Depleting freshwater supplies and unpredictable weather patterns that could bring rain to an area are causing much concern over future water supplies. Places like California have seen, in recent years, severe drought to the point where once gushing rivers are now trickling streams. Water rationing has become a normal way of life for many Californians and “[s]ome local water agencies are being required to cut back anywhere from 8 to 36 percent.”
Texas had endured 5 long years of drought until 2015 when “spring rains saturated the ground enough to finally end our long drought.” Just as the drought seemed to subside, Texas was hit with “over a dozen floods… in 2015.”
Water in essential to life on Earth which is why it is important to choose energy sources that use very little of it. Energy sources that use steam to spin a turbine to produce energy (thermoelectric), like coal, nuclear, biomass, and natural gas, draw “millions of gallons of water…daily…before dump[ing] back into whatever body of water [it was] withdrawn from at a higher temperature.” According to Grace Communications Foundation, “Thermoelectric power plants account for 45 percent of total water withdrawals in the US, including freshwater sources like lakes and rivers, and saline sources, such as oceans and estuaries.”
Renewable energy sources use significantly less water than conventional energy sources. According to the energy company they research of water usage by energy source per kilowatt hour (kWh) in California revealed that for every 1kWh of wind energy produced, 0.001 gallons of water was used. In contrast, for every 1 kWh hour of nuclear energy used, 0.62 gallons of water was used with coal trailing not far behind at 0.49 gallons. Solar used 0.03 gallons, natural gas used 0.25 gallons, and oil used 0.43 gallons. Renewables would reduce carbon being emitted into the air as well as ease the water crisis leaving more water for the many people spanning the globe without an adequate water supply.
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