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.
The Cawelo Water District is working on a new “produced water”
project to increase its irrigation supplies. Produced water is
water that comes up with oil during pumping. The district has
used oilfield produced water blended with other surface
supplies for irrigation for about two decades. Discussion
about the new project began in early August. The project is
expected to be completed in early 2026. Construction was pushed
back due to a delay in biological studies but is expected to
start at the end of this month.
To address growing AI demand, many companies are building or
leasing data centers around the globe. DCs that use water-based
cooling consume significant amounts of water, and in this
research, we have analyzed DC exposure to water stress
globally. We examined the current decade and the 2050s decade
under both moderate and moderate-to-high emissions scenarios,
using projections from the S&P Global Sustainable1 Physical
Risk dataset. We found that exposure is already high in some
regions, and we expect the industry’s exposure to water stress
will slightly increase by the 2050s.
Near Hickman, California, just outside Modesto, a 110-foot-wide
grid of solar panels now tops a section of canal, arching over
the gently flowing water. Solar projects have long been a
crucial piece of the state’s movement to clean energy, and
these panels are part of a new project that’s hoping to do far
more than just generate electricity. Dubbed Project Nexus, the
$20 million state-funded initiative hopes to better understand
whether these installations can be an even more efficient
approach to solar energy.
… The valley that was once a refuge for people fleeing the
Dust Bowl is facing its own reckoning with dust and water
scarcity. … Now, California lawmakers are wading in,
with a bill that aims to clear away a financial hurdle for
energy developers and landowners eager to plant solar farms
with battery storage on fallowed fields. … Authored by
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland, the bill
tackles the Williamson Act. … Wicks’ bill would allow
farmers and ranchers to suspend their Williamson Act contracts
if they plant solar and storage on water-stressed farmland.
Property taxes would go back up, but they would avoid the
cancellation fees.
California’s digital backbone, sustained by a vast
constellation of data centers, is at a
critical juncture. Once operating quietly behind the
scenes, these facilities have been thrust into the spotlight
due to the convergence of two forces: surging demand for
digital services and the escalating impact of climate change.
… Water shortages make traditional cooling techniques
increasingly difficult to justify.
While the developer of Project Blue has made it clear it still
wants to buy energy from Tucson Electric Power despite defeat
at the hands of the Tucson City Council, its path to finding
water for its planned data-center complexes is much more hazy.
Project Blue developer Beale Infrastructure has declined to
answer questions from reporters or public officials about where
it intends to get water for its first data-center complex.
… Here is a look at four possible methods the company
could use to run its data centers, including one that would
require little water use.
Residents in Benson, Arizona, are up in arms about a proposed
aluminum processing plant they say could pollute their air and
deplete their water. In fact, they’re so mad about it, they’re
trying to recall the mayor and City Council over the issue.
Aluminum Dynamics is preparing to build a $190 million
recycling plant in the 5,500-person city in an area zoned for
heavy industrial use. At a recent public hearing over the
issue, the Arizona Republic reported that residents essentially
begged Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials to
deny the company’s air quality permit application.
For the first time in nearly a decade, federal officials on
Tuesday auctioned off leases for new geothermal energy projects
in California — and all 13 parcels offered received bids.
Dozens of buyers participated in the Bureau of Land
Management‘s online sale of 10-year leases on 23,000 acres in
Imperial, Lassen and Modoc counties. … [N]ew technology known
as Enhanced Geothermal Systems is broadening the places where
geothermal energy can be created. … Instead of searching for
existing sources of hot subsurface water, they can create their
own reservoirs by fracturing dry rocks underground and
injecting them with water from above.
… The Big Data Center Buildup is transforming the West (and
other regions) as quickly and radically as the post-war Big
Buildup of coal plants and other power infrastructure in the
1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. … As I’ve written here before, data
centers use huge amounts of energy and water,
and if they keep sprouting like weeds in business parks and
rural areas, then they very well could not only hamper, but
reverse the transition away from fossil fuels.
Headed for the Senate Appropriations Committee this week are
two state assembly bills that could spell out a big win for
California geothermal energy projects. While the proposed
legislation is not without opposition, the passage of assembly
bills 527 and 531 could also mean thousands of new jobs in
Mendocino County. … If the state were to pass these
bills, Sonoma Clean Power would ramp up its GeoZone project,
which would tap into geothermal energy within Mendocino and
Sonoma counties. … “[Y]ou potentially could be impacting
water sources and dropping the water table,” [Kim Delfino, a
lobbyist and founder of Earth Advocacy] said. “We would
like to see the determination that there will not be impacts to
water quality with the use of this technology
or fluids.”
… AI is largely powered by data centers that field queries,
store data and deploy information. As AI becomes ubiquitous,
the power demand for data centers increases, leading to grid
reliability problems for people living nearby. … The
data centers also generate heat, so they rely on fresh water to
stay cool. Larger centers can consume up to 5 million
gallons (18.9 million liters) a day,
according to an article from the Environmental and Energy Study
Institute. That’s roughly the same as the daily water demand
for a town of up to 50,000 people.
