Water and energy are interconnected. A frequent term to describe
this relationship is the “water-energy nexus.”
Energy for Water: Energy is needed to store water, get it where
it is needed and also treat it to be used:
* Extracting water from rivers and streams or pumping it
from aquifers, and then conveying it over hills and into storage
facilities is a highly energy intensive process. The State Water
Project (SWP) pumps water 700 miles, including up nearly 2,000
feet over the Tehachapi Mountains. The SWP is the largest single
user of energy in California. It consumes an average of 5 billion
kWh per year. That’s about 2 to 3 percent of all electricity
consumed in California
* Water treatment facilities use energy to pump and process
water for use in homes, businesses and industry
* Consumers use energy to treat water with softeners or
filters, to circulate and pressurize water and to heat and cool
water
* Wastewater plants use energy to pump wastewater to
treatment plants, and also to aerate and filter it at the plant.
Different end uses require more electricity for delivery than
others. Water for residential, commercial and industrial end-use
needs the most energy (11 percent), followed by agricultural
end-use (3 percent), residential, commercial and industrial
supply and treatment (3 percent), agricultural water supply and
treatment (1 percent) and wastewater treatment (1 percent),
according to the California Energy Commission.
Water for Energy: Water is used to generate electricity
* Water is needed either to process raw materials used in a
facility or maintaining a plant,or to just generate electricity
itself.
Overall, the electricity industry is second only to agriculture
as the largest user of water in the United States. Electricity
production from fossil fuels and nuclear energy requires 190,000
million gallons of water per day, accounting for 39 percent of
all freshwater withdrawals in the nation. Coal, the most abundant
fossil fuel, currently accounts for 52 percent of U.S.
electricity generation, and each kWh generated from coal requires
withdrawal of 25 gallons of water.
Shaun Kinetic rests his hand on what looks like an out-of-place
pile of hay bales. The bales, which are actually the leftovers
from a corn harvest, sit under a shade structure in a parking
lot in an industrial area of San Francisco sandwiched between
highways. Those corn stalks, leaves and cobs would normally get
plowed back into the field they came from in Half Moon Bay, or
be left to decompose, releasing the carbon inside them back
into the atmosphere. Only some of these leftovers are needed to
maintain soil health and prevent erosion.
… Unlike carbon capture, which involves trapping
polluting greenhouse gasses at their source of emissions,
carbon removal entails pulling the gas out of the atmosphere
through either nature-based approaches, like conserving
existing wetlands, or technological methods, like that used by
Charm.
Rivers are one of the most dynamic water cycle components of
the earth surface and hold fundamental economic and ecological
significance for the development of human societies, ecosystem
sustainability, and regional climate. Yet, their natural
balance has been threatened by a wide range of anthropogenic
stressors and ongoing climate change. With increasing demands
for economic and social development, human disturbances in the
form of dam construction, aquaculture, and irrigation have
resulted in large-scale and rapid transformations of river
channels.
Floating solar panels placed on reservoirs around the world
could generate enough energy to power thousands of cities,
according to a study published last week in the journal Nature
Sustainability. Called floating photovoltaic systems, or
“floatovoltaics,” these solar arrays function the same way as
panels on land, capturing sunlight to generate electricity.
… The new research shows this buoyant technology has the
potential to create vast amounts of power and conserve
water—without taking up precious space on land. … A
handful of countries are already answering that question by
using floating solar panels in a limited capacity… California
plans to test a similar idea in which solar panels will
be placed above irrigation canals.
Droughts reduce hydropower production and heatwaves increase
electricity demand, forcing power system operators to rely more
on fossil fuel power plants. However, less is known about how
droughts and heat waves impact the county level distribution of
health damages from power plant emissions. Using California as
a case study, we simulate emissions from power plants under a
500-year synthetic weather ensemble. We find that human health
damages are highest in hot, dry years. Counties with a majority
of people of color and counties with high pollution burden
(which are somewhat overlapping) are disproportionately
impacted by increased emissions from power plants during
droughts and heat waves.
