National Water Use: 2020, Average Daily Water Withdrawals by Use Type and Region

The top three categories of water use in the U.S. are crop irrigation, thermoelectric power generation, and public supply. Each region of the United States uses water from the three top water use categories in different ways:

• The Southeast and the Northeast through the Midwest regions use water most for thermoelectric power generation
• The Western U.S. and the High Plains region use water most for crop irrigation

Learn more about water use from the National Water Availability Assessment report.