Edwin M Basye's Blog - The ecclectic eccentric journaling of one man

According to the USGS,  FORTY EIGHT PERCENT of our water  (39% of fresh water) withdrawals goes to thermoelectric (nuclear, coal, oil, natural gas) power plants. See http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2004/circ1268/htdocs/text-total.html  and http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/ewr/water/power-gen.html for details. According to the 1995 statistics (how about some more recent statistics, folks!), about 3% is actually consumed through evaporation, the rest is returned to the source. Domestic water use is about 6 percent of actual consumption. .

So what does this mean for our lifestyle behaviors? Turning off the water while brushing your teeth may be less significant than turning off the lights when you leave the room.. Each kilowatt hour generated from thermoelectric uses just under 2 gallons of water (actual consumption). Most households use 1000 to 2000 kwh/month (year-round average), representing about  2000 to 4000 gallons of water if power comes from conventional sources. That amounts to 65 to 130 gallons per day.

So, turn off those lights, buy Energy Star appliances when you need to replace the old ones, and get off the grid if you can. Then take a nice long shower or bath with solar-heated water.