The importance of water use in thermoelectric power plants is increasing across the nation. For example, power plants in New York and California are forced to deal with cooling systems that pose threats to ecosystems and water availability. The purpose of this paper is to summarize, compare, and contrast previous studies in this subject area using journal articles and government/laboratory reports. This literature review presents a myriad of results obtained from previously conducted research pertaining to (1) power generation in the United States, (2) water use in power plants, (3) power plant cooling technologies, (4) comparisons of cooling technologies (including cost), (5) impact of drought on power generation, and (6) projections of power generation and water use. Among the findings of this study is that whereas water usage data for once-through and wet-recirculating cooling systems are well developed, dry and hybrid cooling system data are not as complete. This review, therefore, serves as an assimilation of existing information and points out gaps in our knowledge base of the systems. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EY.1943-7897.0000076. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.