Ars Technica: In the US, fully half of the water withdrawn from sources such as lakes and aquifers ends up being used for generating electricity. Most of that water is converted to steam, cooled, and returned to its original source. Even in those cases, however, losses during the cooling process reduce the total amount of water available.
The end result is that electricity generation competes with other potential uses for the water. In cases of severe drought, power generation may end up losing, reducing the...