Water Use

The USGS National Water-Use Information Program collects data about the quantities of water withdrawn for specific uses: public supply, domestic, industrial, mining, thermoelectric power, irrigation, livestock, and aquaculture. On a broader scale, we research how humans interact with the hydrologic cycle throuugh water withdrawal, water delivery, consumptive use, return flows, wastewater reuse...

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The City of Columbus operates 5 high-capacity collector wells to extract groundwater for drinking-water supply. To assist the City, the USGS monitors water levels in 5 observation wells and operates a water-quality monitor on the Scioto River where specific conductance, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity are measured on an hourly basis. In addition, groundwater-level synoptic...

The Louisville Water Company is using riverbank filtration wells to draw water from the Ohio River through the aquifer at their B.E. Payne Water Treatment Plant near Prospect, Kentucky. The northeast portion of the alluvium— a 6.4-mi reach running from Beargrass Creek upriver to Harrods Creek is an especially prolific water-bearing formation with the total groundwater storage in the area estimated...

USGS is developing new and innovative ways to map the world around us.