OTG

Hi Mr. Donaldson,

Thanks for sharing this article and the CNA report with us. Here are a few of my initial off-the-record thoughts:

The fact that water resources are not adequately valued in energy planning decisions is in some ways surprising and in some ways not.

It is surprising because, as the CNA study points out, most governments around the world either ignore or under value the impacts of their energy systems on water resources. It’s also surprising to see just how substantial these omissions are in terms of the sheer amount of water allocated to energy production.

On the other hand, it’s not all that surprising because most governments have historically made energy development a high priority, largely because they view access to energy as a key component of economic development and achieving higher living standards. Access to water has also been a priority (for example, in United Nations made access to water part of its Millenium Development Goals[1]), but there has nevertheless been a tendency to think about energy and water separately. In their rush to develop, many counties appear to have forgotten that energy and water are (currently) quite integrated systems.

There is a slow push for more integrated thinking in energy and water planning. The DOE has advocated for decision makers to collaborate more and think more holistically when it comes to energy and water management[2]. It also has a research program to improve technologies that could cut back on the amount of water used during energy production[3]. In addition, the World Bank has launched a “Thirsty Energy” initiative, which has a goal of “supporting countries’ efforts to address challenges in energy and water management proactively”.[4]

Nevertheless, there very well might be more events in the future that force governments to reactively look at their water usage and reassess priorities. California, for example, is in the midst of a severe drought, and is also located in a region of the country that is projected to get drier as climate change progresses. As the cost of water rises and the drought stresses their water resources, they might be forced to set new priorities for water use and consider the water impact of every new development—including energy developments. This has certainly happened before.  Some countries and U.S. states have had to scale back on power production from certain energy facilities due to water shortages (especially hydroelectric dams).[5] In other cases, entire power plants have actually been canceled because they would have been too water-intensive.[6]

One would hope that governments choose to be proactive rather than wait for a crisis before starting to think about water and energy as integrated systems, so in this regard perhaps your article and the CNA report serve as valuable alarm bells. Ultimately, each country or region will have to find ways to meet its own unique water and energy management goals. Some might find, for example, that they can both meet their energy needs and minimize water impacts in their energy sectors by planning for more solar and wind generation (which use virtually no water) instead of water-intensive coal and nuclear plants. Others might find that wastewater recycling and upgrading existing energy systems with technologies that use less water are the keys. Whatever the case may be, I agree that much more needs to be done to better plan for the rising demands for energy and water that all countries are likely to face in the future.

Hopefully you find this useful, but let me know if you have additional questions. Thanks!

Marshall

[1] http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/environ.shtml

[2] http://www.sandia.gov/energy-water/docs/121-RptToCongress-EWwEIAcomments-FINAL.pdf

[3] http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Thermoelectric-Power-Plants.pdf

[4] http://water.worldbank.org/sites/water.worldbank.org/files/publication/Thirsty-Energy-Initiative-Summary.pdf

[5] http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/sustainabledevelopment/brief/water-energy-nexus

[6] http://www.sandia.gov/energy-water/docs/121-RptToCongress-EWwEIAcomments-FINAL.pdf