National Water Withdrawal by State

💧 Analysis

Note: Most of the water we use in the U.S. is for big jobs like farming and power plants.

🌍 The Three Water Profiles

• The Farming Giants (States like Idaho, Nebraska, & Arkansas)
  • These states are the heavy hitters when it comes to irrigation (watering crops). Because they grow so much of our food, they use a massive amount of water.
  • What we can do: Use “smart” watering tools, like drip systems, that give plants exactly what they need without wasting a single drop.
• The Power Producers (States like Illinois, Ohio, & Pennsylvania)
  • These states use a lot of water to keep power plants cool. It’s not that people there are drinking more; it’s that the machines that make our electricity need water to stay cool.
  • What we can do: Switch to newer, cleaner energy sources that don’t need giant amounts of water to stay cool.
• The Big City Users (States like California, Florida, & New York)
  • These states have millions of people, so they use a lot of water for houses, schools, and businesses. Even though the “total” number looks high, when you look at it per person, it’s actually pretty efficient.
  • What we can do: Focus on fixing leaky pipes and using water-saving appliances in our homes.

📝 Important Things to Know

If you are looking at the charts, here are a few things that are really important to understand:

1. Withdrawal vs. Consumption:
   • “Withdrawal” is just taking water out of a river or a lake.
   • “Consumption” is water that we use up and don’t put back.
   • A lot of the water used for electricity goes right back into the river, but water used for farming often evaporates into the air.
2. We Are Getting Better:
   • More people live in the U.S. today than in the 1980s, we are actually using less water overall!
   • We are getting smarter about how we manage our power plants and our farms.
3. The Drought Problem: In 2026, the biggest worry isn’t just how much we use, but where the water is. When places have big droughts (especially in the West)

Citation

1. USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program: https://labs.waterdata.usgs.gov/visualizations/water-use/index.html
2. PublicaMundi GeoJSON Repository: https://github.com/PublicaMundi/MappingAPI
3. Leaflet.js Documentation: https://leafletjs.com/
4. Gemini made this happen!