This data release contains Mann-Kendall trend results (p-values and Theil-Sen slope values) of water use data in either 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC08) or Van Metre hydrologic regions across the conterminous United States (CONUS) for the period 2000-2020. Trends are computed for 7 timesteps: annual, winter (Dec, Jan, Feb), spring (Mar, Apr, May), summer (Jun, Jul, Aug), fall (Sep, Oct, Nov), high (Apr-Sep), and low (Oct-Mar) from three monthly HUC12 water-use datasets: public supply (Luukkonen, and others, 2023), irrigation (Martin, and others, 2023; Haynes and others, 2023), and thermoelectric (Galanter, and others, 2023; Gorman and others, 2023). Trends are computed on withdrawals, consumptive use, and the ratio of consumptive use to total withdrawal types for each of the three water use categories. In addition, trends were calculated for all withdrawals across the three categories (summing HUC12 datasets). Trends in thermoelectric data and all withdrawals are limited to the period 2008-2020. In addition to the trends data in “trends_modelled_wateruse.csv”, this dataset includes several files in the “trends.zip” folder that were used to download modelled output data, calculate trends (volumetric and Regional Kendall), and visualize trends across water-use categories and hydrologic units.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Program is responsible for compiling and disseminating the Nation's water-use data. Working in cooperation with local, State, and Federal agencies, the USGS has published an estimate of water use in the United States every 5 years, beginning in 1950. These 5-year compilations contain water-use estimates that are aggregated to the county level in the United States. This USGS data release contains summaries of method codes used in the 2015 national compilation of public supply, self-supplied domestic, thermoelectric, and irrigation water-use data. This data release also contains the county-level water-use estimates that support the evaluations in Luukkonen and others (2021). Finally, this data release contains summaries of regional medians and interquartile ranges from 1985 to 2015 that were used to highlight areas of unexpected variability, consistency and/or potential values that warrant further investigation. This data release supports the following publication: Luukkonen, C.L., Belitz, K., Sullivan, S.L., and Sargent, P., 2021, Factors affecting uncertainty of public supply, self-supplied domestic, irrigation, and thermoelectric water-use data, 1985-2015-evaluation of information sources, estimation methods, and data variability: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5082, 78 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215082.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Program is responsible for compiling and disseminating the Nation's water-use data. Working in cooperation with local, State, and Federal agencies, the USGS has published an estimate of water use in the United States every 5 years, beginning in 1950. These 5-year compilations contain water-use estimates that are aggregated to the county level in the United States. This USGS data release contains summaries of method codes used in the 2015 national compilation of public supply, self-supplied domestic, thermoelectric, and irrigation water-use data. This data release also contains the county-level water-use estimates that support the evaluations in Luukkonen and others (2021). Finally, this data release contains summaries of regional medians and interquartile ranges from 1985 to 2015 that were used to highlight areas of unexpected variability, consistency and/or potential values that warrant further investigation. This data release supports the following publication: Luukkonen, C.L., Belitz, K., Sullivan, S.L., and Sargent, P., 2021, Factors affecting uncertainty of public supply, self-supplied domestic, irrigation, and thermoelectric water-use data, 1985-2015-evaluation of information sources, estimation methods, and data variability: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5082, 78 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215082.

Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed models to estimate the amount of water that is withdrawn and consumed by thermoelectric power plants (Diehl and others, 2013; Diehl and Harris, 2014; Harris and Diehl, 2019 [full citations listed in srcinfo of the metadata file]). This data release presents a historical reanalysis of thermoelectric water use from 2008 to 2020 and includes monthly and annual water withdrawal and consumption estimates, thermodynamically plausible ranges of minimum and maximum withdrawal and consumption estimates, and associated information for 1,360 water-using, utility-scale thermoelectric power plants in the United States. The term “reanalysis” refers to the process of reevaluating and recalculating water-use data using updated or refined methods, data sources, models, or assumptions. For this case, new estimates of withdrawal and consumption were made using new data sources and methods which involved taking existing historical data and subjecting it to a thorough review and revision to improve accuracy, completeness, and consistency. Reanalysis included incorporating new datasets, refining methodologies, and adjusting for changes in technology, regulations, or knowledge. The goal of reanalysis was to provide more accurate and up-to-date water-use estimates that reflects the most current understanding of water-use patterns and factors affecting water usage in the United States. This historical reanalysis was completed by running thermoelectric water-use models that are based on linked heat-and-water budgets (models contained within this data release). The linked heat-and-water budgets are constrained by the following data (also contained within this data release): power plant generation and cooling system technologies, the quantity of fuels consumed and electricity generated, as well as environmental variables. The heat-budget component of the models calculates the amount of waste heat (fuel heat that is not converted to electricity) that is removed from the steam used to drive the turbines that generate electricity. The waste heat is transferred to the cooling system in a thermoelectric power plant’s condenser, which is defined as the condenser duty (Diehl and others, 2013). The water-budget component of the models calculates the amount of water that is withdrawn and consumed based on plant-specific condenser duty, and environmental variables (air temperatures, water temperatures, wind speed, and elevation). The models were updated using the same formulation previously developed (Diehl and others, 2013) and updates include enhancements of automatic data collectors, nationally consistent and operational environmental variables, and simulated water temperatures for plant intakes provided by the USGS National Hydrologic Model (Regan and others, 2018; Hay and others, 2023). These new features enable reproducibility and are an important step toward an operational modeling framework for making nationally consistent historical and forecasted future water-use estimates that are independent of Federal plant-operator reported water withdrawal and consumption data. Total estimated water withdrawal (including fresh and saline sources) ranged from 132 billion gallons per day (Bgal/d) in 2008 to 80 Bgal/d in 2020. Total estimated water consumption (including only fresh sources; consumption at coastal saline plants was not modeled) ranged from 3.6 Bgal/d in 2008 to 2.7 Bgal/d in 2020. Gorman Sanisaca and others, 2023, provides monthly condenser duty estimates and associated information from 2008 to 2020 that are used by the models reported here for estimating withdrawals and consumption.

Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed models to estimate the amount of water that is withdrawn and consumed by thermoelectric power plants (Diehl and others, 2013; Diehl and Harris, 2014; Harris and Diehl, 2019 [full citations listed in srcinfo of the metadata file]). This data release presents a historical reanalysis of thermoelectric water use from 2008 to 2020 and includes monthly and annual water withdrawal and consumption estimates, thermodynamically plausible ranges of minimum and maximum withdrawal and consumption estimates, and associated information for 1,360 water-using, utility-scale thermoelectric power plants in the United States. The term “reanalysis” refers to the process of reevaluating and recalculating water-use data using updated or refined methods, data sources, models, or assumptions. For this case, new estimates of withdrawal and consumption were made using new data sources and methods which involved taking existing historical data and subjecting it to a thorough review and revision to improve accuracy, completeness, and consistency. Reanalysis included incorporating new datasets, refining methodologies, and adjusting for changes in technology, regulations, or knowledge. The goal of reanalysis was to provide more accurate and up-to-date water-use estimates that reflects the most current understanding of water-use patterns and factors affecting water usage in the United States. This historical reanalysis was completed by running thermoelectric water-use models that are based on linked heat-and-water budgets (models contained within this data release). The linked heat-and-water budgets are constrained by the following data (also contained within this data release): power plant generation and cooling system technologies, the quantity of fuels consumed and electricity generated, as well as environmental variables. The heat-budget component of the models calculates the amount of waste heat (fuel heat that is not converted to electricity) that is removed from the steam used to drive the turbines that generate electricity. The waste heat is transferred to the cooling system in a thermoelectric power plant’s condenser, which is defined as the condenser duty (Diehl and others, 2013). The water-budget component of the models calculates the amount of water that is withdrawn and consumed based on plant-specific condenser duty, and environmental variables (air temperatures, water temperatures, wind speed, and elevation). The models were updated using the same formulation previously developed (Diehl and others, 2013) and updates include enhancements of automatic data collectors, nationally consistent and operational environmental variables, and simulated water temperatures for plant intakes provided by the USGS National Hydrologic Model (Regan and others, 2018; Hay and others, 2023). These new features enable reproducibility and are an important step toward an operational modeling framework for making nationally consistent historical and forecasted future water-use estimates that are independent of Federal plant-operator reported water withdrawal and consumption data. Total estimated water withdrawal (including fresh and saline sources) ranged from 132 billion gallons per day (Bgal/d) in 2008 to 80 Bgal/d in 2020. Total estimated water consumption (including only fresh sources; consumption at coastal saline plants was not modeled) ranged from 3.6 Bgal/d in 2008 to 2.7 Bgal/d in 2020. Gorman Sanisaca and others, 2023, provides monthly condenser duty estimates and associated information from 2008 to 2020 that are used by the models reported here for estimating withdrawals and consumption.

