U.S. Geological Survey
2014
USGS Water Use Data for the Nation - National Water Information System (NWIS)
1.0
digital data
Reston, Virginia, USA
U.S. Geological Survey
https://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?nwis_water_use
US Geological Survey
20010712
National Water Information System: Web Interface
Web application
USGS Water Data for the Nation
1
Reston, Virginia
U.S. Geological Survey
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis
The U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Use Information Program is
responsible for compiling and disseminating the nation's water-use data.
The USGS works in cooperation with local, State, and Federal environmental
agencies to collect water-use information. USGS compiles these data to
produce water-use information aggregated at the county, state, and national
levels. Every five years, data at the county level are compiled into a national
water-use data system and state-level data are published in a national circular.
Over the history of these circulars, the water-use categories have had some
changes.
The Water Use Program analyzes the source, use, and disposition of water
resources at local, state, and national levels while repling to water-use
information requests from the public and documenting the trends in water
use in the United States. The Water Use Program cooperates with state
and local agencies on projects of special interest and develops water-use
data bases and to publish local, state, and national water-use data reports.
The USGS's National Water Use Information Program
compiles and publishes the Nation's water-use data.
Public access to some of these data is provided via the USGS
Water Data for the Nation site. Water use refers to water that
is used for specific purposes. Water-use data is collected by
area type (State, county, watershed or aquifer) and source
such as rivers or groundwater, and category such as public
supply or irrigation. Water-use data has been reported
every five years since 1950, for years ending in "0" and "5".
The USGS works in cooperation with local, State, and Federal
agencies as well as academic and private organizations to
collect and report total withdrawals.
Annual water-use data are expressed in units of million gallons
per day (abbreviated as Mgal/d) and thousand acre-feet per year.
For the irrigation category, water-use data are the average daily
quantities used over a period of a year and do not represent
actual daily rates. In most parts of the nation, irrigation water
is applied during only a part of each year and at variable rates;
therefore, the actual rate of application is much greater than the
average daily rate. For all other categories, the daily quantity
of water that is withdrawn may be based on daily usage or
more often, monthly usage that is averaged to a daily quantity.
National water-use data are reported by source (surface water
or groundwater, fresh and saline, and total), and category for
the United States as a whole. The water-use data presented
here are the current best estimates, and may have been
revised from previous publications.
Data collection varied between the different compilations.
Pre-1995 datasets have more data available than 2000 and later.
A chart is available that provides for a conceptual picture of the
changes in water-use categories between compilations.
The details of a water-use category sometimes changed
between compilations. For example, for 1985-1995, thermoelectric
power withdrawal data was grouped by fuel type, but for 2000-2005,
thermoelectric power data was grouped by the cooling method
(once-through or closed-loop).
See: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/water_use/
1950
for the year sited
Every 5 years
-164.168
-64.780
70.281
17.731
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USGS:09439e79-2115-4a08-a8e0-9e04ede89c79
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United Staes
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California
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None
Acknowledgment of the U.S. Geological Survey would be appreciated in products derived from these data.
U.S. Geological Survey
Water Webserver Team
mailing address
445 National Center
Reston
VA
20192
USA
1-888-275-8747
h2oteam@usgs.gov
Please use email.
https://water.usgs.gov/GIS/browse/nwis_water_use.jpg
Image of the National Water Information System NWIS web interface
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Web Servers (8 instances). Operating system is Red Hat Linux. Processors - 2 quad core @ 2.53 GHz. Pages served by the Apache web server. Perl and CGI is used to display all pages. Graphics are created by Gnuplot and we are licensed to create GIF images from Unisys. Database Servers (3 instances). Operating system is Red Hat Linux. Processors - 2 quad core @ 2.53 GHz. MySQL is used to run our database. Connectivity 1 GHz direct connection between the web servers and the database servers
Cumulative values for States, counties, and HUC values for specific years
This data is complete
Latitudes and Longitude are specified to the nearest second.
