UNITED STATES In Nevada, the sinking levels at Lake Mead may cause the Hoover Dam’s turbines to drastically cut production—or shut down com-pletely—as early as 2013.

28 NA • IEEE SPECTRUM • JUNE 2010 SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG

Population access to clean water

P ROGNO S I S Critical Grim Shaky Fair Good

Population access to electricity

Renewable freshwater per capita

Total primary energy per capita

S P E C I A L R E P O R T ■ W A T E R V S . E N E R G Y

WHERE WATER MEETS WATTS

B Y I E E E S P E C T R U M S T A F FI L L U S T R A T I O N B Y A N D R E W Z B I H L Y J

Just having water and energy doesn’t protect a place from water and energy conflicts

L E GE N D

BRAZIL A pig-iron producer claims that charcoal from its eucalyptus plantation emits less carbon than would coal, but the fast-growing trees are sucking local waterways dry.

90%28.5 1.23

98%100%9.3 7.75

100%

FRANCE France gets most of its elec-tricity from nuclear power plants, many of which are cooled with river water. During heat waves, warmer or depleted rivers can force them to shut down.

100%2.9 4.15

100%

MALTA Electricity from imported oil powers Malta’s three desali-nation plants. The world’s fi rst joint smart grid tracks water and electricity use, with the goal of mini-mizing theft and curbing consumption.

0.1 2.12

INDIA Free electricity has induced farmers to pump excessive amounts of groundwater, threatening grain production in Punjab, a breadbasket state.

LIBYA The Great Man Made River Project, begun in 1984, uses Libya’s oil to pump non-renewable groundwater from under the Sahara and deliver it to the cities on the country’s northern coast.

72%0.1 2.9

100%

Minas Gerais,BRAZIL

Boulder City, Nev.UNITED STATES FRANCE

(millions of liters per person)

(metric tons of oil equivalent per person)

100% 100%

PROGNOSIS

GrimPROGNOSIS

Critical

PROGNOSIS

ShakyPROGNOSIS

ShakyPROGNOSIS

Fair

06.HotSpotsMap.NA.indd 28 5/13/10 11:21 AM

SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG JUNE 2010 • IEEE SPECTRUM • NA 29 SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG

SINGAPORE An advanced wastewater treatment scheme cleans up sewage and blends it with rain-water to extend the potable supply on this island, which has minimal water and energy resources of its own.

0.1 5.83

AUSTRALIA South East Queensland’s new AU $9 billion water grid, which includes a desalination plant, three treatment plants, and hundreds of kilometers of pipes, is a hedge against drought, but it is burning many more watts.

23.3 5.87

PHILIPPINES Drought has devastated crops across the archipelago and has reduced the capacity of hydro-electric dams by lowering reser-voir levels, causing rolling blackouts.

85%5.4 0.45

86%

CHINA The largest water scheme in history will eventually pump 44.8 million megaliters per year from the south to the industries and cities of the north.

77%2.1 1.48

99%

INDIA Free electricity has induced farmers to pump excessive amounts of groundwater, threatening grain production in Punjab, a breadbasket state.

86%1.1 0.53

65%

LIBYA The Great Man Made River Project, begun in 1984, uses Libya’s oil to pump non-renewable groundwater from under the Sahara and deliver it to the cities on the country’s northern coast.

100%

LIBYA

Minas Gerais,BRAZIL

CHINA

Punjab,INDIA

SINGAPORE

Manila,PHILIPPINES

FRANCE

MALTA

Brisbane,AUSTRALIA

100%100% 100%100%

Sources: International Energy Association; World Resources Institute; The World’s Water, 2008–2009 (Island Press, 2009); UNESCO

MultimediaFor an expanded interactive map, go online to http:// spectrum.ieee.org/ watermap.

PROGNOSIS:

Grim

PROGNOSIS

Shaky

PROGNOSIS

ShakyPROGNOSIS

CriticalPROGNOSIS

FairPROGNOSIS

Good

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