How water is used How water is used We use water in many ways, and assign different values to those uses. By far the greater number and variety of water uses occur on land. These are called withdrawal uses and, although important to our daily lives, they have tended to be assigned a low value.
Water is withdrawn, used and then discharged.
And, after it has been used, the quality of the water that is returned is often diminished, which has a negative impact on both the environment and recreational instream uses. In 1991, five main withdrawal uses accounted for a gross water use in Canada of 57.9 billion m 3 . Manufacturing accounted for 16 percent of water withdrawals in 1991. Food and beverages, chemicals, paper and allied products, and mineral fuels were the main industrial users. Agriculture accounted for nearly 9 percent of total withdrawals.