Water Use

This ongoing USGS study for Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina aims to (1) compute low-flow statistics at selected continuous-record streamgages in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina and to (2) develop regional regression equations for a subset of those low-flow characteristics for streams that are not substantially affected by tides, regulation, diversions, or other...

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, a hydrologic data-collection network has been established to collect real-time streamflow, precipitation, continuous and discrete water-quality data. The USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC) Urban Hydrology Unit (UHU), located in Norcross, Georgia, has been working in cooperation with local municipal and county agencies in and around the Atlanta...

To provide estimates of water withdrawal, water use, and return flows to surface water needed for water management, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division (GaEPD), developed the Georgia Water-Use Program in 1979. This ongoing program focuses on collecting, compiling, and disseminating water-use information...

As one of several national “Focus Area Studies” in the Department of Interior’s WaterSMART initiative, USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center is undertaking a 3-year study of water availability and use to meet competing societal and ecological needs in Southeastern Atlantic Coastal Basins of the Carolinas. The Coastal Carolinas study area includes lower parts of the Pee Dee/Waccamaw River and...

“USGS long-term streamgages and groundwater wells are like a fine wine…they get better with age!” The accurate, long-term monitoring networks of SAWSC provide valuable data in real-time and historical perspective to compare that data to. The longer a monitoring location is in operation, the more valuable it becomes, since more statistical comparisons can be performed. Our field technicians...

Total water use, for 2010,was estimated at 4,680 Mgal/d which included 1,130 Mgal/d of water delivered by public suppliers to domestic, commercial and public use, and industrial customer and publics supply losses. About 6.7 Mgal/d of water was delivered from public suppliers in Alabama and Tennessee to customers in Georgia. Furthermore, 2,230 Mgal/d of water was returned to surface-water bodies in...

In North Carolina and across the Nation, water is a vital resource and it is used for a variety of purposes. Water use for 2010 was estimated for each county in North Carolina using data obtained from various Federal and State agencies and other sources. Estimates of water use in North Carolina were developed for the categories of public supply, domestic, industrial, mining, aquaculture...

The effects of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on water quality were investigated at 54 agricultural stream sites throughout the North Carolina Coastal Plain during 2012 and 2013. Three general watershed land-use types were examined during the study, including 18 background watersheds with no active CAFOs, 18 watersheds with one or more active swine CAFOs but no poultry CAFOs, and...

The future health and welfare of the Nation's population is dependent upon a continuing supply of uncontaminated fresh water. Increasing withdrawals and increasing demands for instream flows are limiting the water available for future use. The USGS compiles water-use data from numerous sources for all parts of the country, and since 1950 has published a series of Circulars on the estimated use of...