… The Darden Clean Energy Project, approved by the California
Energy Commission in June, is the first development to be
fast-tracked under a 2022 state law that allows large renewable
energy projects to be reviewed and permitted without sign-off
from county and municipal governments. … The nearby
towns struggle with poor drinking water and
air quality. … It will be built on 9,500 acres sold by
the Westlands Water District. … [T]he district’s uncertain
water supplies have made the land impractical
for farming, prompting Westlands to divert water to more
productive land. … Eight other projects, from Imperial
County in the south to Shasta County in the north, currently
are pursuing approval through the opt-in process.
As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts
construction and proposed construction of data centers around
the world, those computers require not just electricity and
land, but also a significant amount of water. … A 2024
report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated
that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons (64
billion liters) of water directly through cooling, and projects
that by 2028, those figures could double – or even
quadruple. The same report estimated that in 2023, U.S.
data centers consumed an additional 211 billion gallons (800
billion liters) of water indirectly through the electricity
that powers them.
The world’s largest data center campus may be coming to Utah,
with a pair of companies planning to construct artificial
intelligence-ready hubs in Millard County. The first domino
fell when Orem-based Fibernet MercuryDelta LLC in May filed a
request to rezone nearly 1,200 acres of property — located
southeast of Delta — from agricultural land to heavy industrial
land for its potential 20-million-square-foot data center
campus called Delta Gigasite. … ”Many operators have
designed closed-loop cooling systems that use various fluids
instead of water. When powered with natural gas, this system is
net water-positive — it can actually generate
about 100 acre feet of new water per 100 megawatts annually”
… reads a release from Creekstone.
… This March, Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management
Commission (ECMC), which regulates the oil and gas industry,
passed new rules requiring drillers to recycle more of their
wastewater—a caustic, brackish and chemically
laden byproduct of the drilling and fracking process known as
“produced water.” The new rules were set in motion by
HB23-1242, passed in 2023, which requires oil and gas
extraction companies to use more recycled water, but do not
address another key provision of the law: the increased
recycling of produced water cannot cause more oil and gas
emissions, which can contain CO2, methane, benzene, a known
carcinogen, and other volatile organic
compounds. Regulators across the state are trying to
figure out whether meeting one requirement of the new law
requires violating the other.
The push by companies like OpenAI and Google to win the
artificial intelligence race has led to a proliferation of data
centers — giant warehouses for computer systems — in
communities across all 50 states. The rise of these server
farms has sparked fierce battles from the Virginia suburbs to
Tucson, Arizona, and beyond, as city and county governments
grapple with how to balance job creation and new revenue
streams against the strain data centers put on
water and energy resources. That debate
is inching up the ballot as state lawmakers race to regulate a
nascent industry, governors rush to embrace a new economic boon
and Big Tech makes major investments in AI growth.
Tucson residents have been up in arms about a proposed data
center dubbed Project Blue. The project, which is tied to tech
giant Amazon, would have been built on 290 acres of
unincorporated land the developer wanted annexed into Tucson so
it could access water supplies. But, as
residents relentlessly pointed out, that’s water that Tucson
desperately needs. On Wednesday, the Tucson City Council heard
those constituents loud and clear. Council members voted
unanimously against bringing the massive project to Tucson.
… Arizona Luminaria reporter Yana Kuchinoff was there,
and she joined The Show to talk about what she saw and what
happens next.
The Tucson city council voted unanimously Wednesday against
bringing the massive and water-devouring Project Blue data
center — tied to tech giant Amazon — into city limits.
After weeks of escalating public outrage over the lack of
transparency around Project Blue, the council voted to end
negotiations and remove the annexation and development
agreement from the upcoming council meeting agenda — a move
that effectively shuts down one of the largest development
projects ever considered by the city. … Moving ahead,
the city council will begin the process of creating
local ordinances to keep large water users
accountable and update zoning requirements to address
the impacts of possible future data centers.
This special, first-ever Foundation water tour will only be offered once! Join us as we examine water issues along the 263-mile Klamath River, from its spring-fed headwaters in south-central Oregon to its redwood-lined estuary on the Pacific Ocean in California.
Running Y Resort
5500 Running Y Rd
Klamath Falls, OR 97601
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.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
Learn the history and challenges facing the West’s most dramatic
and developed river.
The Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Basin introduces the
1,450-mile river that sustains 40 million people and millions of
acres of farmland spanning seven states and parts of northern
Mexico.
The 28-page primer explains how the river’s water is shared and
managed as the Southwest transitions to a hotter and drier
climate.
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.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
This special Foundation water tour journeyed along the Eastern Sierra from the Truckee River to Mono Lake, through the Owens Valley and into the Mojave Desert to explore a major source of water for Southern California, this year’s snowpack and challenges for towns, farms and the environment.
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 the
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 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 Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
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.
Every five years the California Department of Water Resources
updates its strategic plan for managing the state’s water
resources, as required by state law.
The California Water Plan, or Bulletin 160, projects the
status and trends of the state’s water supplies and demands
under a range of future scenarios.
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.
