Water-Use Data in the United States: Challenges and Future Directions - Ben Ruddell, Northern Arizona University

In the United States, greater attention has been given to developing water supplies and quantifying available waters than determining who uses water, how much they withdraw and consume, and how and where water use occurs. As water supplies are stressed due to an increasingly variable climate, changing land-use, and growing water needs, greater consideration of the demand side of the water balance equation is essential. Data about the spatial and temporal aspects of water use for different purposes are now critical to long-term water supply planning and resource management. We detail the current state of water-use data, the major stakeholders involved in their collection and applications, and the challenges in obtaining high-quality nationally consistent data applicable to a range of scales and purposes. Following a discussion of this context, an overview of the work of the USGS John Wesley Powell Center Working Group's activity on water use data will be provided by way of presentation of several related papers, along with a discussion of emerging water research opportunities enabled by this data.

See the related publication here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13004.

Ben Ruddell, Ph.D., P.E., is a Professor at the School of Informatics Computing and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ, USA.

For access to the recording, please email powellcenter@usgs.gov.