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E TI NTHREE oirectwateroemands <br />This section of the report summarizes the direct water demands for the natural gas, coal, <br />uranium, and oil shale industries. Indirect demands and the demands associated with <br />thermoelectric power generation are discussed in Section 4, Indirect Water Demands, and <br />Section 5, Thermoelectric Power Demands. As part of the direct demand discussions in this <br />section, the background, primary sources of information and limitations for each energy sector <br />are provided, as this information was integral in estimating the direct water demands. <br />In general, direct water demands include the water required for the construction, operation, <br />production, and reclamation needed to support the energy extraction and development processes. <br />3.1 NATURAL GAS <br />Recent documentation states that natural gas is an integral source of energy in the U.S., as it <br />supplies approximately 25 percent of the nation's energy consumption (DOE 2003). In 2001, <br />total natural gas consumption represented 3 percent of transportation, 40 percent of commercial, <br />45 percent of residential, 36 percent of industrial, and 14 percent of power generation energy use. <br />The restructuring of electricity markets, combined with the growing public aversion to burning <br />high carbon content fossil fuels, will likely promote the already growing natural gas production <br />industry. Abundant domestic supply also places natural gas at the forefront of viable energy <br />sources to develop while moving toward energy independence. Furthermore, it is thought by <br />many that natural gas may be the energy source capable of bridging the gap between the current <br />energy economy and that which may power our economy into the sustainable fuels of later <br />decades (NPC 1999). Possible evidence of this was seen in 2007, when natural gas consumption <br />increased for the first time since 2004 to 23 trillion cubic feet (Tc~g. All sectors (residential, <br />commercial, industrial, and electric power generation) experienced an increase in consumption. <br />Of note was the increase in consumption attributable to electric power generation, which grew by <br />9.9 percent from the previous year. This increase was due to construction of natural gas-fired <br />power plants as well as an increase in natural gas use by dual-fired power plants, which can use <br />both coal and natural gas resources (EIA 2008). <br />BNatural gas is generally priced and sold in units of a thousand cubic feet or Mcf. Units of a trillion cubic feet or Tcf <br />are often used to measure large quantities, as in resources or reserves in the ground or annual national energy <br />consumption. A Tcf is one billion Mcf. <br />~+~ 3-1 <br />