This dataset presents the total monthly water withdrawal and consumption estimates for surface-water and groundwater sourced utility-scale thermoelectric power plants by 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) in the United States for 2015. The water withdrawal and consumption estimate methods and data are published in USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5103 "Withdrawal and Consumption of Water by Thermoelectric Power Plants in the United States, 2015" available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20195103. The data release described by this metadata documents the summation of the monthly water withdrawal and consumption estimates by the HUC12 in which the facilities reside. These monthly estimates by HUC12 support USGS National Integrated Water Availability Assessments Water Use Maps.

This dataset presents the total monthly water withdrawal and consumption estimates for surface-water and groundwater sourced utility-scale thermoelectric power plants by 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) in the United States for 2015. The water withdrawal and consumption estimate methods and data are published in USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5103 "Withdrawal and Consumption of Water by Thermoelectric Power Plants in the United States, 2015" available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20195103. The data release described by this metadata documents the summation of the monthly water withdrawal and consumption estimates by the HUC12 in which the facilities reside. These monthly estimates by HUC12 support USGS National Integrated Water Availability Assessments Water Use Maps.

The U.S. Geological Survey is developing national water-use models to support water resources management in the United States. Model benefits include a nationally consistent estimation approach, greater temporal and spatial resolution of estimates, efficient and automated updates of results, and capabilities to forecast water use into the future and assess model uncertainty. The term “reanalysis” refers to the process of reevaluating and recalculating water-use data using updated or refined methods, data sources, models, or assumptions. In this data release, water use refers to water that is withdrawn by public and private water suppliers and includes water provided for domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric power, and public water uses, as well as water that is consumed or lost within the public supply system. Consumptive use refers to water withdrawn by the public supply system that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products or crops, or consumed by humans or livestock. This data release contains data used in a machine learning model (child item 2) to estimate monthly water use for communities that are supplied by public-supply water systems in the conterminous United States for 2000-2020. This data release also contains associated scripts used to produce input features (child items 4 - 8) as well as model water use estimates by 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) and public supply water service area (WSA). HUC12 boundaries are in child item 3. Public supply delivery and consumptive use estimates are in child items 1 and 9, respectively. First posted: November 1, 2023 Revised: August 8, 2024 This version replaces the previous version of the data release: Luukkonen, C.L., Alzraiee, A.H., Larsen, J.D., Martin, D.J., Herbert, D.M., Buchwald, C.A., Houston, N.A., Valseth, K.J., Paulinski, S., Miller, L.D., Niswonger, R.G., Stewart, J.S., and Dieter, C.A., 2023, Public supply water use reanalysis for the 2000-2020 period by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9FUL880 Version 2.0 This data release has been updated as of 8/8/2024. The previous version has been replaced because some fractions used for downscaling WSA estimates to HUC12 did not sum to one for some WSAs in Virginia. Updated model water use estimates by HUC12 are included in this version. A change was made in two scripts to check for this condition. Output files have also been updated to preserve the leading zero in in the HUC12 codes. Additional files are also included to provide information about mapping the WSAs and groundwater and surface water fractions to HUC12 and to provide public supply water-use estimates by WSA. The 'Machine learning model that estimates total monthly and annual per capita public supply water use' child item has been updated with these corrections and additional files. A new child item 'R code used to estimate public supply consumptive water use' has been added to provide estimates of public supply consumptive use. This page includes the following files: PS_HUC12_Tot_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply total water use from 2000-2020 by HUC12, in million gallons per day PS_HUC12_GW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply groundwater use for 2000-2020 by HUC12, in million gallons per day PS_HUC12_SW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply surface water use for 2000-2020 by HUC12, in million gallons per day PS_WSA_Tot_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply total water use from 2000-2020 by WSA, in million gallons per day PS_WSA_GW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply groundwater use for 2000-2020 by WSA, in million gallons per day PS_WSA_SW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply surface water use for 2000-2020 by WSA, in million gallons per day Note: 1) Groundwater and surface water