Plastic pollution is everywhere, from the tip of Mount Everest
to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Wherever it goes, plastic
has unexpected effects: it transports pathogens, strangles
wildlife, and, sometimes, becomes habitat. But on the bottom of
the Philippine Trench, 10,000 meters deep, plastic is reshaping
life on the seafloor. In 2021, Alan Jamieson, a marine
biologist at the University of Western Australia, Deo Florence
L. Onda, a microbial oceanographer at the University of the
Philippines Marine Science Institute, and their crew descended
into the third-deepest trench in the world. The place was
swarming with plastic bags. As the scientists watched, the
deep-sea current was dragging plastic bags along the seafloor,
scraping it with parallel lines like tire tracks.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday hailed the state’s rapid
transformation to renewables from a unique spot: a lithium
processing project in impoverished Imperial County, at the
state’s sunbaked southern end that he and others say is part of
a “transformational” industry that will bring good new jobs
here while also preserving the environment for young people and
aiding public health. … He brushed off concerns about global
economic volatility and fears of massive renewables slicing
through rural communities to power far-off cities, saying in an
interview with The Desert Sun/USA Today that what is being done
here is a template for vital, sustainable economic projects.
California is an elemental maelstrom branded as a
laid-back idyll; a “beautiful fraud” as environmentalist
Marc Reisner put it. The pitch has
faltered in recent years, as first wildfires and now
torrential rains have claimed lives, wrecked
infrastructure and displaced whole towns. Yet the atmospheric
rivers deluging the state today may offer a silver lining of
sorts later this year, during California’s summer blackout
season. Risk of wildfires is one factor that can prompt
electricity shutoffs in California during the summer. A more
prosaic reason is that hot evenings can raise demand for air
conditioning just as the sunset switches off the state’s
vast, but variable, solar energy, pushing the grid to its
limits. -Written by Liam Denning, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist
covering energy and commodities.
Earth is likely to cross a critical threshold for global
warming within the next decade, and nations will need to make
an immediate and drastic shift away from fossil fuels to
prevent the planet from overheating dangerously beyond that
level, according to a major new report released on Monday. The
report, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a
body of experts convened by the United Nations, offers the most
comprehensive understanding to date of ways in which the planet
is changing. It says that global average temperatures are
estimated to rise 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit)
above preindustrial levels sometime around “the first half of
the 2030s,” as humans continue to burn coal, oil and natural
gas.
Governor Gavin Newsom will join local leaders on Monday for a
visit to Imperial Valley. He will get an update on progress
being made toward lithium production. Lithium is the material
essential to battery production. Imperial Valley contains some
of the largest lithium deposits in the world, specifically
underground near the Salton Sea, a region also known as Lithium
Valley. The Salton Sea was once a top tourist destination,
attracting some of old Hollywood’s biggest names, but over the
past few decades, it’s become an ecological disaster.
Evaporation and agricultural runoff have exposed toxins in the
lakebed and created a perfect environment for dangerous algae
blooms and bacteria to thrive.
Water makes up 71% of Earth’s surface, but no one knows how or
when such massive quantities of water arrived on
Earth. A new study published in the
journal Nature brings scientists one step closer to
answering that question. Led by University of Maryland
Assistant Professor of Geology Megan Newcombe, researchers
analyzed melted meteorites that had been floating around in
space since the solar system’s formation 4 1/2 billion
years ago. They found that these meteorites had extremely
low water content—in fact, they were among the driest
extraterrestrial materials ever measured. These results,
which let researchers rule them out as the primary source of
Earth’s water, could have important implications for the search
for water—and life—on other planets. It also helps researchers
understand the unlikely conditions that aligned to make Earth a
habitable planet.
The bottled water industry is a juggernaut. More than 1 million
bottles of water are sold every minute around the world and the
industry shows no sign of slowing down, according to a new
report. Global sales of bottled water are expected to nearly
double by 2030. But the industry’s enormous global success
comes at a huge environmental, climate and social cost,
according to the report published Thursday by the United
Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health,
which analyzes the industry’s global impacts. Groundwater
extracted to help fill billions of plastic bottles a year poses
a potential threat to drinking water resources and feeds the
world’s plastic pollution crisis, while the industry’s growth
helps distract attention and resources away from funding the
public-water infrastructure desperately needed in many
countries, according to the report.
Even with winter’s remarkable rainfall, Mono Lake will not rise
enough to reduce unhealthy dust storms that billow off the
exposed lakebed and violate air quality standards. Nor will it
offset increasing salinity levels that threaten Mono Lake
Kutzadika’a tribe’s cultural resources and food for millions of
migratory birds. Any gain Mono Lake makes surely won’t last due
to the [Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's] ongoing
diversions….If DWP won’t voluntarily cooperate in finding a
way to protect Mono Lake, then the State Water Board needs to
step up and save Mono Lake – again. -Written by Martha Davis, a board member for the
Mono Lake Committee.
