Nationwide Assessment of Water Quantity Impacts of the National Energy Plan. Volume I. Summary and Conclusions

The water requirements of steam electric generating plants, coal liquefaction and gasification facilities, and coal extraction activities projected for 1985 are calculated, and impacts associated with the National Energy Plan (NEP) Initiative are compared with those of a Base Case Scenario for the conterminous United States. It can be concluded that there is no appreciable difference in water quantity impacts at the Water Resources Council Aggregated Subarea (ASA) level. Consumption as a percentage of the surface supply never varies by more than one percent between the two scenarios except for the Trinity Basin of Texas, and most of the differences are reductions from the Base Case to the NEP. However, for either case there will be a considerable increase in water use for energy between 1975 and 1985, and water availability may constrain development in several basins of the western United States. Even in the humid eastern United States localized water problems may occur on certain small tributaries. (ERA citation 03:026932)