Pasqualetti, Martin J. --- "The Water Bargain of Solar and Wind Energy" [2011] ELECD 1035; in Kenney, S. Douglas; Wilkinson, Robert (eds), "The Water–Energy Nexus in the American West" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: The Water–Energy Nexus in the American West

Editor(s): Kenney, S. Douglas; Wilkinson, Robert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849809368

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: The Water Bargain of Solar and Wind Energy

Author(s): Pasqualetti, Martin J.

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

16. The water bargain of solar and wind
energy
Martin J. Pasqualetti1

16.1. INTRODUCTION

In the western US, our dependency on water has spawned many familiar
aphorisms. One commonly attributed to Mark Twain claims that `whiskey
is for drinking, but water is for fighting over.' Another is said to reflect
the attitude of Los Angeles: `Water runs uphill toward money.' There are
many others, but they all stem from the same reality: There is not enough
water to go around. Explorer John Wesley Powell recognized this truth
in the last third of the nineteenth century when he warned that western
water supplies would never be sufficient to accommodate the proliferation
of ranches, farms, and settlements that various promoters and politicians
were envisioning. But as prescient as he was, Powell could scarcely have
anticipated during his time the burden that would be placed upon this pre-
cious and scare resource in our time.
Powell certainly knew that local water supplies could be enhanced
through pumping and canals. He could not have imagined, however, the
vastly complex and expensive plumbing system that would be installed
to convert millions of often arid acres into dazzling cities and some of
the most productive agricultural land in the world. He would have been
amazed at the proliferation of private swimming pools that today help
make bearable the torrid Phoenix and Las Vegas summers. And he cer-
tainly would have had absolutely no inkling of the myriad power stations
that would one day suck out ...