Domestic

Public Supply

Public supply water use is the third largest category in the United States and represents 14 percent of the total freshwater withdrawals. Public water supply refers to water withdrawn by public and private water suppliers and delivered to users. Public water suppliers provide water to domestic, commercial, and industrial users, to facilities generating thermoelectric power, for public use, and occasionally for mining and irrigation. A public water supply is a public or private water system that provides water to at least 25 people or has a minimum of 15 service connections. Estimating withdrawals for public supply is a complex problem because many different factors affect daily public-supply system withdrawals,...

Continuous Oil and Gas Development

Water is a necessary component for many processes required for developing continuous oil and gas (COG) resources. Improved COG extraction techniques have greatly increased oil and gas production in the United States since the mid-2000s. However, the accompanying rapid increase in demand for large volumes of water, often in remote regions, can challenge existing infrastructure and require additional resources to meet water needs. Addressing this water need requires accurate estimates of the volumes of water used to support the various processes common to COG development in the United States in the 21st century. In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) started a topical study focused on quantifying water use in...

Thermoelectric

The thermoelectric power sector withdraws more water than any other water use category in the United States and represents 34 percent of the total freshwater withdrawals. Thermoelectric power water use includes water that is withdrawn to cool or condense the steam used to drive thermoelectric generators, and water that is consumed or evaporated in power plant cooling systems. For this project, models are being formulated from conservation of heat-and-water associated with TE power plant generation and cooling-system technologies, the amount of fuel heat consumed and electricity generated, and supported by various environmental variables such as air and water temperatures, wind speed, and elevation. To provide a...

Categories: Data

Industrial

Industrial withdrawals provide water for such purposes as fabricating, processing, washing, diluting, cooling, or transporting a product; incorporating water into a product; or for sanitation needs within the manufacturing facility. Some industries that use large amounts of water produce such commodities as food, paper, chemicals, refined petroleum, or primary metals. Water for industrial use may be delivered from a public supplier or be self supplied.

Publications

Publications from Water Use Program projects

Aquaculture

Aquaculture water use is water associated with raising organisms that live in water—such as finfish and shellfish—for food, restoration, conservation, or sport. Aquaculture production occurs under controlled feeding, sanitation, and harvesting procedures primarily in ponds, flowthrough raceways, and, to a lesser extent, cages, net pens, and closed-recirculation tanks.

Livestock

Livestock water use is water associated with livestock watering, feedlots, dairy operations, and other on-farm needs. Livestock includes dairy cows and heifers, beef cattle and calves, sheep and lambs, goats, hogs and pigs, horses, and poultry. Other livestock water uses include cooling of facilities for the animals and products, dairy sanitation and wash down of facilities, animal waste-disposal systems, and incidental water losses. The livestock category excludes on-farm domestic use, lawn and garden watering, and irrigation water use.

Domestic

Irrigation

Irrigation water use is the second largest category for total withdrawals and the first largest category for consumption in the United States. Irrigation withdrawals are typically estimated nationally using sparse site-specific data that is collected and estimated using many different approaches. Nationally consistent approaches have been developed to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa) by vegetation, however, methods for converting ETa into irrigation withdrawals are not well developed. Because irrigation water is often transported over large distances and originates from many different sources, considering only the consumptive use part of irrigation water use is often not enough information for managing water...

Public-Supply Water Service Areas Within the Conterminous United States, 2017

This data release describes water service areas (WSA) for community water systems (CWS) within the conterminous United States, representing areas of active service between 2010 and 2020. A WSA is defined by a delineated polygon that contains all customers served by a water system. WSAs are represented by an ArcGIS shapefile. The U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act defines a CWS as a type of public-water system that serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents. Water may be used for several purposes (such as for commercial, industrial, and residential uses) or may be used only for one specific purpose (such as for residential use). This data release...

Categories: Data; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Geography, Hydrology, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Water Resources

Mining

Mining water use is water used for the extraction of minerals that may be in the form of solids, such as coal, iron, sand, and gravel; liquids, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. The category includes quarrying, milling of mined materials, injection of water for secondary oil recovery or for unconventional oil and gas recovery (such as hydraulic fracturing), and other operations associated with mining activities. Dewatering is not reported as a mining withdrawal unless the water was used beneficially, such as dampening roads for dust control.