The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Use program, responding to directives in Section 9508 of the SECURE Water Act of 2009, provides improved water use data collection techniques as well as development of estimation methods and development and application of water use models to improve reporting of water withdrawal and consumptive use information for 8 categories of use (public supply, domestic, irrigation, thermoelectric power, self-supplied industrial, mining, livestock, and aquaculture). The Water Use program has been strategically designed to achieve multiple objectives in the USGS Water Mission Area (WMA) Strategic Science Plan, including Goal 2, Objective 2.4 - Develop a comprehensive understanding of human interactions with [...]
Summary
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Use program, responding to directives in Section 9508 of the SECURE Water Act of 2009, provides improved water use data collection techniques as well as development of estimation methods and development and application of water use models to improve reporting of water withdrawal and consumptive use information for 8 categories of use (public supply, domestic, irrigation, thermoelectric power, self-supplied industrial, mining, livestock, and aquaculture). The Water Use program has been strategically designed to achieve multiple objectives in the USGS Water Mission Area (WMA) Strategic Science Plan, including Goal 2, Objective 2.4 - Develop a comprehensive understanding of human interactions with water availability; Goal 3, Predict changes in the quantity and quality of water resources in response to changing climate, population, land use, and management scenarios; and, Goal 5 – Deliver timely hydrologic data, analyses, and decision support tools seamlessly across the nation to support water resource decisions. Finally, the Water Use program addresses recommendations on USGS priorities for developing new techniques to estimate and assess water use as stated a National Academies of Science (NAS) 2002 report, “Estimating Water Use in the United States,” and improvements to water accounting through an increased focus of human activities, including uncertainty, as stated in a NAS 2018 report, “Future Priorities for the Nation.”
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Related External Resources
Type: ScienceBase Repository
Skinner, K.D., 2021, Total monthly water withdrawal and consumption estimates by 12-digit hydrologic unit code for surface-water and groundwater sourced utility-scale thermoelectric plants in the conterminous United States for 2015.: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P97YG71E.
