Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States

Project Description:

The Water Science and Technology Board plans to organize and host a colloquium that airs and addresses key water quality, water quantity, and related land resources implications of biofuel production in the United States. For different scenarios for growth in biofuel demand, the form of biomass used for biofuel production, emerging technologies and other factors, the following issues will be addressed: * How much water and land might be required, by region, to produce biofuels of different kinds, including water requirements for growing biomass and converting biomass to fuel? * What are the water quality effects associated with increases in biofuels production? * What are the new and promising technologies that might reduce or mediate water demands for biofuel production and processing, and minimize adverse water quality impacts? * Will access to water, under current water rights and regulatory regimes, and in consideration of competing human and ecological demands for water, be a constraint on regional biofuels production and, if so, in what regions? * What policy, regulatory, and legal reforms might be needed to moderate any water use conflicts and water-quality issues that are identified?

For more information on this study, contact: William Logan.