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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

California Trees Seasonally Use Augmented Water Sources: Water Isotope Tracking in a Groundwater‐Dependent Ecosystem

Sustainable groundwater management must account for the needs of groundwater dependent ecosystems. To understand the relationship of ecosystems and seasonal water use, we studied the stable isotope composition (δ 18 O and δ 2 H) of water in streamside trees in a semi-arid streamside environment (Livermore, California, USA). We sampled seven trees at two sites every other month from April 2024 through April 2025 for tree xylem stable water isotope signatures. These data were compared to potential source waters: precipitation, imported surface water, soil water and regional groundwaters. Large daily precipitation events were found to be isotopically similar to regional groundwater and were thus treated as one water source. A Bayesian mixing model using stable water isotopes was used to determine the ratios of these three potential source waters (small daily precipitation events, groundwater/large daily precipitation events and imported water) present in tree xylem water. On average, tree water sources include 32% imported water (SD = 9%), 35% small daily precipitation events (SD = 10%) and 33% groundwater (SD = 3%), with significant seasonal variation (t summer-winter = 30.8, p < 0.01), particularly drawing more imported water (more than 55%) in the summer. While small daily precipitation events contribute only 10% of the total precipitation in our dataset, it represents a third of water used by trees. In addition, while these ecosystems are designated as groundwater dependent ecosystems, the trees use approximately one third imported water and even more during dry summer months. This approach provides water managers with a practical tool for quantifying ecosystem water needs, supporting data-driven decisions and regulatory compliance. While California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act emphasizes supporting groundwater dependent ecosystems, it allows flexibility in demonstrating benefits. In conclusion, our methodology provides a way to document that management actions (such as managed aquifer recharge with imported water) deliver measurable co-benefits to GDEs.

Geosciences↗
DOE OSTI2025

Opportunistic Short‐Term Water Uptake Dynamics by Subalpine Trees Observed via In Situ Water Isotope Measurements

Abstract Variations in tree water sources are important to understand in semi‐arid ecosystems because climatic shifts towards lower snowpack and increased drought affect water availability in subalpine forests of the western US. Here, we use daily in situ measurements of stable isotopes ( 2 H & 18 O) in soil and tree stem water, soil matric potential and sap flow to study tree water uptake dynamics. We instrumented three soil profiles down to 90 cm, as well as three aspen and engelmann spruce trees near Gothic, Colorado, in the East River watershed. We observed the fate of natural isotopic variations in rainfall, soil, and plants from June to October 2022, and in August 2023 we conducted a 2 H labeled irrigation experiment. Our observations showed that all studied aspen trees compensated for water scarcity in the shallow soil by shifting the dominant water source at 60(±20) cm to ⅔ of uptake from 90 cm within a few days of a dry period. Both species relied on snowmelt stored in the subsoil to sustain transpiration. Intense rainfall caused the plant water uptake to shift partially to top soil layers within 2 days. Spruce transpiration was lower and relied more on snowmelt, because rainfall infiltration was low in the spruce stand due to high canopy interception. Our findings highlight the important role of snowmelt stored in the deep soil layers for subalpine forest drought response and the dominant fate of monsoonal rainfall to become transpiration rather than recharging groundwater and streams in the Upper Colorado River. Plain Language Summary There is a need to understand how trees in mountainous regions respond to dry conditions that lead to water scarcity, because climate projections suggest that such conditions will become more frequent in the future. Here we present a novel data set of measurements of daily stable isotopes of water across soil profiles and in tree stems of aspen and spruce. Our data show that when the upper soil dried out, aspen trees shifted to using water from deeper layers (beneath 60 cm) to keep transpiring. For spruce trees the uptake pattern is less clear, but both types of trees mainly used snowmelt stored in the deeper soil layers to survive the dry summer. After heavy rain, aspen and spruce trees switched to using water from the top 20 cm of soil. However, for spruce, only some rain reached the soil because the dense tree canopy intercepted it, so spruce trees stayed more dependent on snowmelt and used less water overall. This study shows how important deep snowmelt water is for helping forests survive dry periods and suggests that most summer rain is quickly used by trees rather than replenishing streams and groundwater in the headwaters of the Colorado River. Key Points Tree water resources changed within a few days from snow dominated to higher share of rainfall as soils wetted up after a dry period Compensatory plant water uptake by aspen from the deep layer (90 cm), while uptake from soil depths that became drier (60 cm) declined Strong differences between water sources and availability beneath aspen and spruce, respectively

