Water Use in the United States

The USGS collaborates with local, state, and federal partners to gather and incorporate water-use data with other datasets covering climate, population, geography, system characteristics, land use, social factors, and economics. This information is then integrated into a modeling framework to generate national estimates of water withdrawal and consumption (evapotranspiration of withdrawn water) from both groundwater and surface-water sources. These estimates are crucial for understanding how water is used and for assessing the balance between water supply and demand. Models also enable more frequent availability of water use estimates, quicker identification of data errors, and a consistent approach to evaluating uncertainty. This improved understanding of the factors influencing water use supports the forecasting of water use under varying climate and socio-economic scenarios.

At this time, estimated water-use data are available at the following temporal and spatial resolutions and date range:

Where HUC-12 is the 12-digit hydrologic unit code level, and WSA is the public supply water service area.

The models provide estimates at finer temporal and spatial resolution than previous annual, county-level estimates published by the USGS. 

Five additional categories of use (self-supplied industrial, domestic, mining, livestock, and aquaculture) will be available in 2025, as the development of those models began in 2023. Models will be expanded to include golf irrigation and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands during a future phase of model development.

This water-use reanalysis supports the Water Availability and Use Science Program goals of determining the quantity and quality of water that is available for human and ecological uses, now and in the future and helps to identify where and when the Nation may have challenges meeting its demand for water because of insufficient water quantity or quality. 

Estimated use of water in the United States (2020)

Data are available from the USGS ScienceBase Catalog. 

Public Supply 

• Luukkonen, C.L., Alzraiee, A.H., Larsen, J.D., Martin, D.J., Herbert, D.M., Buchwald, C.A., Houston, N.A., Valseth, K.J., Paulinski, S., Miller, L.D., Niswonger, R.G., Stewart, J.S., Dieter, C.A., and Miller, O.L., 2023, Public supply water use reanalysis for the 2000-2020 period by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey data release, (ver. 2.0, August 2024): https://doi.org/10.5066/P9FUL880.
• Alzraiee, A., Niswonger, R., Luukkonen, C., Larsen, J., Martin, D., Herbert, D., et al. (2024). Next generation public supply water withdrawal estimation for the conterminous United States using machine learning and operational frameworks. Water Resources Research, 60, e2023WR036632. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR036632
• Alzraiee, A. H., & Niswonger, R. G. (2024). A probabilistic approach to training machine learning models using noisy data. Environmental Modelling & Software, 179, 106133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2024.106133
• Buchwald, C.A., Houston, N.A., Stewart, J.S., Alzraiee, A.H., Niswonger, R.G., and Larsen, J.D., 2024, Development and evaluation of public‐supply community water service area boundaries for the conterminous United States: JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13210.

Self-supplied irrigation 

• Martin, D.J., Regan, R.S., Haynes, J.V., Read, A.L., Henson, W.R., Stewart, J.S., Brandt, J.T., and Niswonger, R.G., 2023, Irrigation water use reanalysis for the 2000-20 period by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, September 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9YWR0OJ.
• Haynes, J.V., Read, A.L., Chan, A.Y., Martin, D.J., Regan, R.S., Henson, W.R., Niswonger, R.G., and Stewart, J.S., 2023, Monthly crop irrigation withdrawals and efficiencies by HUC12 watershed for years 2000-2020 within the conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, September 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9LGISUM.

Self-supplied thermoelectric 

• Gorman Sanisaca, L.E., Galanter, A.E., Skinner, K.D., Harris, M.A., Diehl, T.H., Halper, A.S., Mohs, T.G., Roland, V.L., Stewart, J.S., and Niswonger, R., 2023, Thermoelectric-power condenser duty estimates by month and cooling type for use to calculate water use by power plant for the 2008-2020 reanalysis period for the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9XG876W.
• Galanter, A.E., Gorman Sanisaca, L.E., Skinner, K.D., Harris, M.A., Diehl, T.H., Chamberlin, C.A., McCarthy, B.A., Halper, A.S., Niswonger, R.G., Stewart, J.S., Markstrom, S.L., Embry, I., and Worland, S., 2023, Thermoelectric-power water use reanalysis for the 2008-2020 period by power plant, month, and year for the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ZE2FVM. 

Estimated use of water in the United States (2015)

• Estimated total water use for all categories and sources by State   
• Water-use estimates for groundwater and surface water by State.
• Trends: How water use is changing over time, starting with the initial USGS estimates for 1950.
• Categories:
  • Public Supply
  • Domestic
  • Irrigation
  • Thermoelectric Power
  • Industrial
  • Mining
  • Livestock
  • Aquaculture

Additional information:   Water-use category changes over time  •  Water-use terminology