The position is determined from 1:24,000-scale maps, where available,
but other lower scale (i.e. less resolution) maps may be used also.
US Geological Survey
1950
Estimated Use of Water in the United States
Digital data and Hardcopy
Publication Web site
Over 50 years of water use
Reston, VA
U.S. Geological Survey
https://water.usgs.gov/watuse/
Digital and Hardcopy
1950
1950-2005
Reference Source
The U.S. Geological Survey maintains national data bases of water-use information. The data are collected and compiled every five years for each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This page contains archived links to all data and associated published reports pertaining to the Water Use program.
The best estimates of county, State, and national water-use data may be downloaded from the National Water Information System Web (NWISWeb) interface, Water Data for the Nation, by selecting the Water Use button or data category pull-down. These data files present water-use estimates by county, State and national water-use for the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands which support the State-level water-use estimates
COMPREHENSIVENESS OF DATA COLLECTION FOR 2005
All States provided estimates for public supply, domestic, irrigation, livestock, aquaculture, industrial, mining, and thermoelectric power water use.
All States also provided estimates of public supply deliveries for domestic use.
All States will have estimates of the total population served by public supply. States optionally may have estimated public supply population served by groundwater and surface water.
All States will have estimates of total irrigation. States optionally may have estimated subtotals for crop irrigation and golf-course irrigation.
No consumptive-use data were collected nationally for any of the categories for 2005.
No commercial water-use data were collected nationally for 2005.
No wastewater release data were collected nationally for 2005.
No hydroelectric power instream use data were collected nationally for 2005.
Public-supply deliveries for commercial, industrial, and thermoelectric power were not collected nationally for 2005.
1950
point
Point
50
0.002
0.002
Decimal degrees
North American Datum of 1983
GRS1980
6378137
298.257
WATER USE TERMINOLOGY
The following terms have been used in one or more of the water-use Circulars.
The comparison of water-use categories over the history of these reports may also help clarify the use of some of the terms.
•animal-specialties water use–water use associated with the production of fish in captivity except for fish hatcheries which were in Commercial, and the raising of horses and such fur-bearing animals as rabbits and pets.
1985: Fish farming included in Livestock
1990-1995: Animal specialties (excludes fish hatcheries)
2000-later: Animal-specialties use split between Livestock (horses) and Aquaculture categories (fish hatcheries and fish farms)
See also aquaculture water use, fish-hatchery water use, livestock water use, and rural water use.
•aquaculture water use–water use associated with the farming of finfish, shellfish, and other organisms that live in water, and offstream water use associated with fish hatcheries.
1985: Water use for fish farming included in Livestock
1990-1995: Water use was reported in Animal Specialties (fish farming) and Commercial (fish hatcheries)
2000-later: Aquaculture
See also animal-specialties water use, commercial water use, and livestock water use, and Methods for Estimating Water Withdrawals for Aquaculture in the United States, 2005.
•closed-loop cooling system–see recirculation cooling system.
•commercial water use–water for motels, hotels, restaurants, office buildings, other commercial facilities, military and nonmilitary institutions, and (for 1990 and 1995) offstream fish hatcheries. Water may be obtained from a public-supply system or may be self-supplied. Commercial water-use estimates were included in industrial water use until 1985, then were reported as a separate category. Commercial water use estimates were last reported nationally for 1995.
1985: Self-supplied commercial water use first reported as separate category from industrial
1990-1995: Commercial category includes offstream fish hatchery water use for some States
2000-later: Commercial category not estimated nationally: offstream fish hatchery water use is reported in the Aquaculture category
See also fish-hatchery water use, public-supply water use, public-supply deliveries, industrial water use, and self-supplied water use.
•consumptive use–the part of water withdrawn that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products or crops, consumed by humans or livestock, or otherwise not available for immediate use. Water returned to a different watershed than the point of withdrawal (interbasin transfer) is not considered a consumptive use. Also referred to as water consumed.
