The United States Government Accountability Office recently released its report on the links between water and energy (biofuels and electricity production). Water and energy are strongly linked, as large quantities of water are needed to produce increasingly large amounts of energy. However, these vital resources are severely constrained with respect to supply. Among the findings of the report are: (1) the water requirement for corn cultivation for ethanol production ranges from 7 to 321 gallons per gallon of ethanol produced; however, for the case of large-scale "next-generation biofuel-feedstock" (i.e., lignocellulosic biomass), there is little information available, (2) next-generation biofuel feedstocks "have not been grown commercially to date, and there are little data on the cumulative water, nutrient, and pesticide needs of these crops and on the amount of these crops that could be harvested as a biofuel feedstock without compromising soil and water quality", (3) the use of alternative water sources can "also lower the costs associated with obtaining and using freshwater when freshwater is expensive, but pose other challenges, including the requirement of special treatment to avoid adverse effects on cooling equipment", (4) "alternative water sources play an increasingly important role in reducing power plant reliance on freshwater, but federal data collection efforts do not systematically collect data on the use of these water sources by power plants". The full report can be accessed at the US-GAO website (URL above)..