Clean water is as American as apple pie. We all prefer that water to be clean but dirty industries and their political friends put that basic right at risk. You might ask why anyone would want to put this most basic requirement for life at risk and that answer would be profit. Power plants account for 41% of U.S. freshwater withdrawals, requiring 43 billion gallons per day. Nuclear power uses 25 to 60 gallons per kwh (not including high volumes of water required for uranium mining and processing), and coal-fired power plants need 20 to 50 gallons of water per kwh (not including high volumes of water used in mining, processing and storing coal waste). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, to power a typical U.S. home for one month averaging 958 kwh takes a minimum of 19,160 gallons of water. As a "typical" family of four, we might be aware of our average direct use of 400 gallons of water per day, but we are in denial of the indirect use of the 1200 gallons per day it takes to "keep the lights on." While a typical 600 mega-watt coal-fired power plant consumes more than 2 billion unrecoverable gallons of water each year from our waterways, there is also the "what goes in, comes out hot" phenomenon inherent in these power plants. As if the consequences for wildlife on the suction pipe intake screens are not dire enough (use your imagination), after being used to cool the generators, water that is discharged back is dirtier and hotter, by an average of 17 degrees F in the summer. This thermal pollution can stress or kill fish and other wildlife. In addition to the coal industry`s evident mountaintop removal and coal ash dumps (solid byproduct leftover after coal is burned to generate electricity and which is subjected to less regulation than household garbage) and subsequent water pollution, is their dirty secret of injecting coal slurry into networks of abandoned mine shafts. A secret this dirty doesn`t stay buried as communities near coal slurry disposal sites are fighting to take back their water that has been poisoned with elevated levels of chlorides, sulfate and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium, all shortening the lives of young and old who simply wanted to drink their water or take a bath. Unfortunately there is no truly good solution to a poisoned aquifer. Natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing is the current energy sector`s "savior", providing abundant and affordable electricity generation. But at what cost to our water?
Studies suggest that fracking and the wastewater that it produces pose threats to ground and surface water. In the regions where fracking takes place, such as the Marcellus Shale formation, communities have reported flammable tap water, explosions and EPA confirmed groundwater contaminates such as benzene (used in fracking fluid), radioactive materials and heavy metals (brought up from underground during fracking). Fracking is an inherently risky process and although moratoriums on fracking have been requested of our legislation, the fracking process rapidly expands across our country. Natural gas may well be the transitional energy source between coal/nuclear and renewables and we can only hope that gas companies and their political allies will be more conscientious in protecting our water. But not all renewable energy sources are created alike. Biofuels, touted as a possible replacement for fossil fuels, uses almost as much water as coal. Certain renewable technologies, such as wind turbines and solar photovoltaic, generate electricity with essentially no water at all. Bioenergy, geothermal and concentrated solar panels (a.k.a. solar thermal) use more water but still less than traditional fuels such as coal and nuclear. Water pays a steep price to meet our energy demands. Energy efficiency measures to reduce the amount of electricity we use through efficient appliances, weatherizing buildings and dialing back heat and air conditioning, not only saves money and reduces emissions, but also eliminates the corresponding water use. As the National Geographic famously published in 1993, "All the water that will ever be is, right now." This is all we get. We must ensure that our water remains protected through legislation such as the Clean Water Protection Act, holding industry accountable for flagrantly and routinely violating our waterways because water is and always will be priceless. | 
