Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource

The Energy and Water Initiative of the Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) is releasing a report Nov 15, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource; Every day, water-cooled power plants in the United States withdraw hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of freshwater from rivers, lakes, streams, and aquifers, and consume between 8,000 and 18,000 acre-feet of that water. Understanding where such volumes come from—and how that use conflicts with both the amount of water available and demand from other users—is essential for water users, water resource managers, and planners at the energy-water nexus. This new report, the first on power plant water use and related water stress from the Energy and Water in a Warming World initiative (EW3), presents the first systematic assessment of both power plants’ effects on water resources across the United States and the quality of information available to help public- and private-sector decision makers make water-smart energy choices. Nadia Madden and Jonathan Overpeck, contributors to the report, will discuss the findings.