Test Your Water and Energy Knowledge With the Circle of Blue - Chokepoint U.S. Quiz

How much fresh water does the US coal industry withdraw each year? How many folks are connected to electricity provided by the Hoover Dam? Think you know everything about the connections between national water supply and energy production, or know someone who thinks they do? Put your knowledge to the test with Circle of Blue's quick and easy Chokepoint U.S. Quiz.

"What is a chokepoint?" you might ask. "good question" I would reply. In the context of the water-energy nexus, the chokepoint is the intersection between our nations limited and diminishing fresh water supply and our increasing demand for electricity. A point where, once reached, all heck will break loose. You can bet your buttons that upon reaching this point, the costs of electricity and fresh water will skyrocket and only those with mega-bucks will be able to afford the luxury of these utilities which we currently take so badly for granted.

With this easy to use multimedia Chokepoint quiz, you can test your knowledge of energy related water consumption and withdrawal, and water related energy consumption.

While this is certainly an awesome awareness tool for the challenges the water-energy nexus, it doesn't cover nearly a quarter of the questions that I wish every American knew the answers to. For example:

• Which electricity source has the largest water footprint? - Answer: Hydropower, consuming on average 13,000 gallons of water for every megawatt hour of electricity produced.

• On average, how much water is consumed by running a 100 watt light bulb for one hour that is powered purely by hydroelectricity? - Answer: approximately 1.3 gallons of water is consumed from evaporation off hydroelectric reservoirs in the generation of enough electricity to power one 100w light bulb for one hour.

• Which electricity source has the lowest water footprint? - Answer: it's a close tie between wind and photovoltaic solar power - both consuming approximately 1 or 2 gallons of water for every megawatt hour of electricity produced.

Despite the brevity of this Chokepoint Quiz, it is tools and mechanisms such as this by Circle of Blue which we need to promote and share with our friends and family nationwide, so we can all act as educated citizens working together in educated communities to make smarter water and energy choices.