Evening star., 1952-10-06
TO Billion Gallons
Of Wuter Used Daily
And U. S. Requirements
Are Rising. Report Suys
By Thomos R. Henry

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Are Rising, Report Suys
By Thomas R. Henry
Americans use approximately ITO bill
lion gallons of water q day.
This is the overall total for with.
drawal from city water supplies private
industrial use, irrigation and rural use.
according to report by DR.. c. G. Paul
sen Of the United States Geological
Survey.
The requirements are going up. The
present ITO billion gallons used each
day, Mr.. Paulsen said. IT evenly dis
tributed among the inhabitants Of the
nation amounts to more than 1000 gall
Ions per person per day. Admittedly
most Of this per capita use is for other
than domestic requirements but 1t en-
phasizes the extent to which our North
American way Of life has exploited our
water resources.
I'm 1850 only SO cities in the United
States had public water supplies and
only small proportion Of the homes
In those cities had water piped directly
from the city mains. The per capita
consumption based on public supply
alone was probably well under 50 gall
Ions day. In 1850 there were more
than $4,000 municipal water works and
the per capita rate had reached las gal
Ions day. totaling 1875 billion gallons
for the nation.
Two Chief Users.
'"The generation Of electricity from
steam power. the largest single indus
trial use Of water today. had not begun
century ago. nor had the manufacture
OF steel and allied products-the second
largest use Of water-attained more
than an infancy stage. Yet in 1850 it
was estimated that these two industries
IN the United States alone were using
SO billion gallons Of water daily. The
requirements for all United States In
dustries are believed to approximate 80
billion gallons a day. including Is bill
Lion gallons Of salt water used for
cooling.
The vast appetite Of industry for
water Is exemplified by one power COM
pany serving the Pittsburgh industrial
area: The four steam generation plants
OF this one company pump Is billion
gallons daily through the summer.
1T is probable that the greatest in
crease In the use Of water during the
past century has been for irrigation.
In 1850 only few thousand acres In
the West were irrigated. whereas in
1850 there were IS million acres. re-
quiring about 88 billion gallons a day.
Irrigation accounts for about half of
all the water withdrawn by the nation.
These water requirements are especially
OF concern because Of the large per-
centage lost through evaporation and
SO not available for reuse. The con-
sumptive use Of water for irrigation
is perhaps five to ten times that Of
industrial water losses.
Rural use Of water has shown the
smallest increase and by 1850 amounted
to only S.5 billion gallons day for the
entire United States"
Increase Irregular.
The increase In water use has been
quite irregular through the country and
has not always followed increased popu-
lations. During the 50-year interval
from 1890 to 1910, for example. the
population Of Texas increased less than
three-fold while the municipal and in.
duStrial use Of water increased about
80 times and irrigation use about 55
times.
Only in the past few years has there
been much worry about water, except
in cases Of local drouths. Folks have
taken for granted an adequate water
supply over any extended period. Geo.
logical Survey studies show, however.
that pessimism is largely unjustified, If
reasonable conservation practices are
followed. The level Of ground water, on
the whole, is not declining.
There have been substantial declines.
Mr.. Paulsen said, in some Of the larger
industrial areas and in some parts Of
the Great Plains and Southwest. But
in nearly every case the areas Of decline
are areas where the ground water re-
serves have been heavily pumped. During
the past several decades stream run-off
in many places. Is shown by Geological
Survey records, followed q downward
swing which reached its lowest point
between 1880 and 1910. Except for the
Southwest, the records show q general
upward swing since 1910. Now the an
nual flow Of all major continental rivers
gagged by the Geological Survey Is near
normal or above normal"