Three Leading US Electric Utilities Agree to Increased Water-Risk Disclosure

Last week, three massive US electricity producers (Dominion, Southern Company, and PPL Corporation) agreed to--at the request of shareholders--significantly expand their reporting and disclosure of plant water use, associated risks, and risk mitigation strategies. If more utilities follow suit, this could be a huge first step towards creating the necessary transparency of water consumption, withdrawal and pollution embedded in the processes of electricity production.

An article recently published by Ceres - a national network of investors, environmental organizations and public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges and global climate change - reported that:

The agreements come as prolonged droughts, growing water demand and climate change place increasing stress on water supplies and create challenges for electric power producers in many parts of the United States. Power plants, including nuclear, coal, oil and natural gas, account for 40 percent of the nation’s freshwater withdrawals, requiring an estimated 136 billion gallons a day for generating and cooling the steam that drives electric turbines.

"Water scarcity is a growing risk to many public utilities and investors want to know how companies are preparing for increased competition for supplies, emerging regulations and potential revenue losses from shortages,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the $9.5 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk.

This is great news for river and watershed groups. When humbling visible water shortages, hundreds of startling scientific reports, and endless requests from both public and private groups aren't enough to get electricity producers to truthfully provide transparent water consumption, withdrawal and pollution figures, utility shareholders step in armed with the big guns--their utility backing money.

Despite shareholder and utility motives being primarily economical--to save their wads when they can see trouble brewing in the future of the energy industry--it is still savory to see someone behind electricity production find a reason to care about reporting water use and addressing the associated problems. Lets hope more utilities jump on board and begin accurately reporting and addressing their current state of water use, withdrawal and pollution. This reporting will play a key role in the coming transition away from a massively unsustainable future towards clean energy and water security.

A tip of the hat to Nadia Madden of the Union of Concerned Scientists for bringing this article to my attention.