Sprenger, Matthias↗
DOE OSTI2026

Public water supply infrastructure extensification and diversification in surface waters is insufficient to meet future demands in Texas

The data were developed to evaluate the capacity of existing and potential new surface water supply infrastructure to meet projected public water demands across districts in Texas under multiple future socioeconomic and climate scenarios. The database integrates hydrologic, water quality, infrastructure, energy, cost, demographic, and demand-projection information for candidate surface water supply locations. Candidate sites include stream reaches, waterbodies, reservoir surplus locations, and potential new reservoir sites. Water availability is characterized using historical and projected flow conditions, while site suitability is evaluated using five indicators: Water Availability Index (WAI), Water Quality Index (WQI), Energy Requirement Index (ERI), Water Treatment Cost (WTC), and Water Infrastructure Cost (WIC). The datasets include statewide candidate-site information, district-level demand projections under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), runoff-based allocation constraints, climate-stress metrics, and optimization outputs evaluating alternative infrastructure planning strategies. Optimization results compare Business-as-Usual (BAU) and All Surface Water (AllSW) demand-management approaches under both scaled and fixed cost-cap strategies. Associated validation datasets provide district-level feasibility assessments, infrastructure selection outcomes, cost-cap utilization, demand satisfaction metrics, and constraint diagnostics. Additional datasets quantify projected changes in storage and flow conditions as well as water availability stress for both existing and newly selected intake locations under the SSP5 scenario for mid-century and late-century climate conditions. Together, these datasets support assessment of the extent to which surface-water infrastructure expansion and diversification strategies can satisfy future public water demands while accounting for hydrologic, economic, and planning constraints across Texas. Dataset(s) Description Dataset_preoptimization.xlsx Comprehensive pre-optimization dataset containing candidate water-supply sites and associated hydrologic, water-quality, infrastructure, climate, demographic, runoff, and demand-projection variables used as inputs to the optimization analyses. Includes variable descriptions and the full statewide candidate-site database. District_level_site_selection.zip - Compressed archive containing all SSP-specific district-level optimization result files MESIO_ssp1_results.xlsx District-level site selection results for SSP1 (MESIO). Includes variable descriptions, BAU and AllSW site-selection results under scaled and fixed cost strategies, and district-level validation diagnostics. MESID_ssp2_results.xlsx District-level site selection results for SSP2 (MESID). Includes variable descriptions, BAU and AllSW site-selection results under scaled and fixed cost strategies, and district-level validation diagnostics. LCMRD_ssp3_results.xlsx District-level site selection results for SSP3 (LCMRD). Includes variable descriptions, BAU and AllSW site-selection results under scaled and fixed cost strategies, and district-level validation diagnostics. IRDev-Low_ssp4l_results.xlsx District-level site selection results for SSP4-Low (IRDev-Low). Includes variable descriptions, BAU and AllSW site-selection results under scaled and fixed cost strategies, and district-level validation diagnostics. IRDev-High_ssp4h_results.xlsx District-level site selection results for SSP4-High (IRDev-High). Includes variable descriptions, BAU and AllSW site-selection results under scaled and fixed cost strategies, and district-level validation diagnostics. RSIM_ssp5_results.xlsx District-level site selection results for SSP5 (RSIM). Includes variable descriptions, BAU and AllSW site-selection results under scaled and fixed cost strategies, and district-level validation diagnostics. tx_hydrological_stress.xlsx Hydrological stress dataset for existing and newly selected intake locations. Includes projected mid-century and late-century changes, gain/loss classifications, planning strategy information, and accompanying variable descriptions. Also includes water-stress metrics derived from historical and projected low-flow conditions.

Okoye, Perpetua I. (ORCID:0000000215545033)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data and scripts associated with “Sequential Precipitation Input Tagging (SPIT) to Estimate Water Transit Times and Hydrologic Tracer Dynamics within Water-Tagging Enabled Hydrologic Models” (v3)

This data package is associated with the publication “Sequential Precipitation Input Tagging (SPIT) to Estimate Water Transit Times and Hydrologic Tracer Dynamics within Water-Tagging Enabled Hydrologic Models” submitted to Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (Butler et al. 2025). This study developed the Sequential Precipitation Input Tagging (SPIT) framework to tag input precipitation and estimate water transit times and hydrologic tracers. SPIT tags all precipitation events at regular intervals over an extended period (monthly tags over seven years) in a hydrologic model from 2016-2022. SPIT is applied at six National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) sites across the continental United States to calculate transit time distributions (TTD) and derive from these mean transit times (MTT), fractions of young water (Fyw), and hydrologic tracer concentrations in stream water (δ18O) within a water-tagging enabled version of the Weather Research and Forecast (WT-WRF-Hydro) model with national water model (NWM) configurations. We go on to validate WT-WRF-Hydro estimates against Butler et al. (2023), who analyzed the same NEON sites using stable water isotope data to estimate water transit times. This new tracking method provides a detailed picture of water movement and helps improve predictions about water availability in the future. This data package was originally published in January 2025. It was updated May 2025 (v2; new and modified files) and October 2025 (v3; new and modified files). File and folder names were not revised to indicate changes. See the change history section in the readme for more details. This data package contains the data and scripts used to develop the SPIT framework WT-WRF-Hydro (Water Tagging Weather Research and Forecasting Hydrologic) model and is associated with the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/zbutler33/SPIT-Framework. This data package contains five parent folders: (1) “Manipulated_outputs”, (2) “Metadata”, (3) “Observed”, (4) “Outputs”, and (5) “Scripts”. Each of these parent folders contains additional subfolders and files. Please see the FLMD (“v*_Butler_2024_WT_WRF_Hydro_flmd.csv”) for a list of all the files contained in this data package and descriptions for each. See the data dictionary (“v*_Butler_2024_WT_WRF_Hydro_dd.csv”) for definitions and units of all of the tabular (files ending in “.csv” and ".tsv") column headers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

National Energy Water Treatment & Speciation (NEWTS): A Water & Critical Mineral Database and Dashboard

The scarcity of water resources, the need for beneficial water reuse, and the challenges of wastewater treatment are becoming increasingly pressing in economic, social, and environmental domains. Addressing these concerns requires effective treatment strategies to manage wastewater streams and tackle environmental and economic issues. Furthermore, the recovery of critical minerals from the waste streams associated with energy production holds the promise of offsetting treatment costs and securing local sources of valuable minerals. However, relevant data on these waste streams are dispersed and challenging to locate. The process of ingesting such data into modeling software often involves multiple steps, requiring data restructuring to meet software-input requirements. The non-standardized reporting of water data makes data aggregation and reformatting a time-consuming process. Additionally, essential attributes necessary for modeling water treatment and mineral scale formation are frequently missing. Moreover, data gaps vary depending on the region of interest. Consequently, there is a pressing need for high-quality energy-water composition data that can be easily imported into water chemistry modeling software. To address this need, the National Energy Technology Laboratory has created the National Energy Water Treatment and Speciation (NEWTS) Database and Dashboard—a free online tool catering to community leaders and water researchers. NEWTS facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the composition of energy-related wastewater streams in the United States. The datasets provide detailed concentrations and speciation of major and minor aqueous compounds in energy-related wastewater streams, including power plant leachate, acid mine drainage, brackish water, and oil and gas produced water across the United States. Many of the aqueous species are critical minerals (Li, REEs) in high demand to modernize the world’s energy infrastructure. Many of the datasets also contain volumetric flow-rates needed to model the treatment and reuse scenarios in advanced aqueous chemistry software programs. The NEWTS Database and Dashboard offer public access to hitherto challenging-to-access datasets, presented in a standardized format that is tailored for easy input into aqueous chemistry modeling software. By performing the work needed to transform dispersed, disparate data sources into unified, model-ready datasets, NEWTS serves as an essential resource in advancing water treatment research and sustainable water resource management.

produced water management↗
DOE OSTI2024

Power generation-cooling water Nexus: Impacts of cooling water shortage on power system operation - a simulation case study in Illinois, U.S

Cooling water shortage, frequently attributed to drought and heat waves, poses a significant threat to the operations of thermoelectric power plants and further poses a challenge for the entire power system and environmental stakeholders. Recognizing the critical nexus between power generation and cooling water availability and the potential ability of power generations to adjust generation schedules during cooling water shortages, this paper introduces a security-constrained unit commitment and economic dispatch model considering water-energy nexus. In specific, the model is augmented with a unit-level cooling water requirement (CWR) model and multi-level cooling water availability (CWA) constraints. The unit-level CWR model quantifies the cooling water withdrawal per MWh of power generation, taking into account factors such as thermoelectric generation technologies, cooling system technologies, and environmental parameters. The multi-level CWA constraints incorporate pump-level, plant-level, watershed-level, and forced minimum power constraints, utilizing data derived from actual-based cooling water shortage scenarios. Using a simulation case study in Illinois, United States, this research examines the reliability, economic, and environmental implications of cooling water shortages on power system operations. The results show that Illinois may experience 10-15% daily load curtailment and severe congestion between certain regions from the east to central during cooling water shortages, while once-through and wet-tower units experience a 52% and 17% reduction in power generation. In conclusion, overall cooling water withdrawal decreases by 24-38% as severity intensifies.

Cooling water shortage↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advancing Urban Water Resilience: Coproducing Knowledge through Civic–Academic Global Partnerships on Water and Climate

As extreme weather events become more pronounced, the vulnerabilities associated with the urban water supply and wastewater systems in megacities are intensified in multiple interconnected dimensions. These multifaceted water challenges can benefit from enhanced cross-sectoral collaboration and sharing of critical knowledge, which are essential for sustainable and adaptive water governance frameworks. In this context, the Megacity Alliance for Water and Climate (MAWAC)–Europe and North America Region (ENAR) Working Group convened a workshop in March 2023, followed by a subsequent workshop in London, United Kingdom, from 11 to 13 September 2024. These workshops aimed to investigate and devise solutions for the cascading hazards with water systems. The solutions examined various aspects focused on climate adaptation and mitigation, stormwater management, and the governance of water and wastewater systems. Additionally, discussions highlighted the importance of community engagement, economic considerations, equity, and effective communication in addressing these pressing challenges. Over the course of 3 days, experts from academia, government agencies, and industry engaged in meaningful discussions on digital modeling for integrated water management, climate-informed urban planning, and public–private–academic partnerships (Fig. 1). Case studies from cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Chicago highlighted innovative governance strategies for managing water and wastewater systems, promoting water reuse, planning infrastructure, and fostering stakeholder-driven and stakeholder-informed adaptation. The workshop participants emphasized the need for data-driven decision-making, scalable governance models, and knowledge-sharing networks to enhance urban water governance for sustainability and resilience. This workshop report presents the key takeaways from the 3-day convening, providing a roadmap for integrating scientific research, policy frameworks, and emerging technologies to address water challenges faced by megacities.

Hydrologic models↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy‐Water Asynchrony Principally Determines Water Available for Runoff From Snowmelt in Continental Montane Forests

ABSTRACT Changes in the volume, rate, and timing of the snowmelt water pulse have profound implications for seasonal soil moisture, evapotranspiration (ET), groundwater recharge, and downstream water availability, especially in the context of climate change. Here, we present an empirical analysis of water available for runoff using five eddy covariance towers located in continental montane forests across a regional gradient of snow depth, precipitation seasonality, and aridity. We specifically investigated how energy‐water asynchrony (i.e., snowmelt timing relative to atmospheric demand), surface water input intensity (rain and snowmelt), and observed winter ET (winter AET) impact multiple water balance metrics that determine water available for runoff (WAfR). Overall, we found that WAfR had the strongest relationship with energy‐water asynchrony (adjusted r 2 = 0.52) and that winter AET was correlated to total water year evapotranspiration but not to other water balance metrics. Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that none of the tested mechanisms were strongly related to the Budyko‐type runoff anomaly (highest adjusted r 2 = 0.21). We, therefore, conclude that WAfR from continental montane forests is most sensitive to the degree of energy‐water asynchrony that occurs. The results of this empirical study identify the physical mechanisms driving variability of WAfR in continental montane forests and are thus broadly relevant to the hydrologic management and modelling communities.

Webb, Ryan William↗
DOE OSTI2025

Supercritical water desalination and oxidation (SCWDO): Effectiveness on complex solutions, technoeconomic, and CO 2 impact for produced water treatment

The modern energy-economy is increasingly causing the production of highly saline brines, including from produced water. Supercritical water desalination can concentrate and extract minerals from these brines, but the effects of mixed salt interactions, organic degradation with additives, and the technology's economics are not well understood at supercritical condition. The present study evaluated and experimentally studied an integrated supercritical water desalination and oxidation (SCWDO) process for treating real-produced water samples from oil/natural gas field. The complex interactions between the various anions and cations in produced water were extensively evaluated. Most of the divalent and trivalent ions were extracted below 250 °C while the majority of the monovalent salt were removed between 380 to 410 °C. The treated real produced water was of drinking water quality, with <500 mg/l of total dissolved solid (TDS) and with 100% organics removal. Furthermore, the heat liberated during the organic oxidation could be utilized internally and for electricity generation for enhanced the energy efficiency and lower cost of produced water treatment. With system optimization, the proposed SCWDO process can essentially be made a net zero energy process. A novel process flow diagram for the commercial scale self-powered hybrid SCWDO technology was proposed as a cost-effective produced water treatment to mitigate the environmental crises. Techno-economic analysis showed that produced water treatment cost with SCWDO can be reduced to 2–3 $/m 3 and can be up to 60 % cheaper to traditional deep well reinjection. Additionally, the proposed SCWDO process could achieve net negative CO 2 emission.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

SPRUCE Soil Volumetric Water Content in Experimental Plots, Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, 2017-2025

This dataset contains soil volumetric water content (VWC) measurements from the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) Experiment. Measurements were made inside SPRUCE experimental plots in the S1 Bog at the US Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA from 2018-2025 (2018-06-14 to 2025-12-31). Observations were made with METER 10HS soil moisture sensors. To reduce bulk density related variability, 10HS sensors were placed inside mesh tubes filled with peat at a standard bulk density. The observations under standard bulk density represent relative differences in water content between hummock and hollow positions, and in response to experimental treatments. Productivity of peatlands, and their keystone species sphagnum, are highly dependent on water availability, which is affected by lateral inputs, precipitation, ground water depth and evapotranspiration. Knowledge of near surface and sphagnum water content is useful to understand peatland function. This dataset contains 8 data files in comma-separate values (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma-separate values (*.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

Warren, Jeffrey [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000206804697)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Recombination of Autodissociated Water Ions in a Nanoscale Pure Water Droplet

The recombination of water ions has diverse scientific and practical implications, ranging from acid-base chemistry and biological systems to planetary environments and applications in fuel cell and carbon conversion technologies. While spatial confinement affects the physicochemical properties of water dynamics, its impact on the recombination process has rarely been studied. In this work, we investigate the dynamics of water, the water ion distribution, and the ion recombination process in water droplets as a function of droplet size through molecular dynamics simulations and adaptive quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical calculations. We compare the dynamics of recombination in water droplet sizes ranging from 100 to 18 000 waters, both in their interiors and on their surfaces. We found that the self-diffusion of water dramatically decreases in droplets with a diameter below 2.2 nm. Using a classical RexPoN force-field, we found that the ions in 1000 H2O's spend almost 50% of the time on the surface and 0.5 nm beneath it with a slight preference for OH- ion to reside longer on the surface. We estimate that, on average, recombination in these drops occurs at 400 ps in 1000 H2O's and 1 ns in 3000 H2O's. We also found that recombination is not limited by the local structure of the surface or the size of the droplet but can be influenced by the geometry of the water wire connecting the ions as they approach each other, which can often prevent recombination. Our results provide insights to the reaction microenvironments presented by nanoscopic water droplets.

Kwon, Soonho↗
DOE OSTI2025

Field-scale mapping of California crop water productivity to inform water management in critically overdrafted groundwater basins

Crop water productivity (CWP) metrics can reveal how the dynamics of crop production and water use change across space and time. We use field-scale satellite inputs from 2016–2021 to estimate potential water savings for four crops (almonds, grapes, walnuts, and citrus—which collectively account for approximately one-third of California’s cropland area), within critically overdrafted groundwater sub-basins of California’s San Joaquin Valley. These annual estimates of field-level water savings potential are based on locally achievable CWP values for each crop type. Our findings show considerable spatial variation in CWP and potential water savings within each sub-basin. We find that increasing CWP to peak efficiency (defined as improving fields to the 95th percentile of observed CWP) for four crops could meet up to 36% of the estimated annual overdraft in San Joaquin Valley. For comparison, fallowing 5% of the four crop type fields in the same study area could potentially reduce annual overdraft by 11%. By delivering results at the field scale, our work can inform targeted interventions by irrigation district managers and more efficient allocation of state incentives for improved water management. For example, we estimate that state grant funding for water efficiency upgrades could have amplified potential water savings threefold by targeting investments to the least efficient fields.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Irrigation Infrastructure and Modernization – Setting a Baseline: Estimates of Irrigation Water Conveyance Infrastructure Extents and Composition and the Potential Water, Energy, and Economic Benefits of Modernization in the Western U.S.

In the Western United States (U.S.), water delivery for irrigation is still largely managed using century-old equipment and designs. Modernization of this vital water conveyance infrastructure, such as piping of earthen canals, is known to improve water availability and water quality for farmers, while saving energy and enabling new hydropower. However, there is sparse information about the extent of irrigation water delivery infrastructure, which makes it challenging to estimate the cost of upgrades at scale and the potential benefits of accelerating modernization work. This report estimates a variety of previously unquantified data points related to irrigation water delivery infrastructure in the Western U.S. to support stakeholders interested in nationwide modernization planning. The findings should be considered approximations, useful for understanding the scale, range, or variability of these indicators. Taken together, the findings of this report illustrate some of the challenges and opportunities involved in modernizing the agricultural water delivery infrastructure in the Western U.S. Accelerating the pace of modernization could strengthen the long-term resilience of U.S. food systems while providing significant economic, energy, water, and environmental benefits.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Single‐Step Recovery of Water from Stable Crude Oil‐Water Emulsion Using Surface Engineered Hybrid Inorganic‐Polymer Membranes

ABSTRACT Separating crude oil from water remains one of the most stubborn challenges in environmental remediation, especially for surfactant‐stabilized emulsions that resist conventional demulsification methods. Here, we report a scalable strategy for achieving near‐zero‐discharge separation of crude oil emulsions using a single superhydrophilic membrane. By applying low‐temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) of various metal oxides onto activated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes, we create atomically precise surface‐engineered (SE) membranes that maintain an exceptionally strong hydration layer at the membrane‐feed interface, even at high oil loadings. Among the various metal oxides, TiO 2 ‐modified SE membranes exhibit superior interfacial water stability, enabling sustained dewatering of complex crude oil‐water emulsions with >98% separation efficiency and >97% water recovery, compared to only 24.6% water recovery for the pristine membrane. This separation performance surpasses conventional hydrophilic membranes and is comparable to complex Janus channel membrane systems, demonstrating near‐complete emulsion separation using a single membrane. This low‐temperature membrane surface engineering process with atomic‐level precision and potential for scalability via roll‐to‐roll fabrication is promising for industrial‐scale, energy‐efficient water treatment and oil spill remediation applications.

Sengupta, Bratin [Applied Materials Division Argon↗
DOE OSTI2025

Corrosion sensitivity of nickel-based Alloy Inconel 600 in pressurized water reactor water chemistry: Can KOH replace LiOH?

Lithium hydroxide (LiOH) has been used to balance water acidity against boric acid moderators in the primary water of Western pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs for decades. However, the demand and the cost of lithium-7 has grown significantly since 2015. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) has been identified as a suitable and cost-effective substitute for LiOH and has been used successfully in Russian PWR designs for more than 40 years. However, it is important to know if alloys and water conditions used in Western PWR’s (Alloy 600) are similarly compatible with KOH additions. This work is focused on the aqueous corrosion behaviors of Alloy 600 with LiOH versus KOH additions at normal operating concentrations and crevice water chemistry at simulated PWR primary water conditions. TEM was used to characterize the formed oxide through diffraction analysis; SIMS was used to probe the cation ingress into the material; Atom probe tomography was used to determine the 3D elemental distribution within the oxide/metal structures; finally electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to discuss the structure and corrosion resistance of the oxide films. These advanced characterization techniques complement the weight measurments which showed lower mass gain in KOH than LiOH crevice water due to less oxide formation. Overall, the use of KOH as a potential alternative to LiOH in PWR is discussed.

Alloy 600↗
DOE OSTI2026

Technology Impact and Resource Assessment of Existing and Planned U.S. Biofuel Production: Life Cycle Water Consumption, Water Stress, Land Use, and Criteria Air Pollutants

Biofuels have the potential to strengthen the U.S. energy supply, enhance energy security, and promote economic development. As the United States continues to expand biofuel production, quantifying resource requirements and location-specific constraints is crucial for planning, siting, and technology development to support long-term viability. Accordingly, this work assesses the life cycle resource consumption (water consumption, and land use), water stress and criteria air pollutants associated with expanded U.S. biofuel production over the 2020–2035 period, based on producers’ plans. We perform a bottom-up technology impact assessment and resource assessment by integrating facility-level production statistics with Argonne’s Research and Development (R&D) GREET model and county-level water-stress characterization factors from Available Water Remaining for the United States (AWARE-US) model. Results suggest that by 2035, biofuels could meaningfully contribute to U.S. energy demand, driven primarily by first-generation and waste-based feedstocks with plans for substantial capacity expansion, although cellulosic and e-fuel technologies remain limited. However, growth must be managed to minimize impacts on water resources and land use. These impacts vary by fuel type and facility location, specifically, projected expansion increases water consumption and can elevate water-stress impacts in certain regions like Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, California and North Texas. Direct land use also increases overall, particularly for first-generation feedstocks such as corn and soybeans. These findings underscore the need for continued technological improvements and innovative strategies to manage resource demands as the industry scales and to support complementary deployment within the evolving U.S. energy system.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Hybrid Cooling and Water Treatment for Resilient, Water-Self-Sufficient Data Centers

The continued growth of data center infrastructure is intensifying demand for freshwater resources, particularly in water-stressed regions, and is increasingly limiting sustainable capacity expansion. This work investigates a conceptual hybrid system that integrates freeze desalination with ultrasonic-assisted ice separation to enable on-site production of pure water from diverse sources, including seawater, brackish groundwater, and reclaimed industrial or agricultural wastewater. Simultaneously, the system produces low-temperature cooling streams that enhance heat removal in high power density computing environments. A process-level thermodynamic analysis is performed across a range of boundary and operating conditions, including variations in feed concentration, freezing temperature, and mass flow rate. The results are presented as performance curves relating feedwater concentration and target purified water output to the corresponding intake flow requirements, enabling estimation of source water demand per unit of Information Technology Equipment (ITE) energy consumption (kWh) across varying data center scales and operational scenarios. The corresponding electrical energy consumption for integrated cooling and water treatment is also evaluated as a function of system operating parameters and target water production levels. These results provide a basis for evaluating system feasibility across different conditions and for identifying parameter ranges in which integrated water treatment and cooling improve resource efficiency, thermal performance, and operational flexibility in data centers.

Elhefny, Aly [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000284907923)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Estimating irrigation water use from remotely sensed evapotranspiration data: Accuracy and uncertainties at field, water right, and regional scales

Irrigated agriculture is the dominant user of water globally, but most water withdrawals are not monitored or reported. As a result, it is largely unknown when, where, and how much water is used for irrigation. Here, we evaluated the ability of remotely sensed evapotranspiration (ET) data, integrated with other datasets, to calculate irrigation water withdrawals and applications in an intensively irrigated portion of the United States. We compared irrigation calculations based on an ensemble of satellite-driven ET models from OpenET with reported groundwater withdrawals from hundreds of farmer irrigation application records and a statewide flowmeter database at three spatial scales (field, water right group, and management area). At the field scale, we found that ET-based calculations of irrigation agreed best with reported irrigation when the OpenET ensemble mean was aggregated to the growing season timescale (bias = 1.6–4.9%, R 2 = 0.53–0.74), and agreement between calculated and reported irrigation was better for multi-year averages than for individual years. At the water right group scale, linking pumping wells to specific irrigated fields was the primary source of uncertainty. At the management area scale, calculated irrigation exhibited similar temporal patterns as flowmeter data but tended to be positively biased with more interannual variability. Disagreement between calculated and reported irrigation was strongly correlated with annual precipitation, and calculated and reported irrigation agreed more closely after statistically adjusting for annual precipitation. The selection of an ET model was also an important consideration, as variability across ET models was larger than the potential impacts of conservation measures employed in the region. From these results, we suggest key practices for working with ET-based irrigation data that include accurately accounting for changes in soil moisture, deep percolation, and runoff; careful verification of irrigated area and well-field linkages; and conducting application-specific evaluations of uncertainty.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