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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