1960-1995: Consumptive use reported by water-use category
2000-later: Consumptive use not estimated nationally
•conveyance loss—water that is lost in transit from a pipe, canal, conduit, or ditch by leakage or evaporation. Leakage from an irrigation ditch, for example, may percolate to a groundwater source and be available for further use.
1955-1995: Conveyance losses reported nationally
2000-later: Conveyance losses not estimated nationally
See also irrigation water use.
•cooling-system type–an equipment system that provides water for cooling purposes, such as to condensers at power plants or at factories, subdivided into once-through or recirculation cooling system. See also industrial water use, once-through cooling system, recirculation cooling system, and thermoelectric-power water use.
•domestic water use–water used for indoor household purposes such as drinking, food preparation, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, flushing toilets, and outdoor purposes such as watering lawns and gardens. Domestic water use includes potable and non-potable water provided to households by a public water supplier (domestic deliveries) and self-supplied water.
1950-1955: Rural (included Livestock: estimates were retroactively allocated to Rural Domestic and Livestock in later reports)
1960-1980: Rural Domestic
1985-later: Domestic
See also public-supply deliveries, public-supply water use, rural water use, and self-supplied water use.
•fish-hatchery water use–See aquaculture water use, commercial water use, and animal specialities water use.
•freshwater–water that contains less than 1,000 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of dissolved solids. Generally, water with more than 500 mg/L of dissolved solids is undesirable for drinking and many industrial uses. See also saline water.
•fuel-electric power–see thermoelectric power water use.
•hydroelectric power water use–the use of water in the generation of electricity at plants where the turbine generators are driven by moving water. Hydroelectric water use is most commonly an instream use. Hydroelectric power water use was referred to as water power from 1950-1960.
1950-1960: Water Power
1965-1995: Hydroelectric Power
2000-later: Hydroelectric Power category not estimated nationally
•industrial water use–water used for fabrication, processing, washing, and cooling. Includes industries such as chemical and allied products, food, mining, paper and allied products, petroleum refining, and steel. Industrial water use in 1950-1980 water-use circulars also included thermoelectric power water use which was reported as a subtotal, with the current industrial uses called other industrial. In 1985 thermoelectric power became a separate category, and mining and commercial uses were also split out from industrial in 1985 and reported as separate categories. The term industrial water use was used in the 1985-1995 water-use circulars to describe the combined public-supply deliveries to industrial users and self-supplied industrial withdrawals. For 2000 to present, industrial water use refers only to self-supplied industrial withdrawals. See also thermoelectric-power water use, commercial water use, mining water use, public-supply deliveries, public-supply water use, and self-supplied water use.
•instream use–water that is used, but not withdrawn, from a surface-water source for such purposes as hydroelectric-power generation, navigation, water-quality improvement, fish propagation, and recreation. Instream water-use estimates for hydroelectric power were included in some previous water-use circulars but were omitted for 2000 to present.
•interbasin transfer—A transfer of water from one river basin to another. Interbasin transfers may be tracked or regulated for different levels of watersheds such as a hydrologic unit level or a set of basin delineations made by a regulatory authority.
•irrigation water use–water that is applied by an irrigation system to assist crop and pasture growth, or to maintain vegetation on recreational lands such as parks and golf courses. Irrigation includes water that is applied for pre-irrigation, frost protection, chemical application, weed control, field preparation, crop cooling, harvesting, dust suppression, leaching of salts from the root zone, and conveyance losses. See also conveyance loss, microirrigation system, sprinkler irrigation system, and surface irrigation system.
•livestock water use–water used for livestock watering, feedlots, dairy operations, and other on-farm needs. Types of livestock include dairy cows and heifers, beef cattle and calves, sheep and lambs, goats, hogs and pigs, horses and poultry. See also animal-specialties water use, aquaculture water use, and rural water use.
•microirrigation system–an irrigation system that wets only a discrete portion of the soil surface in the vicinity of the plant by means of applicators (such as orifices, emitters, porous tubing, or perforated pipe) and operated under low pressure. The applicators may be placed on or below the surface of the ground or suspended from supports. See also irrigation water use, sprinkler irrigation system, and surface irrigation system.
