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EnVisioneering Symposium Explores the Water-Energy Nexus

03 August 2009

At Danfoss event, California water expert shares strategies for addressing water management and energy efficiency

The tenth Danfoss EnVisioneering^SM symposium focused on the water-energy nexus. The symposium examined California as a case study because of the water crisis it faces today. With a growing population, reduced water supplies and aging infrastructure, the state faces a crisis to secure the future water supply. Climate change, water management and energy efficiency are all intertwined.

Future water management activities must carefully consider strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That was one of the main messages delivered by John Andrew, assistant deputy director for climate change, California Department of Water Resources, who was the keynote speaker at the symposium, “California Water Crisis: Strategy and Technology.” The event was held June 13 in San Diego.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has formed a Water-Energy Subgroup as part of his Climate Action Team. The subgroup is examining critical issues such as water conservation, water recycling, the energy intensity of water systems, urban runoff and stormwater reuse, and renewable energy production.

Discussion speakers commented that “climate change responses must be thoughtfully integrated with water supply reliability, environmental protection, public safety and public health actions. We must embrace an entirely new way of thinking about water resources planning and management.

Experts agreed that climate change has made significant impacts on California’s water resources. For example, reduced snowpack in the mountains adversely affects water supply and hydropower generation. Higher water temperatures hurt ecosystems. And rising sea levels impact the state’s Delta region, threatening levees and increasing salinity in the water supply.

All of these impacts are colliding with another major force in the California water equation – population growth. In 2005, the state boasted 36 million inhabitants. By 2009, the number had reached 38 million. And by 2030, the population is expected to reach 48 million.

The water challenges of climate change, even when met with new technologies, government regulation, public education and other solutions, suggest the necessity of a broader adaptation strategy. Thus, the Department of Water Resources has developed a “comprehensive strategy for adaptation,” which focuses on three main areas:

Regional strategies include fully implementing Integrated Regional Water Management and aggressively increasing water use efficiency.
Statewide strategies include practicing and promoting integrated flood management, enhancing and sustaining ecosystems, advancing and expanding conjunctive management of surface and groundwater resources, and fixing the Delta region.
In addition, the department seeks to improve management and decision-making capacity. This involves preserving, upgrading and increasing monitoring, data analysis and management; planning for and adapting to rising sea levels; and identifying and funding climate change impacts as well as adaptation research and analysis.

Technology: A Central Element
While Andrew discussed California’s strategies for addressing climate change, water management and energy efficiency, John Masters, director of sales, Water and Wastewater, Danfoss Drives, helped set the tone for the symposium. In his opening remarks, he noted that advanced technology will play a key role in solving California’s – as well as the world’s – water challenges.

“Technology is the central element in every meaningful response to the water crises the world is facing,” he said. “Part of the challenge is behavior based and cultural, but technology offers an avenue to a water-secure world.”

Relevant technologies range from point-source water heaters – a response to the fact that 74 percent of energy spent on water is used after the water passes the meter at its point of use – to “smart” metering, which can give water departments greater control over usage and consumers a clearer standard of appropriate water usage to meet.

But it is unlikely that technology can meet the challenge alone. Education will need to play a major role, and California has made at least initial efforts in public education on radio and television. In the absence of a change in water culture and use patterns, the state faces the possibility of rationing.

“In the past 10 years, we have seen a marked uptick in interest and concern about water issues,” Masters said. “But the dialogue on water strategy and technology is just beginning. At Danfoss, we’re convinced that an enlarged dialogue between the worlds of engineering and policy will be critical.”

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