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How Much Water Is Lost In The Great Lakes Basin?
Do you ever wonder how much of the water that we remove from the Great Lakes
for use in everyday products such as food, ethanol, household chemicals or
paper products is not returned? Or what type of use is most likely to cause
these losses?
Information about these and other types of “consumptive” water
use for the Great Lakes basin can be found in a new U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS)
report that will be used by water-resource managers and planners in the Great
Lakes as they develop policies to encourage efficient and sustainable water
use.
“
We found that irrigation and livestock had the largest losses compared with total
water withdrawn from the Great Lakes basin,” said Kimberly Shaffer, hydrologist
with the USGS and author of the report. “Of the total water withdrawn
for irrigation, 70-100 percent was lost to the basin.”
The authors examined seven consumptive water-use categories: domestic and
public supply, industrial, electric power, irrigation, livestock, commercial,
and
mining. Consumptive water use is water that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated
into
products or crops, consumed by humans or livestock, or otherwise removed from
the immediate environment. It is usually reported as a percentage of the amount
of water withdrawn.
This study is relevant to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable
Water Resources Agreement, an agreement between eight states and two Canadian
provinces that would prohibit major diversions of water beyond counties bordering
the basin.
“
We are pleased that the USGS has compiled this consumptive water use information
in one report. It will be a great resource for water-resources managers and planners
in the Great Lakes,” said David Naftzger, Executive Director of the Council
of Great Lakes Governors. “There can be a large range in consumptive
use numbers in a single water-use category, and the USGS has presented the
information
in a way that provides an improved understanding of how water is being used
and consumed in the region.”
For this report USGS compiled, mapped, graphed, and statistically analyzed
consumptive water use numbers from more than 100 sources as a starting point
for facility
managers, water managers, and scientists in determining the amount of water
consumed in seven water-use categories: domestic and public supply, industrial,
electric
power, irrigation, livestock, commercial, and mining.
For comparison purposes, consumptive use information for basins and states
that have climates similar to the Great Lakes basin are included in the report.
Methods
for computing and estimating consumptive use are also presented, as is an extensive
bibliography.
The fact sheet and report are among a series of products by the U.S. Geological
Survey’s National Assessment of Water Availability and Use Program for
the Great Lakes Basin, a program designed to gain a clearer understanding of
water-use, land-use, and climatic trends in our Nation’s water resources.
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