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Taking the Watts Out of Water - The Relationship Between Water and Energy

Every drop from the faucet, drip irrigation line in the field, and hiss of steam in the factory uses water – and energy. It takes a full 19 percent of California’s electricity and 30 percent of its natural gas to deliver and heat our household water, irrigate crops, and meet other industrial and commercial needs such as wastewater treatment and restaurant services. Eighty percent of water consumption in California is used for agricultural purposes, and the rest is delivered to homes and businesses through municipal systems that use energy to pump, aerate, filtrate, and chlorinate water so that it’s healthy for human consumption and contact.

As California’s population swells, so does its energy and water demands. Those demands are growing at about the same rate and in the same geographic areas, despite the fact that two-thirds of the state’s rainfall is in Northern California while two-thirds of the state’s population resides in Southern California. To transport water from north to south, the State Water Project pumps millions of gallons over steep terrain and is the largest single user of electricity in the state. In total, there are eight water-delivery systems in California that move this precious resource from one region to another.

A current trend is to build more reservoirs and other water containment systems so that water can be stored in wet years and accessed in dry years. In addition, new sources of water are continually being sought and studied to meet California’s varying and growing needs, and many of these proposed sources are extremely energy intensive. For instance, water reclamation -- treating municipal effluent for landscape or some domestic uses -- may require considerable extra pumping and treatment depending on the intended reuse. Using reverse osmosis technology to desalinate brackish water or seawater is up to six times more expensive than using water derived from conventional sources.

ETCC: squeezing every drop of energy efficiency out of water use

The Emerging Technologies Coordinating Council is overseeing a variety of projects that are poised to evaluate, improve, and demonstrate California’s newest and most reliable methods of conserving water and energy at home, at work, and in industry. Some of these technologies work toward optimizing California’s existing systems, and some look to the future. A sampling of these projects include:

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The ETCC is funded in part by ratepayer dollars and the California Statewide Emerging Technologies Program under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission. The municipal portion of this program is funded and administered by Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.