Mixing Water Into The Energy Debate

Watergy.

No, it's not the newest vitamin-enhanced thirst quencher to hit store shelves. It's the growing crunch between the country's water shortages and booming energy demand.

Watergy -- the energy-water nexus as the experts call it -- is not necessarily a new phenomenon. Producing energy has always used water just as delivering water requires energy. But a recent push for energy independence has led to alternatives that may be draining a diminishing resource we take for granted.

Presumptive presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have made energy independence, or energy security depending on the day, a large part of their platforms for the presidency. They may differ on how to get there, but each wants to produce more power at home and reduce our reliance on foreign oil from somewhat unreliable sources. But what about water?

U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) heard comments in Congress Wednesday on a bill he is set to introduce that could begin addressing the water problem. The bill would establish an inter-agency committee to coordinate water resources. With over 20 federal agencies involved in different aspects of water policy, it seems obvious there should be a network to coordinate them. But that doesn't exist today.

"We have a situation now where, in some agencies of the federal government, the permit writers don't talk to people who are the regulators," Jerry Johnson said Wednesday in a congressional subcommittee hearing to discuss Gordon's draft legislation -- The National Water Research and Development Initiative Act.

Johnson, of the DC Water and Sewer Authority, was one of six water experts invited to address the subcommittee on Energy and Environment and expressed optimism about efforts by Congress to mend these broken lines of communication. The subcommittee is part of the house Science and Technology Committee that Gordon chairs.

The testimony focused on the country's water supply and managing it among competing, essential uses that include agriculture, energy and drinking water.

"Dealing with one sector without thinking about the other is one-hand clapping," said Mark Shannon, director of the U.S. Strategic Water Initiative and a member of Wednesday's panel.

Whether the federal government can put both hands together to more carefully manage our freshwater supply may depend on whether this bill receives support when Gordon introduces it.

The lack of coordinated policy has led to the growth, for example, of ethanol, which is a much more water-intensive fuel than the petroleum it replaces, especially when it is produced from corn grown on land that requires irrigation.

Of course, there are other concerns with ethanol, such as the effect on corn prices, which have led 11 senators including McCain to introduce legislation to freeze the ethanol mandates. It's not clear whether the water impact is paramount to them or to Obama, who supports the ethanol mandates.

In fact, it doesn't appear water has rated much attention in past energy policy decisions.

But that may be changing with Gordon's bill.

Check back for a multimedia presentation on the energy-water nexus on the http://news21project.org/ page in the coming weeks.

Comments

[ShaunHammer]

I pray that this could be true and that we will be able to make use of it. The only thing I think about is that right now our government intakes giant sums of money in taxes on gasoline. Without that tax, they will try to make it up somewhere else by taxing some sort of behavior. We need to be vigilent to see where they try to screw us. If T. Boone is buying water, you know its probably going somewhere! lol

[MyTake]

This garbage is laughable. The lousy oil cartel has, for over 100 years used fresh water to wash the crap out of oil when there was never any need to do so.

There is more energy in a barrel of water than there is a barrel of oil and it is renewable to boot.

Split the water molecule and grab those two atoms of hydrogen and then put the water molecule back together and watch the slight release of electrical energy. Do this a zillion times each nanosecond by running the hydrogen gas through a fuel cell membrane and you can draw a current large enough to run a electric motor. And then when the hydrogen atoms recombine with the oxygen atom on the other side of the membrane, you get the water molecule back again which is now ready to be split again. No pollution and no loss of energy and the process is continuous.

I move that the oil cartel, all Republicans and the entire Bush Administration be boarded with water!

[vippy]

Yes, I have heard rumors that the government wants to charge for your own well water. After that
I am sure they will charge for how much rain you will have a month, etc. Despicable.
With water short in so many places, it will be a bigger mess than what we have seen with oil.
Just look at Africa, where the US is selling them their own water. Truly amazing what lies ahead of us.

[ShaunHammer]

The water that will run your car could be SOLD to you.. Water, that your car will run on, will contain a marker element. Maybe a certain trace of an element that your cars sophisticated fuel sensors would be able to pick up on. If the marker is not there, car won't start. Who knows what they will think of.

Who knows, all of that is speculative of course, but I would not put it past ANYONE.

[mouselion]

Ethanol will only prove itself to be a geopolitical liability. It will only curb greenhouse gas emissions, but not lower them to what is needed. The economic fallout is already felt before it has even become mainstream. The population will continue to grow, land, food and water will be more in demand.

There will still be a need for biofuels -- for the transporting of goods and mass transit, but for the day-to-day living of the average consumer, there is a better solution just beginning in the works.

Although still in the gestation stage, the true green approach for private commuters will be the air car. This technology will have zero cO2 emissions as well as near-zero demand on power plants while the ethanol-powered car will only cause social, political, environmental and economic problems. Increased demand will create political and economic pressure to take more land and water away from food production, whereas the air car will not.

As I've stated previously in another post, most people poo-poo the air car: but don't!
Remember that was the response to the electric car and to ethanol.
Give it a chance -- support the idea. Be open-minded: this is the best way.

http://www.theaircar.com/acf/air-cars/air-cars.html

[Viper]

The Poo Poo continues....

Regards

[klimtone]

Please keep all of these people away from the Great Lakes! The only coordination required is how to get Coke, Pepsi and Nestle out of the state as quickly as possible. The government's attempts at "coordinating" water resources has been a disaster, i.e. Georgia/Atlanta and Florida.

[ErnestineBass]

Got water? T. Boone Pickens does.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/blue-gold-t-boone-pickens_n_107884.html

[ErnestineBass]

T. Boone Pickens is not only thinking about water, he's busy buying up the rights to it all over West Texas.

That oughta tell yah sumtin.