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ii " . 'I Western States Water Council Water Resources Committee Minutes San Antonio, Texas October 20, 2005 technical c:ommittees. Coordination issues could be part of a future workshop or meeting discussion. Further, there is a need to address current priorities, which include non-point source pollution (NPS) control. It: appears USDA is elevating energy and water conservation to national priorities. Small rural water systems also have a lot of problems. There is a lot of interest in state financing and Oklahoma reported spreading state money around. There are regionalization issues and benefits and obstacles to consolidating small rural water systems. This is another topic for a future workshop discussion. Jeanine added there are other issues, but "we ran out of time." Other issues include expanding research, getting into cloud seeding and climate change, and BPA and NOAA initiatives. Rod Kuharich observed that it was a positive workshop, but the Bureau of Reclamation was notably missing. BOR has major issues with aging infrastructure and sustainability. Their 2025 Initative identified areas with potential problems in the future, with several in Colorado. There are projects where BOR could add capacity, and we should involve BOR in future meetings and discussions. . WATER.& ENERGY REPORT OF THE NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LAB :! Changes in the Water Resources Committee schedule, required the discussion on water and energy issues to be taken up earlier during the Water Quality Committee. Doug Arent, with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and John Geesman, Commissioner, California Energy Commission, addressed energy and water resources connections. The key messages are that they are both intimately connected and supplies of both are vulnerable. Past "silo approaches" compartmentalizing either will only exacerbate the challenges. We need a new dialogue and "cross section" analysis of the issues. Many of our power plants are thermal fueled and water cooled. Energy production requires a lot of water. Water is consumed to produce food and electricity. Thermal electric generation and irrigation both divert about the same amount of water national-wide, but irrigation dominates consumptive use. Some 90% of cooling water is "pass through" or non- consumptive use. On the other hand, 25 % of California's energy consumption is for water resources management, much of the energy is used in pumping water to southern California. There are other connections/nexus. Few are looking at potential "run-of-the-river" energy generation. Water and wastewater treatment consume roughly 3 % of total power generation, which is a similar amount to the pulp and paper industry and more than petroleum refining. iI 'I . 'I As part of a powerpoint presentation, Mr. Arent showed a map of freshwater withdrawals and long-term vulnerability concerns nationwide. Current consumption is unsustainable, given projected growth in the West's population and related water and power demands. The U.S. population will double over next 100 years. 7