TY - DATA T1 - US thermoelectric power plant water withdrawals as percentage of US total water use PY - 2013/09/17 AU - K Averyt AU - J Meldrum AU - P Caldwell AU - G Sun AU - S McNulty AU - A Huber-Lee AU - N Madden UR - https://iop.figshare.com/articles/dataset/___US_thermoelectric_power_plant_water_withdrawals_as_percentage_of_US_total_water_use/1011921 DO - 10.6084/m9.figshare.1011921.v1 L4 - https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1479746 KW - water demand sectors KW - coterminous United States KW - water resources KW - stress water supplies KW - cooling water demands KW - water supply stress index KW - surface water supply stress KW - water supply regimes KW - water stress KW - power plant water withdrawals KW - surface water flows KW - Environmental Science N2 - Table 1.  US thermoelectric power plant water withdrawals as percentage of US total water use. Abstract Here, we assess current stress in the freshwater system based on the best available data in order to understand possible risks and vulnerabilities to regional water resources and the sectors dependent on freshwater. We present watershed-scale measures of surface water supply stress for the coterminous United States (US) using the water supply stress index (WaSSI) model which considers regional trends in both water supply and demand. A snapshot of contemporary annual water demand is compared against different water supply regimes, including current average supplies, current extreme-year supplies, and projected future average surface water flows under a changing climate. In addition, we investigate the contributions of different water demand sectors to current water stress. On average, water supplies are stressed, meaning that demands for water outstrip natural supplies in over 9% of the 2103 watersheds examined. These watersheds rely on reservoir storage, conveyance systems, and groundwater to meet current water demands. Overall, agriculture is the major demand-side driver of water stress in the US, whereas municipal stress is isolated to southern California. Water stress introduced by cooling water demands for power plants is punctuated across the US, indicating that a single power plant has the potential to stress water supplies at the watershed scale. On the supply side, watersheds in the western US are particularly sensitive to low flow events and projected long-term shifts in flow driven by climate change. The WaSSI results imply that not only are water resources in the southwest in particular at risk, but that there are also potential vulnerabilities to specific sectors, even in the 'water-rich' southeast. ER -