Energy-impact analysis in water-project planning

Energy analysis of water development and use projects should be an integral part of the planning process to avoid the construction of projects with unnecessarily high energy requirements. However, energy analyses must be carried out with great care, taking into account the different boundaries that can be drawn around the problem, the need to use consistent energy units, and the need to make a variety of assumptions where energy data are inadequate. This paper illustrates many of the problems and shows how very different conclusions can be reached depending on the elements included in an energy analysis. Examples are presented of energy analyses of water storage and diversion projects, the effects of water quality, and wastewater treatment and reuse.