Like all other industries, mining corporations need water to make bare rock give up its valuable minerals.
• Water Science School HOME • Water Use topics •
Mining Water Use
Credit: Carleton E. Watkins
Mining has played an important part in the development of this Nation. Even before the first European settlers set foot on this continent and mined coal to heat their homes, Native Americans were using coal to bake clay for vessels. The United States now produces a wide variety of mined commodities from gold to coal to "exotic" minerals used in everything from pharmaceuticals to jewelry to high-tech products. All these products would not be possible without the use of water in mining.
Mining water use in the United States
Every five years, water withdrawal and use data at the county level are compiled into a national water-use data system, and state-level data are published in a national circular.
Access the most recent National, state, and county mining data, maps, and diagrams.
Want to know more about mining water use? Follow me to the Mining Water Use and Mine Drainage websites!
Below are other science topics associated with mining water use.
Water Use Information by Topic
Surface Water Use in the United States
- Overview
Like all other industries, mining corporations need water to make bare rock give up its valuable minerals.
• Water Science School HOME • Water Use topics •
Mining Water Use
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. Visit Media to see details.Hydraulic mining, California, 1870s. This photo shows hydraulic mining activity at the Malakoff Diggings in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in the 1870s. Hydraulic mining was a variation on ground sluicing where the water delivered to the site would be shot through a nozzle at high pressure onto the face of the cliff, thereby washing away tons of boulders, gravel, dirt, and, in the hopes of the miners, ounces of gold. These "water cannons" were indeed very powerful—they could throw 185,000 cubic feet of water in an hour with a velocity of 150 feet per second. The environmental destruction they could do was also powerful.
Credit: Carleton E. WatkinsMining has played an important part in the development of this Nation. Even before the first European settlers set foot on this continent and mined coal to heat their homes, Native Americans were using coal to bake clay for vessels. The United States now produces a wide variety of mined commodities from gold to coal to "exotic" minerals used in everything from pharmaceuticals to jewelry to high-tech products. All these products would not be possible without the use of water in mining.
Mining water use in the United States
Every five years, water withdrawal and use data at the county level are compiled into a national water-use data system, and state-level data are published in a national circular.
Access the most recent National, state, and county mining data, maps, and diagrams.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Want to know more about mining water use? Follow me to the Mining Water Use and Mine Drainage websites!
- Science
Below are other science topics associated with mining water use.
Water Use Information by Topic
Water is everywhere, which is fortunate for all of humanity, as water is essential for life. Even though water is not always available in the needed quantity and quality for all people everywhere, people have learned to get and use water for all of their water needs, from drinking, cleaning, irrigating crops, producing electricity, and for just having fun.Surface Water Use in the United States
The Nation's surface-water resources—the water in the nation's rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, and reservoirs—are vitally important to our everyday life. - Publications