Alabama Water Use, 2005

Water is one of Alabama’s most precious natural resources. It is a vital component of human existence and essential to the overall quality of life. Wise stewardship of this valuable resource depends on a continuing assessment of water availability and water use. Population growth in many parts of the State has resulted in increased competition for available water resources. This competition includes offstream uses, such as residential, agricultural, and industrial, and instream uses for maintenance of species habitat and diversity, navigation, power generation, recreation, and water quality. Accurate water-use information is required for sound management decisions within this competitive framework and is necessary for a more comprehensive understanding of the link between water use, water supply, and overall water availability. A study of water use during 2005 was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Office of Water Resources, Water Management Branch (ADECA-OWR), to provide water-use data for local and State water managers. The results of the study about the amount of water used, how it was used, and where it was used in Alabama have been published in “Estimated use of water in Alabama in 2005” by Hutson and others, 2009, and is accessible on the Web at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5163 and available upon request as a CD–ROM through USGS and ADECA-OWR.

Extensive river systems and abundant groundwater have contributed greatly to development in Alabama. The Tennessee and Mobile Rivers, along with numerous other streams, provide water to Alabama residents for a variety of offstream and instream uses (Lineback, 1973). Since 1910, the cumulative reservoir storage has increased to about 8 million acre-feet. Most of the State has aquifers capable of producing sufficient quantities of freshwater (Mooty and others, 1990). Except for east-central and northcentral Alabama, most of the State is underlain by thick sand or limestone aquifers.

• Total freshwater withdrawals were 9,958 million gallons of water per day (Mgal/d) for Alabama in 2005. Surface water provided 95 percent of the total, and groundwater provided the remaining 5 percent. Total withdrawals excluding thermoelectric power were 1,684 Mgal/d.
• Thermoelectric power accounted for 87 percent of the total surface-water withdrawals.
• Public supply and self-supplied residential groundwater withdrawals accounted for 64 percent of the total groundwater use.
• More surface water was withdrawn than groundwater for all categories except aquaculture, mining, and self-supplied residential.
• Withdrawals for thermoelectric power were more than six times larger than the combined public-supply and self-supplied industrial withdrawals. Most of the thermoelectric withdrawals were returned to the rivers from which the water was withdrawn.
• Public-supply and self-supplied industrial withdrawals were nearly four times larger than the combined self-supplied residential, mining, livestock, and aquaculture withdrawals.
• Total per capita use was 2,185 gallons per day for the 4,557,808 residents of Alabama. This amount includes not only drinking water, but also water used to generate electricity and to support industrial and agricultural activities. Differences in water-use

Figure 2. Percentage of surface-water and groundwater withdrawals by category in Alabama, 2005.

Figure 5. Percentage of public-supply deliveries by sector in Alabama, 2005.

EXPLANATION Water withdrawals Surface water Total Groundwater Thermoelectric power

estimates over time were the result of more comprehensive data collection and analysis, and changes in demographic, socioeconomic, and climatic conditions. Water withdrawals have more than doubled in Alabama from 1960 to 2005 from about 4,220 Mgal/d to 9,958 Mgal/d. The entire increase in withdrawals actually occurred from 1960 to 1980 (4,220 Mgal/d to more than 10,350 Mgal/d). Water withdrawals in subsequent years have varied but have been less than the 1980 estimate (8,593 Mgal/d in 1985; 8,074 Mgal/d in 1990; 8,286 Mgal/d in 1995; 9,990 Mgal/d in 2000; and 9,958 Mgal/d in 2005). Population increased about 19 percent from 1960 to 1980 and increased another 17 percent from 1980 to 2005. The leveling off of withdrawals as population increased resulted in a decline in gross per capita use— total water withdrawals divided by total population. The data show that gross per capita water use increased from about 1,292 gal/d in 1960 to about 2,661 gal/d in 1980 and then decreased to about 2,185 gal/d in 2005. The change in gross per capita water use is mainly attributed to the fluctuation in thermoelectric-power withdrawals during the period.

Groundwater use has steadily increased and more than doubled

References

from 1960 to 2005, primarily because of increased groundwater withdrawals for public supply. Since 1985, public-supply withdrawals have accounted for more than 50 percent of groundwater withdrawals in the State. Surface-water use increased at a higher rate than groundwater use from 1960 to 2005. Fluctuations in surface-water use were mainly attributed to changes in thermoelectric-power withdrawals during the period. Overall, total water use in 2005 varied little from total use in 2000.

Total water withdrawals decreased less than 1 percent from 2000 to 2005 (from 9,990 Mgal/d to 9,958 Mgal/d).

Surface-water withdrawals decreased less than 5 percent (from 9,950 Mgal/d to 9,467 Mgal/d) in 2005. In contrast, groundwater withdrawals increased about 12 percent (from 440 Mgal/d in 2000 to 491 Mgal/d) in 2005. The change in withdrawals varied across categories from 2000 to 2005, and increases in irrigation (118 Mgal/d), thermoelectric power (84 Mgal/d), and aquaculture (65 Mgal/d) were offset by declines in public supply (32 Mgal/d), self-supplied industrial (283 Mgal/d), and self-supplied residential (40 Mgal/d). During the same period, the estimate of total irrigated acreage increased about 94 percent (from 70,010 acres to 135,800 acres).

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