The Energy-Freshwater Nexus

Humanity has created an inter-dependency between water and energy that would be impossible to take apart. The most recent example of this inter-dependency are the recent blackouts in India.
600+ million people without electricity

Auto traffic at a standstill
Source - geekosystem.com

Candle light for a haircut
Source - theaustralian.com.au

While the causes of the blackouts of July 2012 are still being determined, a root cause has been suggested: "... northern states may have been drawing more than their allocated power quota to help stricken farmers pump groundwater from bore wells ..." (The Financial Times dated 30 July 2012).  This large and unprecedented demand for ground water was fueled by a large monsoon deficit.
Hydropower

Tehri Hydroelectric Power station - India's largest
Source - wikipedia.org

Freshwater is also the fuel for 19% of India's electric power supply.
As in most parts of the world, the first electric power generating station in India was also a hydroelectric station commissioned in 1897.
This nearly one-fifth of India's electricity generating capacity requires reservoirs of freshwater which, in July 2012, dropped to just 24% of their capacity.


Water Consumption for Different Energy Fuels

Source - World Economic Forum

• Minimal water is consumed in production of traditional oil and gas resources - 3 to 7 liters/GJ   (GJ=gigajoule)
• Enhanced oil recovery require 50-9000 liters/GJ
• Oil sands require 70-1,800 liters/GJ
• Petroleum refining requires 25-65 liters/GJ
• Unconventional gas resources require 36-56 liters/GJ
• Corn grown for bio-fuels require 9,000-100,000 liters/GJ
• Soy grown for bio-fuels require 50,000 - 270,000 liters/GJ
• Coal mining requires 5-75 liters/GJ
• etc

Energy production is water-intensive just like water production is now energy-intensive