Water and Power - Southern Water, Southern Power - page 148

Judge Paul Magnuson's decision in 2009 that Lake Lanier was not congressionally author-
ized as a water supply project (Perdue's chief of staff at the time was also a former Georgia
Power lobbyist). 6 Southern and other investor-owned utilities clearly influence the flow,
quality, and availability of water supplies. In Georgia, Southern Company's water footprint
includes fifteen fossil fuel and nuclear facilities plus nineteen hydro stations that withdraw
water from eight major rivers. One estimate puts Georgia's electrical plant water withdraw-
als at 3.3 billion gallons per day (Duke's companywide withdrawals may reach 3.9 tril-
lion gallons a year). Thermoelectric (coal and nuclear steam) power plants are the largest
water users nationally and withdrew 200 billion gallons of water per day in 2005. 7 While
the bulk of the utilities' water “withdrawals” are returned to waterways via once-through
(open-loop) cooling systems, millions of gallons are also “consumed” and lost through the
evaporative cooling processes (primarily in closed-loop systems). Given the energy sec-
tor's water withdrawal and consumption rates, companies like Georgia Power and Duke
Energy are in a position to help consumers and policy makers see the critical connection
between water security and energy security.
To the company's credit, Georgia Power has begun—after more than a century in the
generation business—to systematically analyze water usage. In 2011, the company opened
the Water Research Center at its thirty-plus-year-old Plant Bowen on the banks of the
Etowah River. What the center will produce for public consumption is unknown at this
juncture. Bowen is considered the second-largest generation facility in North America, is
one of the top producers of carbon dioxide, and is home to the largest smokestack scrub-
bers in the world (Bowen was also the site of a coal ash spill in 2002). Now, Bowen engin-
eers and technicians will conduct water withdrawal, consumption, and return rate experi-
ments—and hopefully begin producing full water budgets for all of the company's genera-
tion facilities. According to plant manager Tim Banks, “Water is vital for the prosperity of
Georgia, and our company wants to continue to contribute to that effort.” 8
Energy companies and major industries across the U.S. South have influenced regional
rivers for far longer than any federal or state agency. Georgia Power and its larger corporate
utility family depend on fifteen rivers, including the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chattahoochee,
Flint, Apalachicola, Altamaha, and Savannah. The company's vision to stand as “A Citizen
Wherever We Serve”—an old motto since 1927—and deliver useful, relevant, and timely
research findings pertaining to water usage and quality could help improve public aware-
ness and better inform future energy choices. 9 These private interests continue to play a
critical role in shaping the region's water and energy policy, and they will also influence
how people interact with and think about southern rivers, electricity, and community health.
Energy companies keep the lights on and smartphones powered up so consumers can go
about their lives. However, if energy utilities cannot lead the way into a new energy re-
gime that includes less-water-intensive solar and wind sources that can arrest our changing