In brief.
- The United States withdrew about 355,000 million gallons a day (Mgal/d) in 2010.
- Thermoelectric power, irrigation and public supply accounted for 90 percent of it.
- Withdrawals fell in every category except mining and aquaculture.
- Fresh water was 86 percent of the total (306,000 Mgal/d).
- Surface water supplied 78 percent.
The totals
The 2010 total was 13 percent below 2005 and a marked break from the roughly 400,000 Mgal/d reported from 1985 to 2005 — lower, even, than the estimate for 1970.
| Source, 2010 | Mgal/d | Change from 2005 |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh surface water | 230,000 | almost 15% less |
| Fresh groundwater | 76,000 | about 4% less |
| Saline surface water | 45,000 | 24% less |
| Saline groundwater (mostly mining) | 3,290 | — |
Four states — California, Texas, Idaho and Florida — withdrew more than a quarter of all the nation's fresh and saline water, as in 2005.
- California: 11 percent of the national total and 10 percent of its fresh water; more than 60 percent of the state's withdrawals were for irrigation, and 17 percent, almost all saline, for thermoelectric power.
- Texas: about 45 percent for thermoelectric power and 28 percent for irrigation.
- Idaho: irrigation, 81 percent.
- Florida: thermoelectric power, 61 percent.
By category
| Category | Mgal/d | Share of total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thermoelectric power | 161,000 | 45% | almost all surface water, 73% of it fresh; 94% once-through cooling; 86% in Eastern States |
| Irrigation | about 115,000 | 33% (38% of fresh water) | 57% surface water; 83% in the 17 conterminous Western States |
| Public supply | about 42,000 | almost 12% | 63% surface water |
| Self-supplied industrial | 15,900 | about 4% | 82% surface water |
| Aquaculture | 9,420 | about 81% surface water | |
| Mining | 5,320 | about 1% | 73% groundwater; 58% saline |
| Self-supplied domestic | about 3,600 | more than 98% groundwater | |
| Livestock | 2,000 | 60% groundwater |
Public supply. Public suppliers deliver water for homes, industry, businesses and other uses. About 57 percent of their withdrawals — 23,800 Mgal/d — went to domestic use: drinking, sanitation and watering, indoors and out. Homes not on a public system, especially in the country, supply themselves from wells or other private sources: about 3,600 Mgal/d for about 44.5 million people, 14 percent of the population.
Irrigation covers water applied to crops and pasture and to keep parks and golf courses green. More efficient sprinkler and microirrigation systems were used on about 58 percent of irrigated acres. The 17 conterminous Western States held 74 percent of irrigated acres as well as 83 percent of irrigation withdrawals.
Livestock and aquaculture together were 3 percent of withdrawals. Livestock covers animals, feedlots and dairies; aquaculture covers fish farms and hatcheries.
Industry covers the making of food, paper, chemicals, refined petroleum, wood products and primary metals. Some industrial water came from public suppliers, but that amount was not estimated for 2010. About 6 percent of industrial withdrawals were saline, mostly surface water.
Mining covers extracting solid minerals such as copper, liquids such as petroleum and gases such as natural gas, including water injected for unconventional oil and gas recovery such as hydraulic fracturing.
Thermoelectric power plants make electricity with steam-driven generators and need large volumes of cooling water, which is why they usually sit on coasts, large lakes or large rivers. Recirculating cooling systems made up the rest. Many Western States rely heavily on hydroelectric power instead.
Arranged from west to east, the states show a clear pattern: irrigation dominated in many Western States, especially those with little thermoelectric power, while thermoelectric power was generally the largest use in the East.
Trends, 1950–2010
The USGS has estimated water use every five years since 1950. Withdrawals peaked in 1975 and 1980, held fairly steady from 1985 through 2005 — revised to 409,000 Mgal/d for 2005 — and then fell in 2010, with the biggest categories down sharply.
| Change, 2005 to 2010 | |
|---|---|
| Thermoelectric power | down 20% — cooling and generating technologies that need less water, plus a new estimation method using linked heat- and water-budget models for some plants |
| Irrigation | down 9% — the continuing shift to more efficient systems |
| Public supply | down 5%, although the population served kept growing |
| Self-supplied industrial | down 12% — continuing a steady decline since 1985 |
| Self-supplied domestic | down 3% |
| Livestock | down 7% |
| Mining | up 39% |
| Aquaculture | up 7% |
Why it matters
Every five years the USGS compiles water-use estimates with state, federal and local agencies to document how the nation's water is used. The series began in 1950; this summary is based on USGS Circular 1405, Estimated use of water in the United States in 2010. These numbers give planners what they need to weigh water allocation and environmental effects at national, regional and state levels. Water use is also a key part of the water budgets in the USGS National Water Census, which supports research into better ways to collect and estimate water-use data.
Sources
- Barber, N.L., 2014, Summary of estimated water use in the United States in 2010: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2014–3109. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20143109
- Maupin, M.A., Kenny, J.F., Hutson, S.S., Lovelace, J.K., Barber, N.L., and Linsey, K.S., 2014, Estimated use of water in the United States in 2010: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1405. http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/cir1405
- The figures come from the fact sheet's PDF. Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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