Author Archive

China’s Plan To Cleanup Air May Hurt Water Supply
October 29th, 2013

Via Water Online, a report on the likely water impact of China’s new energy plan: China’s plans for reducing air pollution may inadvertently take a toll on the water supply. China has crafted a sweeping plan to reduce coal use. The goal is to cut coal’s role in energy output from 67 percent in 2012 […]

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In Hot, Thirsty Energy Business, Water Is Prized
October 9th, 2013

Via The New York Times, an article on the watergy challenge: Drought has caused shortages of water for cooling at Martin Lake, a coal-fired plant in East Texas, according to the Department of Energy. WITH so much focus on carbon emitted from the nation’s power plants, another environmental challenge related to electricity generation is sometimes […]

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Watergy Collisions
October 6th, 2013

Via the Union of Concerned Scientists, a look at watergy issues: While a lot of folks are rightly focused on the House-Senate budget collision in D.C. right now, I’ve been thinking (as is my wont) about collisions of a different sort: between power plants and the rivers and lakes they depend on. In both types […]

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Frackers Guzzle Water as Texas Goes Thirsty
September 29th, 2013

Via Time, a report on fracking and the tension between water demands: In summer, the bison on Thunderheart Ranch opt for the feathery shade of a mesquite tree as temperatures reach 100. This land, just a handful of miles from the Mexican border, was once known as The Wild Horse Desert, lawless, rough brush country […]

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Never-Released Energy Department Report Predicts Increasing Domestic Conflicts over Water, Energy
September 22nd, 2013

Via Standard Energy Supply Company, an article on an unreleased Energy Department report focused on watergy: Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty Last summer, the United States experienced the worst drought since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. At the same time, the country was […]

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Not Just Hydropower: Energy Needs Water And Water Needs Energy, Report Finds
September 22nd, 2013

Via ClimateProgress, an article on the watergy nexus: Everybody knows that water and electricity don’t mix in the bathtub. But it turns out that in most other realms of modern life — driving, watching television, preparing dinner — they are inextricably linked. It takes water to generate energy, and energy to move water. The extent […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As the scarcity of water and energy continues to grow, the linkage between these two critical resources will become more defined and even more acute in the months ahead.  This blog is committed to analyzing and referencing articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between water and energy -- The Watergy Nexus -- and will endeavor to provide a central clearinghouse for insightful articles and comments for all to consider.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy.  Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation.  He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”