenario opportunities are presented in the next section.)
Evaluation: The scenarios are evaluated with regard to water sufficiency, costs and benefits, compatibility with environmental targets, and sensitivity to uncertainty in key variables.
Examples of WEAP Scenario Analyses
Scenario analysis is central to WEAP. Scenarios are used to explore the model with an enormous range of "what if" questions, such as :
What if population growth and economic development patterns change?
What if reservoir operating rules are altered?
What if groundwater is more fully exploited?
What if water conservation is introduced?
What if ecosystem requirements are tightened?
What if a conjunctive use program is established to store excess surface water in underground aquifers?
What if a water recycling program is implemented?
What if a more efficient irrigation technique is implemented?
What if the mix of agricultural crops changes?
What if climate change alters demand and supplies?
How does pollution upstream affect downstream water quality?
How will land use changes affect runoff?
WEAP Development
The Stockholm Environment Institute provided primary support for the development of WEAP.
Hydrologic Engineering Center of the US Army Corps of Engineers funded significant enhancements. A number of agencies, including the
UN,
World Bank,
USAID,
US EPA,
IWMI,
Water Research Foundation (formerly AwwaRF) and the Global Infrastructure Fund of Japan have provided project support. WEAP has been applied in water assessments in dozens of countries, including :
the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Egypt, Israel, Oman, Central Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, South Korea, and Thailand.
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