In the US and Europe, more than half of the water drawn from nature is used for power generation. This year’s heatwave has forced some of those power plants to shut down.
The hidden water footprint of fossil fuel and nuclear power plants You probably have no idea just how much water is needed to produce electricity Quartz, By Akshat Rathi, August 9, 2018 “…. The trouble is that thermal electricity generation—a category that includes coal, natural gas, and nuclear power—doesn’t just require fuel, but also water. And a lot of it.
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The Most Revolutionary Act 
From the article:
“To be sure, the water used for cooling is sent back to the environment. A tiny fraction of it could get contaminated with chemicals, but mostly the harm comes from hot water’s effect on wildlife. If the water is too hot, it can kill plants and fish.”
I am wondering could this be one of the reasons why we are seeing huge fish kills all across this planet? There have been so many unexplained fish kills and scientists have suggested that it is due to algae growth. That could explain some, but not all, I would think.
And water is a finite resource. Are those who make use of water to generate electricity understanding this and are those of us who continue to turn up the AC and the heat, also understanding this fact? Because another sad fact is that generating electricity is not the only use for massive amounts of water; hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ also uses huge amounts of water and what about the oil and gas pipelines that are being laid from country to country that leak into the ground water and contaminate it. Are any of us understanding just what we are allowing to be done to the very water that keeps us alive? Me thinks not.
Excellent post, by the way!
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Good point about the fish kills, Shelby. Two of my friends are marine biologists – I’ll have to ask what they think. All I know is in a lot of parts of the world, especially the Middle East and Asia, clean water is far more pressure than oil. And despite the years of drought in California and parts of the South and the Southwest, Americans just don’t have a clue about the bleak future they face if they don’t take better care of their water.
And here in Taranaki we’re on water restriction in the summer while the foreign oil and gas companies are allowed 25,000 gallons a day to sink fracking wells. Thanks to our long battle, the new prime minister has banned new fracking everywhere else in NZ – but not here. We’re still fighting for minimum separation distances in Environment Court – the case is supposed to wind up by the end of this month.
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I am certainly hoping that you guys prevail in that case! We need a ‘win’ for THE PEOPLE, for a change!
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Thanks, Shelby. Things seem to be going pretty well at this point.
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I have a tritium detector. Tritium, is unbelievable poisonous. Virtually all the drinking water, around any nuclear power plant, in America, has radioactive tritium in it. Water that runs by, and over the reactor cores, instantly turned to tritium. The vile and unrelenting lies!
Nuclear is an abominable lie! Every day these death reactors, are making more of our precious water more radioactive and, there is no way to change it back.
Look at this. The most vile waste in the Universe by San Diego http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-san-onofre-stranded-waste-2016jul22-htmlstory.html
How stupid can humans be?
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Excellent information, Doug. I’ve been meaning to get a Geiger counter myself.
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