Two Colorado Democrats this week are making a last ditch effort
to block a proposed 88-mile railway in Utah that they say would
drive up climate emissions and could lead to a catastrophic oil
spill in the upper Colorado River, contaminating a vital water
supply for nearly 40 million Americans that’s already
critically threatened by deepening drought. The Uinta Basin
Railway was approved by the Surface Transportation Board in
2021 and received provisional approval by the U.S. Forest
Service last summer to travel through a 12-mile roadless area
of the Ashley National Forest. It would connect the oil fields
of Utah’s Uinta Basin to the national rail network and
refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Residents in one western Arizona community worry that a clean
energy company, which plans to build nearby, could hog their
groundwater supply. Brenda is a small town located a few miles
north of Interstate 10 in La Paz County. Like nearby
Quartzsite, it caters to RV visitors who are looking for
sunshine and warmth during the winter months. At
Buckaroo’s Sandwich Shop, manager Lisa Lathrop said she has
lived in the area for 13 years because “it’s usually quiet out
here and nobody knows about us.” That’s about to
change. The addition of the Ten West Link, a
high-voltage transmission line currently being built to connect
Tonopah with Blythe, California, is expected to bring multiple
solar power companies to the area.
The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed tighter limits
on wastewater pollution from coal-burning power plants that has
contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers across the
nation. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection
Agency sets pollution standards to limit wastewater discharge
from the power industry and other businesses. The Trump
administration rolled back pollution standards so utilities
could use cheaper technologies and take longer to comply with
guidelines for cleaning coal ash and toxic heavy metals such as
mercury, arsenic and selenium from plant wastewater before
dumping it into waterways. The Biden administration’s proposal
for stricter standards at coal-burning plants also encourages
the plants to retire or switch to other fuels such as natural
gas by 2028.
Israeli firm IDE Technologies’ proposal to build a US$5.5bn
desalination plant in Puerto Peñasco in northern Mexico’s
Sonora state and then sell the water to Arizona is not a new
idea and was previously rejected due to several problems.
In December, IDE presented Arizona’s Water Infrastructure
Finance Authority (WIFA) with a proposal to supply treated 1
billion cubic meters per year of seawater from the Sea of
Cortez through a 328km system of pumps and pipes. WIFA was
reported to have been analyzing the initiative, but no further
updates have been announced. The project would also
provide water to Sonora state “without impacting the amount of
water committed to Arizona,” according to the proposal.
However, IDE needs a purchasing commitment from the US state’s
authorities before moving forward with the project.
Municipal wastewater treatment plants emit nearly double the
amount of methane into the atmosphere than scientists
previously believed, according to new research from Princeton
University. And since methane warms the planet over 80 times
more powerfully than carbon dioxide over 20 years, that could
be a big problem. … Zondlo led one of two new studies on
the subject, both reported in papers published
in Environmental Science & Technology. One study
performed on-the-ground methane emissions measurements at
63 wastewater treatment plants in the United States;
the other used machine learning methods to analyze published
literature data from methane monitoring studies of various
wastewater collection and treatment processes around the globe.
The Blue-Ribbon Commission on lithium extraction in California
has been dissolved per a resolution by the California Energy
Commission on Friday, February 17, after completing an
equitably written final report. The commission was established
in January 2021 to address the issues and opportunities that
come along with lithium extraction at the Salton Sea, including
the impacts that developing this new resource would have on
local communities. … A few of the things included in the
report include establishing a Lithium Valley priority
permitting process, accelerating state planning for investment
and upgrades in transmission for geothermal power plants, and
establishing the Southeast California Economic Zone.
A multinational building materials company is trying to pull a
fast one on Fresno County residents — and county officials are
helping. Remember CEMEX’s proposal to continue gravel
mining along the San Joaquin River north of Fresno for another
century? By using even more environmentally damaging methods
than those currently employed? Things have been quiet on
that front since 2020 when CEMEX’s impertinent scheme came to
light and I expressed my initial outrage. Sure enough,
the gears of destruction are moving once again. -Written by columnist Marek Warszawski.
The desiccation of the Colorado River has left Lake Powell, the
country’s second-largest reservoir, at just 23% of capacity,
its lowest level since it was filled in the 1960s. With the
reservoir now just 32 feet away from “minimum power pool” — the
point at which Glen Canyon Dam would no longer generate power
for six states — federal officials are studying the possibility
of overhauling the dam so that it can continue to generate
electricity and release water at critically low levels. A
preliminary analysis of potential modifications to the dam
emerged during a virtual meeting held by the federal Bureau of
Reclamation, which is also reviewing options for averting a
collapse of the water supply along the river.