The U.S. Geological Survey is developing national water-use models to support water resources management in the United States. Model benefits include a nationally consistent estimation approach, greater temporal and spatial resolution of estimates, efficient and automated updates of results, and capabilities to forecast water use into the future and assess model uncertainty. The term “reanalysis” refers to the process of reevaluating and recalculating water-use data using updated or refined methods, data sources, models, or assumptions. In this data release, water use refers to water that is withdrawn by public and private water suppliers and includes water provided for domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric power, and public water uses, as well as water that is consumed or lost within the public supply system. Consumptive use refers to water withdrawn by the public supply system that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products or crops, or consumed by humans or livestock. This data release contains data used in a machine learning model (child item 2) to estimate monthly water use for communities that are supplied by public-supply water systems in the conterminous United States for 2000-2020. This data release also contains associated scripts used to produce input features (child items 4 - 8) as well as model water use estimates by 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) and public supply water service area (WSA). HUC12 boundaries are in child item 3. Public supply delivery and consumptive use estimates are in child items 1 and 9, respectively. First posted: November 1, 2023 Revised: August 8, 2024 This version replaces the previous version of the data release: Luukkonen, C.L., Alzraiee, A.H., Larsen, J.D., Martin, D.J., Herbert, D.M., Buchwald, C.A., Houston, N.A., Valseth, K.J., Paulinski, S., Miller, L.D., Niswonger, R.G., Stewart, J.S., and Dieter, C.A., 2023, Public supply water use reanalysis for the 2000-2020 period by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9FUL880 Version 2.0 This data release has been updated as of 8/8/2024. The previous version has been replaced because some fractions used for downscaling WSA estimates to HUC12 did not sum to one for some WSAs in Virginia. Updated model water use estimates by HUC12 are included in this version. A change was made in two scripts to check for this condition. Output files have also been updated to preserve the leading zero in in the HUC12 codes. Additional files are also included to provide information about mapping the WSAs and groundwater and surface water fractions to HUC12 and to provide public supply water-use estimates by WSA. The 'Machine learning model that estimates total monthly and annual per capita public supply water use' child item has been updated with these corrections and additional files. A new child item 'R code used to estimate public supply consumptive water use' has been added to provide estimates of public supply consumptive use. This page includes the following files: PS_HUC12_Tot_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply total water use from 2000-2020 by HUC12, in million gallons per day PS_HUC12_GW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply groundwater use for 2000-2020 by HUC12, in million gallons per day PS_HUC12_SW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply surface water use for 2000-2020 by HUC12, in million gallons per day PS_WSA_Tot_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply total water use from 2000-2020 by WSA, in million gallons per day PS_WSA_GW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply groundwater use for 2000-2020 by WSA, in million gallons per day PS_WSA_SW_2000_2020.csv - a csv file with estimated monthly public supply surface water use for 2000-2020 by WSA, in million gallons per day Note: 1) Groundwater and surface water

This data release contains results from a simple monthly water budget that includes water supply and consumptive use for thermoelectric, irrigation, and public supply for 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC12) across the conterminous United States for water years 2010-2020. These results were produced using an analysis pipeline that ingests water supply, consumptive use, and routing information and accumulates and routes the water balance through the HUC12 network (Miller and others, 2024; https://doi.org/10.5066/P14MPRDE ). Water budget results also include an assessment of supply and use imbalances within the context of historical climatic conditions to calculate a surface water supply and use index and when considering a range of environmental flow allocation methods.