Water Efficiency June 2012 : Page 16
needing to draw water from them and creating a decline in available water supply, Tuck notes. “In the Austin area, we got quite a bit of rainfall in the last two or three months, more than normal for this time of year, but it’s been smaller amounts at a time,” says Tuck. “Th e ground was so dry that it just all went in. Th e Highland Lakes above Austin have only come up just a little bit. Th ey’re still at historical low points because we haven’t had the big storms that produce runoff s.” THE WATER/ENERGY NEXUS Could the drought mean electrical defi-ciencies for Texans as well? The water/ energy nexus is another element of con-cern to Texans. While water is essential to the production of most electricity and while elec-Green lawns are the first tric generators use a lot of casualties water, they actually con-of extreme drought. sume very little of it, says John Fainter, president and CEO of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas. In Texas, electric power generation accounts for about 4% of water demand, 1% more than that of the nationwide total water consumption by entities that generate electricity, says Fainter. “Th e vast majority of water used by electric generators is recirculated, either within the plant, or to the streams or lakes whence they came,” he adds. Electric power generators are work-ing with state regulators “to ensure they have an adequate water supply available, while consuming no more than abso-lutely necessary. Given the importance of reliable electricity to the state’s economy, ensuring a regular supply of water for electricity generation should be a high priority for all Texans,” says Fainter. Th e Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) operates the electric grid, managing the deregulated mar-ket for 75% of the state. Trip Dogget, ERCOT CEO, points out the “record drought conditions resulted in the water sources for 11,000 MW of generation to be at historically low levels. Low water levels could result in some portion of this generating capacity becoming unavailable.” Dogget attributes that to one of the worst droughts in history of Texas 16 WATER EFFICIENCY WWW.WATEREFFICIENCY.NET during the summer of 2011, with 88% of the state having reached an “exceptional” drought level in October. Recent rains have improved the current situation and given the latest information, Dogget says he doesn’t anticipate a signifi cant power generation loss due to the drought this summer. “However, if the drought continues into 2013, we could have more severe losses of generation,” he cautions. PLOTTING SOLUTIONS A joint effort between the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) and the Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) to con-struct a 150-mile pipeline project from East Texas is expected to ensure adequate water delivery to a growing Dallas/Fort Worth population, while saving the enti-ties as much as $1 billion in collaborative pumping costs. Construction is expected to begin in 2014, and water is expected to start flowing through the new pipe-line in 2018. It will serve an additional 1.6 million people and could potentially help TRWD and DWU meet water needs through 2040. This project has been years in the making, primarily because of the expected population increase in the region, says Kathy Berek, an engi-neer who is TRWD’s Director of Special Projects. “It takes a decade to plan and con-struct a project like this that coincides with what we expect growth in the area to be over the next decade,” notes Berek. Th e recent drought did not have a substantial impact on the pipeline plans, according to Berek. “We use a fi ve-year drought of re-cord to project the supplies we’ll need in the worst-case scenario,” she says. “Th e drought this past year—even though it was one of the state’s worst—wasn’t the drought of record for fi ve years. We’ve already received some rainfall relief, so we’re still on schedule.” TRWD manages four major reser-voirs and corresponding transmission facilities in the North Texas area. Th e pipeline will enable the water district to pump an additional 197 million gallons per day from the Richland-Chambers and Cedar Creek Reservoirs southeast of Dallas to its Tarrant County terminal storage reservoirs such as Lake Benbrook, Lake Ar-lington, and Eagle Mountain Lake. Dallas will be able to pump up to 150 million gallons per day from Lake Palestine into its system at Bachman Water Treatment Plant. Th e pipeline project is expected to cost $2.3 billion and is being fi nanced through the is-suance of tax-exempt bonds. Th e water district will build the pipeline and pay approximately $1.3 billion of the cost, with Dallas paying the rest. Berek notes that two entities work-ing together off ers the best outcome for the project, because it saves taxpayer dollars. Berek also says it has been im-portant to keep the lines of communica-tion open between the entities and set baseline for agreements. “We’ve kept talking to each other on program management, land issues, and engineering. And we are working very hard along the route to work with the landowners and develop the information for the environmental permit to get the project done,” she says. Th e cooperative eff ort may lay the foundation for future collaboration on projects bringing water from Oklahoma, northeast Texas, or Louisiana, water offi -cials say. Eight diff erent contractors have been hired to conduct pipeline design work on 150-mile pipeline. Berek says there are effi ciencies in BERT KAUFMAN
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