The Way Forward

Technological fix? Yes, actually. In the case of cooling water, resolve and engineering are all we need to solve the problem.
Since 1972, the Federal Clean Water Act has required that all plants relying on water for industrial cooling use the “best available technology” to minimize their environmental impact. Yet more than 1,000 existing power plants and factories nationwide still use antiquated and destructive once-though cooling systems.

Each time EPA has developed regulations to implement the law they have been stymied by the energy industry and, more recently, the White House. Meanwhile, more fish pile up in power plants and more aquatic life is boiled out of existence.

There is no reason that any industrial facility needs to draw huge quantities of water for cooling. Closed-cycle cooling has been standard technology on new power plants for decades. Retrofitting existing plants to use this technology presents no major technical challenges. In fact, many older plants have already been retrofitted, slashing water use and ecological impacts by 95 percent or more. And some more innovate plants have stopped relying on nature altogether, using the effluent from wastewater treatment plants to virtually eliminate the fish kills or dependence on drinking water supplies. New plants can be designed to draw no water at all from rivers, lakes or oceans.

Americans in arid regions do not notice any difference in the electricity they are supplied using water efficient technologies. The cost of eliminating the impacts from cooling water is nominal, and economists have proven that Americans’ value their fisheries and are willing to pay.

This year a trillion fish will perish again in U.S. power plants. It’s time to stop the slaughter.