WISE WATER USE

TXU captures, monitors, treats when necessary and then releases all water at its generating facilities, mines and other operations to ensure outstanding water quality and compliance with state and federal regulations. In fact, TXU’s water quality program goes far beyond what is required.

With a 2004 water compliance ratio of 99.9%, TXU continues to focus on effective management of water quality. The company knows the value of clean water because it depends on water in its power plants every day for cooling purposes.

Biomonitoring
One of the ways TXU ensures protection of the environment is by conducting biological monitoring of water released from its power plants. In biological monitoring, or biomonitoring, two different kinds of animals – water fleas and fathead minnows – are placed in water collected from power plant discharges. These organisms are kept in the water for one to seven days while their survival, reproduction and growth are measured. Since the inception of the biomonitoring program in 1989, a total of 1,539 tests have been performed, including 151 during 2004. Only 11 chronic failures and three acute failures have occurred in the 15 years of testing. Further testing of the acute failures was unable to confirm the toxicity of the discharge water. The 99.9% chronic compliance rate is an exemplary achievement. It comes from maintaining good housekeeping practices and intense scrutiny of all chemicals used at power plants that could affect the quality of the discharge waters.

Water Reservoirs
TXU is the largest private owner of reservoirs in Texas, and the company is active in planning for the future use of water resources, maintaining representation on four regional water planning groups. These groups study water issues, uses and allocation to help the state plan for the long term.