Abstract Cooling towers are an important component in many of today’s large steam-electric generating plants and the power industry is looking forward to an even greater use of this equipment in the future. Certain problems and difficulties presently confronting the tower purchaser and user are reviewed in the light of the purchaser’s requirements and the user’s operating experiences. Maintenance cost data for 50 cooling towers totaling 2,600,000 gpm capacity are presented. The effect of tower thermal-performance deficiency on station capability and heat rate is discussed. The paper is concluded with a prediction of what the cooling-tower industry has to look forward to from the power industry as regards future cooling-tower sizes for both nuclear and conventional, fuel-fired power plants.