•mining water use–water used for the extraction of naturally occurring minerals including solids (such as coal, sand, gravel, and other ores), liquids (such as crude petroleum), and gases (such as natural gas). Also includes uses associated with quarrying, milling, and other preparations customarily done at the mine site or as part of a mining activity. Does not include water associated with dewatering of the aquifer that is not put to beneficial use. Also does not include water used in processing, such as smelting, refining petroleum, or slurry pipeline operations. These processing uses are included in industrial water use. Mining water-use estimates were included in industrial water use until 1985, then were reported as a separate category. See also industrial water use and self-supplied water use.
•municipal water use-public supply water use. Term used in 1950 water-use circular.
•offstream use–water withdrawn or diverted from a groundwater or surface-water source for aquaculture, commercial, domestic self-supply, industrial, irrigation, livestock, mining, public supply, thermoelectric power, and other uses. See also entries for each of these categories of use.
•once-through cooling system–also known as open-loop cooling system. Cooling system in which the water is withdrawn from a source, circulated through the heat exchangers, and then returned to a body of water at a higher temperature. See also cooling system, cooling-system type, industrial water use, and thermoelectric-power water use.
•public-supply deliveries–amount of water delivered from a public supplier to users for domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric-power, or public-use purposes. Estimates of deliveries for each purpose were provided for 1995 and earlier years, but not for 2000. For 2005, only domestic deliveries were estimated nationally. See also commercial water use, domestic water use, industrial water use, public-supply water use, public water use, and thermoelectric-power use.
•public-supply water use–water withdrawn by public and private water suppliers that furnish water to at least 25 people or have a minimum of 15 connections. Public suppliers provide water for a variety of uses, such as domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric-power, and public water use. See also commercial water use, domestic water use, industrial water use, public-supply deliveries, public water use, and thermoelectric-power water use.
•public water use–water supplied from a public supplier and used for such purposes as firefighting, street washing, flushing of water lines, and maintaining municipal parks and swimming pools. Generally, public-use water is not billed by the public supplier. See also public-supply deliveries and public-supply water use.
•recirculation cooling system–also known as closed-loop cooling system. Water is withdrawn from a source, circulated through heat exchangers, cooled, and then re-used in the same process. Recirculation cooling systems may use induced draft cooling towers, forced draft cooling towers, cooling ponds, or canals. See also cooling system, cooling-system type, industrial water use, and thermoelectric-power water use.
•reclaimed wastewater–wastewater-treatment plant effluent that has been diverted for beneficial uses such as irrigation, industry, or thermoelectric cooling instead of being released to a natural waterway or aquifer. See also water use.
•return flow–water that reaches a groundwater or surface-water source after release from the point of use and thus becomes available for further use. Term used in previous water-use circulars. See also water use.
•rural water use–water used in suburban or farm areas for 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, cleaning, and waste disposal. Term used in 1950 and 1955 water-use circulars, and was subdivided into rural domestic and rural livestock water use in the 1960-1980 circulars. See also animal-specialties water use, domestic water use, livestock water use, and self-supplied water use.
•saline water–water that contains 1,000 mg/L or more of dissolved solids. See also freshwater.
•self-supplied water use–water withdrawn from a groundwater or surface-water source by a user rather than being obtained from a public supply.
•sprinkler irrigation system–an irrigation system in which water is applied by means of perforated pipes or nozzles operated under pressure so as to form a spray pattern. See also irrigation water use, microirrigation system, and surface irrigation system.
•standard industrial classification (SIC) codes–four-digit codes established by the Office of Management and Budget, published in 1987, and used in the classification of establishments by type of activity in which they are engaged.
