Water Withdrawals in the Delaware River Basin

Water Withdrawals in the Delaware River Basin: Past Trends and Future Planning
2014 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference
Tyson’s Corner, VA
Kenneth F. Najjar, Ph.D., P.E.
Branch Manager, Delaware River Basin Commission
November 6, 2014
Today’s Talk …
…is about:
• Where we have come from regarding water use in the DRB
• What are the current trends
• Where might we may be heading
“A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure”
‐US Supreme Court Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Fast Facts:

Delaware River Main stem river is 330 miles long

Drains 13,539 square miles of watershed.

15+ million people (about 5% of the U.S. population) rely on the waters of the Delaware River Basin

Water withdrawal in the Basin = 8.3 billion gallons a day

Contributes over $21B in economic value to the Region.
Delaware River Basin Commission
Founded by Compact in 1961 Five Equal Members:
Delaware
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
New York
Federal Government
Note: New York City and Philadelphia are “advisors” and not members
U. S. ESTIMATES 1950 - 2005
530
U.S. POPULATION TRENDS AND GROWTH IN TOTAL WATER DEMAND
5
USGS report: Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005
TRENDS IN DEPLETIVE USE IN THE
DELAWARE RIVER BASIN
The Delaware Basin total DWU shown in the above figure:
‐ corresponds to the whole basin and includes DWU from surface water and groundwater sources
6
‐ does not include out‐of‐basin diversions to NYC (via Rondout reservoir) and NJ (via the Delaware & Raritan Canal)
DRB – Total Withdrawals
8,279 Million Gallons / Day
Hydroelectric
394
All Other
10
NYC
494
NJ (D&R Canal)
90
Agriculture
61
Self‐supplied Domestic
114
Industrial 680
Mining
57
Non‐agricultural Irrigation
2
Public Water Supply
863
Thermoelectric
5,514
DRB – Total Consumptive Withdrawals
886 Million Gallons / Day
NJ (D&R Canal)
90
NYC
494
Agriculture
55
Self‐supplied Domestic
11
Industrial 34
Mining
11
Non‐agricultural Irrigation
2
All Other
5
Public Water Supply
86
Thermoelectric
97
Daily Water Withdrawals, Exports and Consumptive Use in the Delaware River Basin
394
Total Water Withdrawals
(ground and surface) from the
Delaware River Basin: 8,361
mgd
10
575
90
Agriculture
61
Self-supplied Domestic
114
Industrial
681
Mining
Non-agricultural Irrigation
57
Public Water Supply
2
Thermoelectric
Hydroelectric
863
All Other
5,514
NYC
NJ (D&R Canal)
Major Exports from the Delaware River Basin: 665 mgd
Consumptive Use in the Delaware River Basin: 302 mgd
5
90
55
11
34
97
11
2
575
Pie chart values in9mgd
(million gallons per day)
86
Public Water Supply
Drinking water fountain in Portland, Oregon. Photo from Creative Commons by Zervas/flickr.
Aggregate Withdrawals of 40 Public Water Supply Systems in the DRB (Million Gallons/Day)
1,100
1,000
DRB Population
9.0
8.0
7.0
800
700
6.0
600
5.0
500
4.0
400
3.0
300
200
2.0
100
1.0
0
0.0
Millions
Million Gallons / Day
900
Withdrawals
Example of Urban vs Suburban Trends
Allentown Water Auth (D‐1984‐016 CP, ENT #102)
1400
Million Gallons / Month
1200
Allocation: 1170MG/30d
1000
800
600
400
200
0
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
Lehigh County Auth (D‐2001‐020 CP‐5)
300
Million Gallons / Month
250
Allocation: 256.25MG/30d
200
150
100
50
0
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
Power Generation
Exelon’s Cromby Station; courtesy of Exelon Corp. Total Withdrawals for 37 Thermoelectric Facilities in the DRB
Million Gallons / Day
8,000
Withdrawal
12 per. Mov. Avg. (Withdrawal)
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Total Consumptive Use for 37 Thermoelectric Facilities in the DRB
160
Million Gallons / Day
Consumptive Water Use
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
12 per. Mov. Avg. (Consumptive Water Use)
Thermoelectric: Cooling systems
Exelon ‐ Limerick, PA (Evaporative Cooling)
2,295 MW
40 MG/d withdrawal;
32 MG/d consumptive use
Limerick Generating Station, Unit 1; credit www.nrc.gov
PSEG – Salem, NJ (Once Through Cooling)
2,380 MW 3,100 MG/d withdrawal;
21 MG/d consumptive use
PSEG Nuclear; credit www.pseg.com
Lehigh Watershed Thermoelectric Monthly Water Withdrawals in Million Gallons per Day
7
Million Gallons per Day
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Industry
Delaware City Refinery ; Credit PFB Energy website 40,000
All DRB Industrial Facilities
Bethlehem Steel Closes
35,000
30,000
Million Gallons / Month
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
Delaware City Refinery Offline
Consumptive Use Trends 1994 ‐ 2012
300
Bold lines indicate 12 month moving average of consumptive use
250
Million Gallons per Day
200
Combined
150
Thermoelectric
100
Public Water
50
Industrial Water
0
What does it all mean?
∗ Big picture: Relatively flat demand w/localized demand pressures (geographically and by sector)
∗ PWS: ∗ Conservation efforts have helped to offset population growth ∗ Power: ∗ Trend away from Once Through Cooling to Evaporative Cooling
∗ Evaporative Cooling – potentially allows consumptive use to move upstream/tributaries (compared to Once‐Through)
∗ Industry: ∗ Decreased water use over time, sensitive to loss of large facilities
∗ Refineries in the Basin have gone through a period of great uncertainty, appear to be stabilizing for the moment
Future Water Use Planning
Mega‐Trends
• Demographics: Certain watersheds experience higher demands while others drop; inter‐watershed transfers increase
• Climate Change: Droughts require flexible conservation schemes and additional short‐term storage strategies
• Water Efficiency: Additional conservation measures may provide public water use reductions
• Ecological Flows: Determination of actual aquatic needs may alter water withdrawals and reservoir operations
Future Water Use Planning
Energy/Water Nexus
• Energy Demand may continue to climb resulting in higher consumptive use from cooling towers
• Possible Shale Gas Development: May threaten base flows in small streams in the Upper Delaware
• Natural Gas power plants and new customer markets: Will require pipelines cutting across natural landscapes to deliver natural gas
• Energy Exports from estuary ports: Ditto plus increased navigation use
Thank You
2014 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference
Water Withdrawals in the Delaware River Basin: Past Trends and Future Planning
Kenneth F. Najjar, Ph.D., P.E.
Branch Manager, DRBC
November 6, 2014

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