Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed models to estimate the amount of water that is withdrawn and consumed by thermoelectric power plants (Diehl and others, 2013; Diehl and Harris, 2014; Harris and Diehl, 2019 [full citations listed in srcinfo of the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 The water-budget component of the models calculates the amount of water that is withdrawn and consumed based on plant-specific condenser duty, and environmental variables (air temperatures, water temperatures, wind speed, and elevation).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.

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). The thermoelectric water use models are based on linked heat-and-water budgets that are constrained by power plant generation and cooling system technologies, the amount of fuels consumed and electricity generated, and environmental variables. The heat-budget side 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 and transferred to the cooling system in a thermoelectric power plant’s condenser, which is defined as the condenser duty (Diehl and others, 2013). Condenser duty is an intermediate calculation and an input to the water-budget side of the thermoelectric water use models that estimates plant-specific water withdrawal and consumption. The models provide consistent methods for water-use estimation across U.S. thermoelectric plants and estimates independent of plant operator-reported data. This dataset presents a historical reanalysis of monthly condenser duty estimates from 2008 to 2020, and associated information for 1360 water-using, utility-scale thermoelectric power plants in the conterminous United States operational within the time period. These monthly condenser duty estimates were input to the water-budget side of the thermoelectric water-use models for the 2008-2020 historical reanalysis of water withdrawals and consumption by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States (Galanter and others, 2023).

This dataset presents water withdrawal estimates, consumption estimates, and associated information for 1,122 water-using, utility-scale thermoelectric power plants in the United States for 2015. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed models to estimate thermoelectric water use based on linked heat-and-water budgets, including thermodynamically plausible ranges of minimum and maximum withdrawal and consumption, to provide a consistent method for water-use estimation across the fleet of U.S. thermoelectric plants. Historically, thermoelectric water withdrawal and consumption has been estimated by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) based on surveys of plant operator-reported data, and the USGS's 5-year water-use reports based on compiling data from State water agencies, plant operators, and the EIA. The USGS models provide independent estimates from plant operator-reported data. The total estimated withdrawal for 2015 was about 103 billion gallons per day (Bgal/d), and total estimated consumption was about 2.7 Bgal/d. This data release supports the findings published in Harris and Diehl (2019).

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 combines three Federal datasets of thermoelectric, non-industrial, power plant water withdrawals and associated plant information for the United States in 2010, excluding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Historically, thermoelectric water withdrawal has been estimated by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) through surveys of plant operator-reported data, and the Department of Interior's U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) 5-year water-use reports including data compiled from state water agencies, plant operators, and the EIA. Recently, the USGS developed models for estimating withdrawal at thermoelectric plants to provide independent estimates from plant operator-reported data. The three Federal datasets include plant-level data for 1,349 plants derived from EIA's 2010 Form EIA-860 and Form EIA-923 databases, USGS 2010 compilation-reported data (hereafter referred to as the USGS-compilation dataset), and USGS 2010 model-estimated data (hereafter referred to as the USGS-model dataset). The plant-level USGS-compilation data provided in this dataset were disaggregated from county-level data published in USGS Circular 1405 (Maupin and others, 2014). The USGS-model data and the EIA data presented in this dataset were previously published in USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5184 (Diehl and Harris, 2014). The year 2010 was chosen because it is the most recent year the USGS 5-year compilation report was published and the only year for which the USGS model estimates have been calculated.

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.

This metadata record documents a comma separated ascii dataset of water withdrawal and consumption (not returned) amounts from thermoelectric power plants in the conterminous United States for 2010. These data are U.S. Geological Survey best estimates of annual water withdrawal and consumption values in million gallons per day (Mgal/d) as reported in Diehl and others, 2014. These values were estimated for all power plants that are 1 megawatt or greater in nameplate capacity and that generated electricity in 2010. The estimates were rounded, so power plants whose water use was estimated to be less than 0.005 Mgal/d were rounded to zero. Please see the Supplemental Information element of this metadata record for references cited.

This metadata record documents a comma separated ascii dataset of water withdrawal and consumption (not returned) amounts from thermoelectric power plants in the conterminous United States for 2010. These data are U.S. Geological Survey best estimates of annual water withdrawal and consumption values in million gallons per day (Mgal/d) as reported in Diehl and others, 2014. These values were estimated for all power plants that are 1 megawatt or greater in nameplate capacity and that generated electricity in 2010. The estimates were rounded, so power plants whose water use was estimated to be less than 0.005 Mgal/d were rounded to zero. Please see the Supplemental Information element of this metadata record for references cited.

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.