In the context of implementing the European Flood Directive in Greece, a large set of rainfall data was compiled with the principal aim of constructing rainfall intensity–timescale–return period relationships for the entire country. This set included ground rainfall data as well as non-conventional data from reanalyses and satellites. Given the European declaration of climate emergency, along with the establishment of a ministry of climate crisis in Greece, this dataset was also investigated from a climatic perspective using the longest of the data records to assess whether or not they support the climate crisis doctrine. Monte Carlo simulations, along with stationary Hurst–Kolmogorov (HK) stochastic dynamics, were also employed to compare data with theoretical expectations. Rainfall extremes are proven to conform with the statistical expectations under stationarity. The only notable climatic events found are the clustering (reflecting HK dynamics) of water abundance in the 1960s and dry years around 1990, followed by a recovery from drought conditions in recent years.

Water has always been a driver of human civilization. The first human civilizations thrived in places with an abundance of water, typically nearby large rivers as the Tigris–Euphrates, Yang Che and Nile. The invention and construction of hydraulic infrastructure came only later, in prehistoric times, triggered by the expansion of humanity in water-scarce areas. The ancient Greeks invented impressive hydraulic works and small-scale structures, some of which, such as cisterns, were still fully operational until the 20th century. We present a model that explains the use of cisterns in the water-scarce area of West Mani, which allows us to assess the potential of this traditional rainfall harvesting practice to support the modern water supply needs. To assess the system’s reliability, we employ a long-term simulation of a typical cistern system, using synthetic rainfall series from a stochastic model, and assuming variable water demand on a monthly scale. We show that a proper restoration of the cisterns could be sustainable as a complementary water supply source, decreasing the area’s drinking water cost and increasing the locals’ resilience against water shortages. In addition, we highlight the links between the area’s hydroclimate and its history and discuss the cultural merits of reviving and preserving this centuries-long practice.

Social structure is based on the availability of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. To cover these needs of society, several solutions of different scales of infrastructures coexist. The construction of infrastructure is capital-intensive; therefore, investment risk is always a consideration. In this paper, we try to evaluate the investment risk by interest rates (IR). We show that IR is a key indicator, which includes multiple parameters of prosperity expressing the political and economic status quo of the society. The selection of a particular scale influences the required capital and is thus one of the most critical decisions. Water supply infrastructure is one of the foundations of society, and the selection of the optimal scale of such infrastructure is often a great challenge in civil engineering. As a case study, we analyse three different scales of water supply infrastructures for the area of West Mani (Greece), i.e., dam, water ponds, and seawater desalination. We evaluate each case by the capital intensity by performing stochastic simulations of interest rates and identify the optimal solution as the one with the smallest median unit cost, in this case, the water ponds. In order to assess the impact of the development level of a country on the resulting unit cost stochastic properties we apply the optimal solution to various countries with different development levels and IR. We show that IR in the least developed countries, being generally higher and more variable, increases the unit cost, including its variability, which ultimately indicates higher investment risk.

Infrastructures for the supply of water are one of the most necessary facilities in modern life. The optimal design of such infrastructures (for example, dams or even small-size tanks) is often a great challenge in civil engineering, given the large number of factors required for their design (e.g., feasibility, reliability, cost effectiveness, resilience). One of the most critical decisions that may have a great impact on the optimization procedure is the determination of the scale of the proposed system.During a study of such a design of a water supply infrastructure in the Municipality of Western Mani, it became clear that several solutions of different scales coexisted. Ultimately, the cost-benefit factors were the most heavily considered ones, provided that the required reliability was met. Stochastic methods have been proven to be appropriate tools for studying such highly complex and uncertain puzzles. The current study intends to approach this problem by considering solutions of different scales, and to establish the long-term cost effectiveness as the main criterion to evaluate the different solutions.

Fertilizers and especially Nutrient Nitrogen, are high consumers of energy. At present, the energy crisis has a serious effect in the production of fertilizers. As the world is seeking to smooth the curves of energy production, especially by renewable energy installations, the use of potential energy surplus in fertilizers’ production could be an alternative practice. Fertilizers can be utilized for the cultivation of energy crops or food (which also has an energy equivalent). In this work, we attempt to evaluate the potential of the integration of fertilizers in the energy production both for energy recovery and for the avoidance of possible failures by the deficit of fertilizers in the global Water-Energy-Food equilibrium.

Economies of scale, which minimize the cost of the unit, are vital for the prosperity of the society and the progress of civilizations. In order to achieve economies of scale, large investments have to be made. However, investments contain always a risk. An important evaluation of the investment’s risk could be done by interest rates. In this study, we update our recently presented methodology from utilizing Markov assumptions and instead for the timeseries generation algorithm, we employ a stochastic model following the Hurst-Kolmogorov dynamics . The updated methodology is applied for interest rates in various historical periods and compared with the Markov-based one.