Flow Deficit in the Rivers of the Federal Republic of Germany, Caused by Cooling-water Evaporation.

In the long term water is the only economical cooling medium for large power plants. In order to reduce the unavoidable water heating during the cooling process, nearly all power plants in noncoastal locations are equipped with cooling towers. However, then the warmed water problem is replaced by the problem of the flow deficit, which is greater during deflux and wet back-cooling than by noncirculating cooling. Using evaporation figures from power plants of various sizes and with different cooling processes, the author has calculated the water extraction from Germany's major rivers. It is shown that the flow deficit in most rivers is insignificant but for rivers with a low volume water-economy implementations are imperative.