CE Seminar Series – Evaluating Water Security in Jordan using a multi-agent hydroeconomic model with Dr. Jim Yoon – PNNL

CE SEMINAR SERIES
Everyone is encouraged to attend!
Friday, November 30th, 2018
12:10 – 1:00 pm | TFLO 133
Dr. Jim Yoon
Water Security and Resilience Scientist,
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Evaluating Water Security in Jordan using
a Multi-Agent Hydroeconomic Model
Abstract
Jordan currently faces a water crisis of unprecedented severity, dealing with the combined impacts
of extremely limited water availability, destabilizing regional conflict, and adverse climate change
impacts. We developed a coupled human-natural system multi-agent model for the long-term
evaluation of water security in Jordan, the product of a multi-year international research effort
carried out by an interdisciplinary research team spanning the fields of hydrology, water resources
engineering, political science, geography, and economics. The modular multi-agent model is used
to evaluate interventions for enhancing Jordan’s water security, integrating biophysical modules that
simulate natural and engineered systems with human modules that represent decision-making at both
institutional and consumer levels. The model is run through the end of the 21st century to evaluate
water supply, demand, and institutional interventions over a wide range of plausible climate and
socioeconomic scenarios. Model results paint an alarming outlook of Jordan’s future water security
with nearly 60 percent of the country’s low-income household population experiencing water use
below 40 liters per capita per day. Surface water supplies decrease by over 50 percent relative to
historical conditions and groundwater wellfields near the main urban centers are depleted by over 50
percent. Although climate and socioeconomic change will place extreme stress on the system under
all conditions evaluated, model results also indicate that an aggressive combination of supply and
demand management interventions can substantially reduce Jordan’s water insecurity through the
end of the century.
Bio
Dr. Jim Yoon is a water security and resilience scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. At
PNNL, Jim focuses on the development of novel techniques to simulate water and interconnected
systems, targeting solutions that can enhance critical infrastructure resilience under changing
and adverse conditions. Prior to joining the labs, Jim completed an M.S., Ph.D., and Postdoc at
Stanford University in the Earth System Science Department. His research at Stanford focused on the
development of a multi-agent hydrologic-economic model for evaluation of water security in Jordan
and the Middle East. Jim spearheaded the Jordan Water Project (JWP), an international interdisciplinary
research project supported by a consortium of national science agencies with further assistance from
USAID. Prior to his work at Stanford, Jim spent several years working as a water resources engineer
at MWH Global in Southern California, consulting for municipal clients across the western US. He is
also co-founder of WellDone International, a San Francisco based non-profit organization working to
support clean water and sanitation projects in underserved regions across the developing world. Jim
holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering with an English Literature minor from UCLA.
Civil and Environmental Engineering
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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