Water Supply
Our region’s water resources are already limited, how is a thirsty nuclear power plant going to help?
Water is the lifeblood of each one of us, our families and our future. We depend on it, and we need to consider it very carefully. All nuclear plants require large amounts of water for cooling. This demand for water has been referred to as the Achilles’ heel of nuclear power. In December 2007, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) cut a deal with Exelon that reserves more than 24 billion gallons of water from the Guadalupe River each year for the proposed nuclear power plant. This amount of water is over 7 times the amount of water the city of Victoria uses every year.
The problem is that there is an insufficient amount of surface water available from the Guadalupe River to provide water to Exelon and meet all known and projected future uses. If this amount of surface water is provided to Exelon, some potential users and/or the natural environment will be harmed by this deal, including the endangered Whooping Crane.
- With water demands continuing to increase for the entire Guadalupe River Basin, is there really enough water to dedicate to this proposed nuclear power plant and know that there will be water to support the families and businesses of the region?
- The GBRA recently asked residents to curtail their water use, but the plant requires 75,000 acre-feet of new water. How will that affect our supply? How will it affect upstream users who also depend on the river?
- What long-term effect could a nuclear power plant’s reservation and use of this water have downstream on the bay, wetlands, estuaries, fish and whooping cranes?
Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Thank you for your article in the Lockhart post register news paper.
Summer
Sunday, Oct 05, 2008 at 8:34 am
To the people of Victoria,
please look what Exelon/Comed did too us in Godley, IL before you even think about Exelon building in your town. Lies and more lies. They turned our town into a toxic waste dump. Also look at what they did all over IL; every plant in IL leaked toxic waste. Tritium and all the nuclear waste that goes along with it .
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 9:51 pm
How moronic….waste all that water and endanger everyone with possible radiation exposure so a few people can get rich off nuclear plants? We need another terrorist target like we need a hole in the head.
NO….NO…..NO…..AND NO !
We want clean energy….solar and wind !
Water is too precious to waste on nuclear energy….there are much better, cheaper solutions.
Where are you going to get the money to build this abomination? From the taxpayers I’ll bet. I say NO.
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Count us in on supporting you in your fight against this water monger nuclear power plant. Where is the Victoria water district? Aren’t they supposed to protect citizens water? What happens when the river water is gone? Next is the groundwater. Get the water district on board to start an action to stop this plant. We have enough cancer in this area without adding to it with this radition producer. Let us know if we can do anything to help. The Lavaca County Taxpayers, Inc.
Mad Mary In Lavaca County
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Count us in on supporting you in this battle against this water monger nuclear power plant. Where is the Victoria water district in this? Get them on board to get going to stop it. When the river water is gone, the groundwater is next. Aren’t they supposed to protect the citizens water? West Texas has enough wind power to supply the State. Why do we need to use an energy plant that produces more cancer and uses our clean water? Wind and solar power are free. The money used to build this nuclear plant can be used to build transmission lines. Let’s stop this thing now.
Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 at 11:28 am
I beleive GBRA is the worst river authority in the state of Texas. The Legistator had to pass specific legislation to get GBRA to comply with previous legislation to adopt a Regional Water Plan. All the other river authorities complied when they were supposed to. Is GBRA just neglegent in water conservation, planing and flood control or are they in bed with Dupont and all the other chemical plants along the Gaudalupe? With most the rice farmers gone in south Texas why do we need to remain flooded? I live on a ranch south of Victoria and adjacent to McFaddin Ranch. Over the last decade with the exception of this year due to the drought we have been flooded from six to nine months every year for the last decade. The so called Salt Water Barrier dam above Green Lake stays closed! This benifits the Chemical plants along the river because thier waste water release rates are measured against the volume of river water availible. Most of the time the chemical plants don’t even have to release anything because thier filtration ponds are flooded. No wonder people in port Lavaca have cancer! GBRA has dammed off the tide water inflow upsteam of Green Lake. There used to be redfish in the Guadalupe River. north of Green Lake. Green Lake is dying.Now I see GBRA wants to put an resivior next to the proposed Nuclear Plant and send that heavy metals and other chemical laced water back upstream and into the hill country aquifiers to replenish the springs. Get ready Hill Country. Just ask the people dying in Port Lavaca whats in thier water. The citizens from Cayon Lake down stream need to rethink about loosing thier ranch land for a chain of lakes and resoviors similar to what LCRA did along the Colorado river. That was the original plan when Canyon Lake was built. But the comunities and ranchers south of Cayon Lake to Victoria didn’t want to loose thier land for water. It is the only real soloution for the State of Texas and GBRA to both conserve and provide clean quanities of water, flood control and enviromental protection along the Guadalupe River.