U.S. Water Withdrawals and Consumptive Use Per Day, by End Use statistics

[Includes Puerto Rico. Withdrawal signifies water physically withdrawn from a source. Includes fresh and saline water; excludes water used for hydroelectric power. For definitions, see below table]


				PUBLIC SUPPLY ²
							Industrial	Steam
	Total	Per	Irrigation		Per	Rural	and	electric
Year	(bil. gal.)	capita ¹	(bil. gal.)	Total	capita ³	(bil. gal.)	misc. ⁵	utilities
		(gal.)		(bil. gal.)	(gal.)		(bil. gal.)	(bil. gal.)

WITHDRAWALS
1940	140	1,027	71	10	75	3.1	29	23
1950	180	1,185	89	14	145	3.6	37	40
1955	240	1,454	110	17	148	3.6	39	72
1960	270	1,500	110	21	151	3.6	38	100
1965	310	1,602	120	24	155	4.0	46	130
1970	370	1,815	130	27	166	4.5	47	170
1975	420	1,972	140	29	168	4.9	45	200
1980	440	1,953	150	34	183	5.6	45	210
1985	399	1,650	137	38	189	7.8	31	187
1990	408	1,620	137	41	195	7.9	30	195
1995	402	1,500	134	43	192	8.9	26	190

CONSUMPTIVE USE
1960	61	339	52	3.5	25	2.8	3.0	0.2
1965	77	403	66	5.2	34	3.2	3.4	0.4
1970	87	427	73	5.9	36	3.4	4.1	0.8
1975	96	451	80	6.7	38	3.4	4.2	1.9
1980	100	440	83	7.1	38	3.9	5.0	3.2
1985	92	380	74	(⁶)	(⁶)	9.2	6.1	6.2
1990	94	370	76	(⁶)	(⁶)	8.9	6.7	4.0
1995	100	374	81	(⁶)	(⁶)	9.9	4.8	3.7


¹Based on U.S. Census Bureau resident population as of July 1.
²Includes commercial water withdrawals.
³Based on population served.
⁴Rural farm and nonfarm household and garden use, and water for farm
stock and dairies.
⁵For l940-l960, includes manufacturing and mineral industries, rural
commercial industries, air-conditioning, resorts, hotels, motels,
military and other State and Federal agencies, and micscellaneous;
thereafter, includes manufacturing, mining, and mineral processing,
ordnance, construction, and miscellaneous.
⁶Public supply consumptive use included in end-use categories.

Source: 1940-1960, U.S. Bureau of Domestic Business Development,
based principally on committee prints, Water Resources Activities in the
United States, for the Senate Committee on National Water Resources, U.S. Senate,
thereafter, U.S. Geological Survey, Estimated Use of Water in the United
States in l995, circular l200, and previous quinquennial issues.

http://h2o.usgs.gov/public/watuse/index.html

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Estimated Use of Water in the United States

Glossary of water-use terminology

Water-use terminology is continuing to expand in this series of water-use circulars prepared at 5-year intervals. The
term "water use" as initially used in 1950 in the U.S. Geological Survey's water-use circulars meant withdrawals of
water; in the report for 1960, the term was redefined to include consumptive use of water as well as withdrawals.
With the beginning of the Survey's National Water-Use Information Program in 1978 the term was again redefined
to include return flow and offstream and instream uses. In the report for 1985, the term was redefined to include
withdrawals plus deliveries.

STANDARD WATER-USE TERMS


institutions. The water may be obtained from a public supply or may be self supplied. See also public supply and
self- supplied water.


crops, consumed by humans or livestock, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment. Also
referred to as water consumed.


Generally, the water is not available for further use; however, leakage from an irrigation ditch, for example, may
percolate to a ground-water source and be available for further use.


and dishes, flushing toilets, and watering lawns and gardens. Also called residential water use. The water may be
obtained from a public supply or may be self supplied. See also public supply and self-supplied water.


transpiration.


from the soil and surface-water bodies and as a result of plant transpiration. See also evaporation and transpiration.


than 500 mg/L of dissolved solids is undesirable for drinking and many industrial uses.


subsurface water in the saturated zone (a zone in which all voids are filled with water) where the water is under
pressure greater than atmospheric.


generators are driven by falling water. Hydroelectric water use is classified as an instream use in this report.


and includes such industries as steel, chemical and allied products, paper and allied products, mining, and petroleum
refining. The water may be obtained from a public supply or may be self supplied. See also public supply and self-
supplied water.


maintain vegetative growth in recreational lands such as parks and golf courses.


needs. Livestock as used here includes cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and poultry. Also included are animal specialties.
See also rural water use and animal specialties water use.




ores; liquids, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. Also includes uses associated with quarrying,
well operations (dewatering), milling (crushing, screening, washing, floatation, and so forth), and other preparations
customarily done at the mine site or as part of a mining activity. Does not include water used in processing, such as
smelting, refining petroleum, or slurry pipeline operations. These uses are included in industrial water use.


industry, irrigation, livestock, thermoelectric power generation, and other uses. Sometimes called off-channel use or
withdrawal.




provide water for a variety of uses, such as domestic, commercial, thermoelectric power, industrial, and public
water use. See also commercial water use, domestic water use, thermoelectric power water use, industrial water
use, and public water use.




washing, and municipal parks and swimming pools. See also public supply.


reaches a natural waterway or aquifer.






domestic and livestock needs. The water generally is self supplied, and includes domestic use, drinking water for
livestock, and other uses, such as dairy sanitation, evaporation from stock-watering ponds, and cleaning and waste
disposal. See also domestic water use, livestock water use, and self-supplied water.




obtained from a public supply.




water may be obtained from a public supply or may be self supplied. See also public supply and self-supplied
water.


the atmosphere from the plant surface. See also evaporation and evapotranspiration.




undesirable constituents.


for domestic use, irrigation, or industrial processing. In this report, the quantity of water use for a specific category
is the combination of self-supplied withdrawals and public-supply deliveries. 2) More broadly, water use pertains to
human's interaction with and influence on the hydrologic cycle, and includes elements such as water withdrawal,
delivery, consumptive use, wastewater release, reclaimed wastewater, return flow, and instream use. See also
offstream use and instream use.

use and self-supplied water.

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http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/387_u_s_water_withdrawals_and_consumptive.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.