Power Plants and the Freshwater Crisis

Science for the Public 6/25/13 (Contemporary Science program). John Rogers, Senior Energy Analyst and Co-Manager of the Energy-Water Initiative, Union of Concerned Scientists. The demand for freshwater far exceeds the rate of natural replenishment in an era of climate change and rapidly expanding population. The bulk of our freshwater use is for cooling in power plants and irrigation in large-scale agriculture. In this discussion, John Rogers focuses especially on the problem of freshwater waste by power plants.