Consumptive Water Use in the Great Lakes Basin

Great Lakes state agencies and organizations view understanding consumptive water use as a critical component in water-resource management. To assist them in developing a better understanding of the factors involved in consumptive use (table 1), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed an inventory of consumptive-use coefficients for the Great Lakes Basin. For the purposes of this report, the Great Lakes Basin (fig. 1) is delineated based on surface-water divides and includes states and provinces that are entirely or partially within the basin. Because the rate of consumptive use depends on how water is used, consumptive-use information for the Great Lakes Basin was compiled and statistically analyzed by water-use category (table 2; Shaffer and Runkle, 2007). For comparison, the statistics for the climatically similar areas (fig. 1) to the Great Lakes Basin are included (table 2). These climatically similar areas have comparable patterns of temperature and precipitation, percent consumptive loss, and water use to the Great Lakes Basin. Details about consumptive water-use data and consumptive-use coefficients are available in Shaffer and Runkle (2007).