New Jersey Discharger - Vol. 6 No. 4 M

	Vol. 6 No. 4 Spring 1999
A Newsletter About New Jersey's Water Quality Programs

USGS Report
Signals Trend:
More People
Using Less Water

Newly released statistics on water use by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) show that the nation is using less water- 402 billion gallons per day for all uses, which is 2 percent less than in 1990 and nearly 10 percent less than in 1980, despite a continuous increase in population over that same time period.

Freshwater per-capita use also decreased for 1995. Total per-capita use was 1,280 gallons per day, compared to 1,340 gal/d in 1990. The USGS has compiled and reported national water-use statistics once every 5 years since 1950.

After continual increases in the nation's total use of surface and ground water for the years reported from 1950 to 1980, water use declined and has remained fairly constant since the mid-1980s, according to the USGS report. Enhanced citizen awareness of the value of water, improved irrigation techniques, and more efficient use of water by industry were cited as reasons for the decline.

The USGS water-use report, searchable by county and watershed, along with an expanded section on trends, is available on the World Wide Web at: http://water.usgs.gov/public/watuse/.

Articles appearing in the New Jersey Discharger may be reprinted provided source credit is given.

Please contact Tom Cosmas regarding any comments on the New Jersey Discharger web pages.
Last revision Friday, March 19, 1999