Extracting fossil fuels from underground reservoirs requires so
much water a Chevron scientist once referred to its operations
in California’s Kern River Oilfield “as a water company that
skims oil.” Fracking operations use roughly 1.5 million to 16
million gallons per well to release oil and gas from shale,
according to the U.S. Geological Survey. All that water returns
to the surface as wastewater called flowback and produced
water, or PFW, contaminated by a complex jumble of hazardous
substances in fluids injected to enhance production, salts,
metals and other harmful elements once sequestered deep
underground, along with their toxic breakdown products.
Monitoring the pollutants that result from desalination is
critical for ensuring that the process is carried out in an
environmentally sustainable manner. There are several
instruments that are commonly used to monitor pollutants in the
marine environment, including chemical sensors, optical
sensors, and biological indicators. Chemical sensors are
used to measure the concentration of various pollutants in the
water, including heavy metals, organic matter, and pathogens.
These sensors can be deployed in real-time, providing
continuous monitoring of water quality, and can be used to
detect changes in water quality over time. Some chemical
sensors are also capable of measuring multiple parameters
simultaneously, which can help to provide a more comprehensive
picture of water quality.
The world thrives on plastic—one of the most enduring,
versatile materials ever invented. It’s in our coffee pods,
clothes, cars we drive to work, and tech devices we can’t live
without. Extracting ourselves from plastic-land is tough. Buy
strawberries in a clamshell box, and you’re fueling the plastic
economy. The cost seems negligible—a penny in a $20 takeout
order. But a global addiction to plastic is turning into an
environmental catastrophe, challenging goals to curb
greenhouse-gas emissions and reduce the 385 million tons of
waste that’s landfilled or incinerated, or that drifts out to
sea, each year.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
The lower Colorado River has virtually every drop allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
This event explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
The majestic beauty of the Sierra
Nevada forest is awe-inspiring, but beneath the dazzling blue
sky, there is a problem: A century of fire suppression and
logging practices have left trees too close together. Millions of
trees have died, stricken by drought and beetle infestation.
Combined with a forest floor cluttered with dry brush and debris,
it’s a wildfire waiting to happen.
Fires devastate the Sierra watersheds upon which millions of
Californians depend — scorching the ground, unleashing a
battering ram of debris and turning hillsides into gelatinous,
stream-choking mudflows.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour.
Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River
where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand
is growing from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs is the focus of this tour.
Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven
Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The
Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
and the country of Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch
map, which is suitable for framing, explains the river’s
apportionment, history and the need to adapt its management for
urban growth and expected climate change impacts.
The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and 4
million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000
square miles in the southwestern United States. The 32-page
Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River covers the history of the
river’s development; negotiations over division of its water; the
items that comprise the Law of the River; and a chronology of
significant Colorado River events.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The construction of Glen Canyon Dam
in 1964 created Lake Powell. Both are located in north-central
Arizona near the Utah border. Lake Powell acts as a holding tank
for outflow from the Colorado River Upper Basin States: Colorado,
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
The water stored in Lake Powell is used for recreation, power
generation and delivering water to the Lower Basin states of
California, Arizona, and Nevada.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
The connection between water and energy is more relevant than
ever. After existing in separate realms for years, the maxim that
it takes water to produce energy and energy to produce water has
prompted a re-thinking of management strategies, including an
emphasis on renewable energy use by water agencies.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
desalination – an issue that is marked by great optimism and
controversy – and the expected role it might play as an
alternative water supply strategy.
This printed copy of Western Water examines climate change –
what’s known about it, the remaining uncertainty and what steps
water agencies are talking to prepare for its impact. Much of the
information comes from the October 2007 California Climate Change
and Water Adaptation Summit sponsored by the Water Education
Foundation and DWR and the November 2007 California Water Policy
Conference sponsored by Public Officials for Water and
Environmental Reform.
Hydropower generation is prevalent in the West, where rapidly
flowing river systems have been tapped for generations to produce
electricity. Hydropower is a clean, steady and reliable energy
source, but the damming of rivers has exacted a toll on the
environment, affecting, among other things, the migration of fish
to vestigial spawning grounds. Many of those projects are due to
be relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The California power crisis has made international headlines. But
what is the link between water and power in California? How is
the state’s dry spell affecting its hydropower generation? How
has the electric crisis affected water users in the state? These
questions and others are addressed in this issue of Western
Water.
