Water Usage & Scarcity Takeaways
Takeaways are key points detailed and referenced in the Water Usage & Scarcity section
Water Usage Intro
- Water consumption has more impact than water withdrawals; consumed water is not returned to its original source and is not available for reuse.
- Agriculture is by far the largest consumer of water in the U.S.
- The factory farming system relies on millions of acres of feed crops that consume immense amounts of freshwater; this is arguably the central water issue for the nation.
Water Consumption
♦ Agricultural water use, mostly for irrigation, accounts for ~80% of total U.S. water consumption.
♦ Crops primarily used for animal feed (corn, soybeans, and hay) account for more than 40% of total national water consumption.
♦ Alfalfa and hay (almost all used for farmed animal feed) account for ~20% of total national water consumption.
Water Withdrawals
♦ Agricultural water use, mostly for irrigation, accounts for ~40% of the nation’s total freshwater withdrawals. (Agriculture is the largest use, followed by thermonuclear usage.)
♦ U.S. per capita agricultural withdrawals are ~390 gallons per year; while domestic water use (indoor and outdoor at-home usage) is ~80 gallons per capita.
♦ Crops used primarily for animal feed (including corn, hay, and soybeans) account for more than 60% of all harvested irrigated acres.
♦ Crops used primarily for animal feed account for more than 50% of all irrigation water volume.
♦ Broadly estimated, about half of all irrigation withdrawals go to the share of all crops specifically used for animal feed. (This is our estimate; see pages for details.)
♦ Most irrigation water (~70%) comes from groundwater wells.
♦ The meat and poultry slaughter and processing industries use large amounts of water relative to the communities in which they operate; the industry’s water pollution issues are generally a more pressing concern than usage.
Water Scarcity
♦ Depletion of groundwater is unsustainable – a threat to public and private water supplies and to all freshwater ecosystems.
♦ U.S. aquifers are losing approximately 25 km3 (cubic kilometers) yearly; that’s about two-thirds the volume of total annual domestic water use.
♦ The High Plains aquifer (including the Ogallala) has the largest cumulative depletion and the largest withdrawal, ~95% of which is used for irrigation.
♦ In the 8 states overlying the High Plains aquifer, likely well over 50% of aquifer water is used for feed crop production.