Water use information for 1985 was collected and reported by county for eight major categories of use. Seven of the categories were offstream uses, which included (1) public supply , (2) commercial, (3) domestic, (4) industrial, (5) mining, (6) thermoelectric, and (7) agricultural uses. The agricultural uses category was separated into irrigation and livestock water use. Instream water-use data also were collected for hydroelectric power generation. Water use in Kentucky was estimated to average 4,200 million gallons per day (M gal/d) during 1985 for all offstream uses. About 95% of this amount was from surface water sources, and about 5% was from groundwater sources. Per capita use for all offstream uses was about 1,100 gal/day. About 260 M gal/d was consumed (not returned to the surface--or groundwater system). Instream water use for hydroelectric power generation was estimated to be 91,000 M gal/d. Almost 97% of the offstream water withdrawals in 1985 were withdrawn for thermoelectric, public supply, and industrial use. Cooling water used in the production of thermoelectric power accounted for about 81% of the total offstream water use in 1985. Water withdrawn for public supplies was the second largest offstream use at about 10 % of the total, and industrial water use was almost 6%. Thermoelectric, domestic, and livestock uses accounted for almost 90% of the consumptive use in 1985. Consumptive use in the thermoelectric category was almost one-half of the total amount consumed in the State for all uses. (USGS)