!!! Remember - It's water, water, water - or lack of it !!! 

Ethanol distillery waste water can be a problem, too!
"...
The content and the amount of the waste exceed permitted levels and have caused problems for the county's sewage treatment equipment, Hotz said Friday. The county ran the risk of being fined by the Environmental Protection Agency if it didn't act, he said...
...The plant, which began operations in 2005, continues to function, with wastewater being trucked to other treatment facilities and the plant's 33 employees using portable toilets...."  Ethanol plant cut off from sewer system, Medina, Ohio, APWire 6/10/06 (Click to read)

►  DEP Issues Drought Watch for Entire State (Click to go to read the entire article)

"Bear Valley customers have been on mandatory water restrictions for more than a year because of supply problems. They started paying 35% more for water in January to pay for the required improvements."
New homes will get borough water
by Jim Hook, Public Opinion, September 21, 2005  (Click to read)

Question #33  How many people could use the water that is planned to be supplied to Penn-Mar's ethanol distillery every day?

Water commitment letter from John Van Horn for the Franklin County General Authority (FCGA) to Penn-Mar Ethanol  (Click to read)

Penn-Mar's distillery would require approximately 800,000 gallons of water every day to be supplied from the Letterkenny Reservoir near Roxbury by LIDA's utilities authority, the Franklin County General Authority (FGCA).  "The Letterkenny Reservoir provides a clean source of drinking water for the FCGA." from the Source Water Assessment Public Summary (click)

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Estimated Water Withdrawals and Use in Pennsylvania, state-wide domestic per capita public-supplied water usage is 62 gallons per day per person.
800,000 gallons is enough water to supply 12,903 people's usage every day
.
  

The Penn-Mar Ethanol distillery would employ approximately 35 people. According to Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry statistics, the unemployment rate in Franklin County is 3.6% - the lowest in the state.

"Shippensburg Borough Authority approved a 30-year agreement Tuesday to purchase up to 650,000 gallons of raw water daily from the Franklin County General Authority's Letterkenny Reservoir...." 
Authority finds new source of water
By Dale Heberlig, April 17, 2004 The Sentinel Online  (Click to read the article)

"Water is getting scarcer in Hamilton, St. Thomas and Peters townships where 4,000 water customers are drawing down the reserves of the Bear Valley Joint Authority.
Consumers have been on mandatory water restrictions since August: Homeowners can't water lawns or wash cars; restaurants don't serve water unless asked...."

Water woes continue for Bear Valley
by Jim Hook, Public Opinion, June 30, 2005
(Click to read article) 

"Plans for the South Antrim Business Center may change and less land may be available for development due to the hunt for water....
...
This community is exploding and water demand is exploding with it. We're looking down the road and what the demand is going to be in 10 years," Barvinchack said. "If they develop Phase 2, where is all this water going to come from?
Water hunt jeopardizes development

Residential growth in Greene Township (where the Penn-Mar ethanol distillery has submitted its development plan):
"Dave Jemison (Jamison) said well over 2,000 new housing units could be built in Greene Township in the next few years." 
Click to read - District gets peek at growth by
Penn-Mar's distillery would require approximately 800,000 gallons of water every day.
800,000 gallons is enough water to supply 12,903 people's usage every day.

Port authority deals a blow to ethanol plant by Friday, Jul. 29, 2005, HeraldToday.com

Water plan is crucial to growth Click to read this article by Kathy Leedy, Editor of the Public Opinion Editorial Page, August 26, 2005

Mandatory water use restrictions in place in another midstate community by Scott Gilbert 09/23/2005  (Click to connect to the article on the WITF website)
(Fredericksburg) -- A Lebanon County community is the latest in the midstate to be placed under mandatory water use restrictions. The Fredericksburg Sewer and Water Authority has declared a water emergency, urging neighbors to use water only for "essential purposes." In fact, uses such as washing vehicles and watering lawns are banned. Authorities say the move is necessary because two chicken processing plants in the area, which normally rely on ground wells of their own, have signed on as customers because those wells are nearly dry. That means the water authority needs to supply five times the amount of water it normally provides. Through an emergency pipeline set up eight years ago, the borough will receive some water from the city of Lebanon. But, officials note, the city also has a limited supply.

"...Nowhere is the growing clash between economic development and water conservation more evident than in the push to build ethanol plants that typically guzzle 3˝ to 6 gallons of water for every gallon of fuel produced. Minnesota's 15 ethanol plants together consume about 2 billion gallons of water per year, and plants in Winthrop, Windom, Marshall and Granite Falls are straining available water resources...." from Water supply can't meet thirst for new industry by Greg Gordon, Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, December 27, 2005

"...
About 2 billion gallons of water a year are consumed by Minnesota’s 15 ethanol plants.
  
One source of help should come from a $400 million public works project in South Dakota – the Lewis & Clark Rural Water System – that eventually will pipe 3.78 million gallons of Missouri River water daily to southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa..." 
ArgusLeader.com, The Associated Press, December 27, 2005  (Click to read)