When Water Meets Energy

Deck: 

Each essential. Each dependent on the other.

Fortnightly Magazine - December 2015
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Safe. Clean. Reliable. Affordable.

Whether we are a water, electric, or gas utility, these four characteristics are what our customers, communities, and regulators expect from us.

We know that energy use affects how water utilities provide essential services to our customers and how much those services cost. Yet the reverse also is true. Energy cannot be produced without sustainable water supplies, whether we are generating electricity or producing natural gas.

According to the EPA, every sector of the U.S. economy is influenced by water. Energy production, water supply, and food production together account for over 94 percent of water withdrawals from groundwater, streams, rivers, and lakes in the United States. Water and energy are interdependent. Water is required for the energy generation process, and energy is necessary for water and wastewater services.

Consider water's role in energy, and vice versa:

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