Estimated Use of Water by Subbasin (HUC8) in the Red River Basin, 2010 and 2015

The Red River basin is one of several national "focus area studies" in the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Census. The objective of the National Water Census is to provide nationally-consistent base layers of well-documented data that account for water availability and use nationally. A focus area study (FAS) is a stakeholder-driven assessment of water availability in river basins with known or potential conflict. The Red River basin covers more than 93,000 square miles with a population of over 4 million people. Water resources in the basin are being stressed by increasing water demands and increasingly severe droughts. The results of the FAS will facilitate better management of water resources for human use and help maintain ecological flows in the basin. The Red River FAS is a comprehensive water-resource assessment of the basin, which is needed to enable sustainable water use. The Red River FAS is organized around four study components that are intended to improve the quality and accessibility of water information in the basin, and to advance technical water assessment capabilities: water use, groundwater, rainfall-runoff (surface water) model, and ecological flows. This data release is a component of the water use assessment. The dataset contains estimates of water withdrawals from the Red River basin in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas based on drainage basins delineated by 8-digit hydrologic unit codes (HUC8s). The dataset includes groundwater and surface-water withdrawals for public supply, domestic, irrigation, thermoelectric power, industrial, mining, livestock and aquaculture water-use categories. The dataset is a refinement of the 2010 and 2015 data compiled at the county level for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Science Project. Additionally, these data complement and support the USGS Web application located at: https://webapps.usgs.gov/watercensus/redriver_fas/wateruse.html.