•surface irrigation system–irrigation by means of flood, furrow, or gravity. Flood irrigation is the application of irrigation water in which the entire soil surface is covered by ponded water. Furrow is a partial surface-flooding method of irrigation normally used with clean-tilled crops in which water is applied in furrows or rows of sufficient capacity to contain the design irrigation stream. Gravity is an irrigation method in which water is not pumped, but flows in ditches or pipes and is distributed by gravity. See also irrigation water use, microirrigation system, and sprinkler irrigation system.
•thermoelectric-power water use–water used in the process of generating electricity with steam-driven turbine generators. Term used in previous water-use circulars to describe the combined public-supply deliveries to thermoelectric-power plants and self-supplied thermoelectric-power withdrawals. For 2000 and 2005, thermoelectric-power water use refers only to self-supplied thermoelectric-power withdrawals. The category was called fuel-electric power from 1955-1980, and was reported as a subcategory of industrial water use. Thermoelectric power was subdivided into condensor cooling and other uses from 1955-1980, into fuel types of fossil fuel, geothermal, and nuclear from 1985-1995, and into cooling types of once-through and recirculating from 2000 to present. See also cooling system, cooling-system type, public-supply water use, industrial water use, and self-supplied water use.
•wastewater-treatment return flow–water returned to the hydrologic system by wastewater-treatment facilities. Wastewater-treatment return flows were referred to as sewage treatment in 1985. Wastewater treatment return flows were last reported in 1995. See also water use.
•water power, waterpower–hydroelectric power water use
•water use–In a restrictive sense, the term refers to water that is withdrawn for a specific purpose, such as for public supply, domestic use, irrigation, thermoelectric-power cooling, or industrial processing. In previous water-use circulars, water use for the domestic, commercial, industrial, and thermoelectric categories included both self-supplied withdrawals and deliveries from public supply. More broadly, water use pertains to the interaction of humans 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.
•water withdrawal–water removed from the ground or diverted from a surface-water source for use. See also offstream use and self-supplied water.
--------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN WATER-USE CATEGORIES:
Water-use terminology has changed in the series of USGS water-use Circulars prepared at 5-year intervals. The category changes over time are illustrated here. In some changes categories were re-named but retained essentially the same definition, while other changes split existing categories or shifted components of a category to another category. See the linked definitions of the categories for other details at https://water.usgs.gov/watuse/WU-Category-Changes.html.
1950 Municipal, Irrigation, Rural*, Self-supplied Industrial, Water Power
1955 Public Supply, Irrigation, Rural*, Other industrial, Fuel-electric power, Water Power, Condensor Cooling, Other
1960 Public Supply, Irrigation, Rural Domestic, Livestock, Other industrial, Fuel-electric power, Water Power, Condensor Cooling, Other
1965-1980 Public Supply, Irrigation, Rural Domestic, Livestock, Other industrial, Fuel-electric power, Hydroelectric Power, Condensor Cooling, Other
1985 Public Supply, Irrigation, Domestic, Livestock, Commercial, Industrial, Mining, Thermoelectric power, Hydroelectric Power, Sewage Treatment (releases), Fossil Fuel, Geothermal, Nuclear
1990-1995 Public Supply, Irrigation, Domestic, Livestock, Animal Specialties (incl. fish farming), Commercial (incl. offstream fish hatcheries), Industrial, Mining, Thermoelectric power, Hydroelectric Power, Wastewater Treatment (releases), Fossil Fuel, Geothermal, Nuclear
2000-2010 Public Supply, Irrigation, Domestic, Livestock, Aquaculture (incl. fish farming & hatcheries), Commercial not estimated, Industrial, Mining, Thermoelectric power, Hydroelectric Power not estimated, Wastewater Treatment not estimated
*Rural estimates for 1950 and 1955 were retroactively allocated to Rural Domestic and Livestock in later reports.
none
U.S. Geological Survey
Michael Ierardi
IT Specialist
mailing and physical
445 National Center
Reston
Virginia
20192
USA
1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS)
mierardi@usgs.gov
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Water Use
Online accessible data
Water use informations
1
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/water_use/
None. This dataset is provided by USGS as a public service.
20201117
U.S. Geological Survey
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