Power Plants Face ‘Collision Course’ With Water, Researchers Say

U.S. power producers must reduce their dependence on water or they may be forced to lower output as drought and other extreme weather events curtail their access to water supplies, researchers said today.

Power plants throughout the U.S. “repeatedly” had to reduce output or even shut down completely last year for want of cooling water, and the conflict between the growing need for electricity and the increasing demands on the water supply is only becoming more pronounced, according to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists.