     Water is an increasingly precious resource used for many critical
     purposes; in some areas of the country, water resources are already
     significantly stressed. For example, large portions of the Ogallala (or
     High Plains) aquifer, which extends from west Texas up into South
     Dakota and Wyoming, show water table declines of over 100 feet since
     about the 1940s. Increased biofuels production will likely add pressure
     to the water management challenges the nation already faces as biofuels
     drive changing agricultural practices, increased corn production, and
     growth in the number of biorefineries.

          -- From "Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United
              States," the October 2007 Report in Brief, at this site of The
              National Academies:
              http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/biofuels_brief_final.pdf

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     ATTACHMENT 1 of 1
     The New York Times
     Thursday, October 11, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/science/11water.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slog
in

PANEL SEES PROBLEMS IN ETHANOL PRODUCTION

By CORNELIA DEAN
Published: October 11, 2007

Greater cultivation of crops to produce ethanol could harm water quality and
leave some regions of the country with water shortages, a panel of experts
is reporting. And corn, the most widely grown fuel crop in the United
States, might cause more damage per unit of energy than other plants,
especially switchgrass and native grasses, the panel said.

The panel, convened by the National Research Council, said improved
agricultural practices, water recycling and other steps might reduce
possible problems. But it added that "fundamental knowledge gaps" made it
difficult to predict what would happen as the nation's embrace of biofuel
crops expanded. Meanwhile, it said, it would be "prudent" to encourage the
use of ethanol sources other than corn.

Production of ethanol from corn kernels is on the rise, the panel said,
adding that President Bush has called for the annual production of 35
billion gallons of ethanol by 2017, an amount that would account for about
15 percent of liquid transportation fuels in the United States.

But increased production could greatly increase pressure on water supplies
for drinking, industry, hydropower, fish habitat and recreation, the report
said. Facilities that turn plants like corn into liquid fuel would add to
the pressure on water supplies, though these bio-refineries are relatively
modest water consumers compared with agriculture, the panel said.

The research council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, issued the
report yesterday. It is available at the academy's Web site, nas.edu. It was
financed by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection
Agency and other agencies and foundations.

The report noted that additional use of fertilizers and pesticides could
pollute water supplies and contribute to the overgrowth of aquatic plant
life that produces "dead zones" like those in the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf
of Mexico and elsewhere.

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