Estimated water withdrawals and use in Pennsylvania, 1995

Abstract

HOW DO WE USE WATER? In practical terms, water use is divided into two basic types: instream use and offstream use. Instream use is water used in its natural channel, basin, or behind a dam and includes activities such as fishing, boating, and other recreational activities. Instream use also includes hydroelectric power generation. Offstream use is water pumped or diverted from its natural channel, basin, or aquifer. Offstream uses are divided into the following categories: public supply, domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric power, mining, livestock, and irrigation. This fact sheet provides an overview of offstream and hydroelectric power water use in Pennsylvania. It describes water withdrawals by source, water withdrawals and deliveries by category, changes in water use over time, and watermanagement responsibilities in the State. HOW DO WE GET WATER? Water users obtain water from groundwater or surface-water sources. Those who withdraw water for their own use are classified as self-supplied. Water used for mining, livestock, irrigation, and thermoelectric power and hydroelectric power generation is typically self-supplied. Other water users obtain water from deliveries by public suppliers; these users are classified as public-supplied. Domestic, commercial, and industrial water users can be self-supplied, public-supplied, or both.

Reservoir Operations & Water Allocation Model: New York City Delaware River Basin Reservoirs

“…This approach provides a guidance to determine the amount of storage available for both downstream purposes and recreational use of the reservoirs. Table 3 Comparison of Actual Storage Data For Each Year and The Long-Term Median Seasonal Capacity For Three Reservoirs Years 1981198219831986198719881989199019911992199319941995 Neversink 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.32 Furthermore, the actual and simulated outflow data was compared for each reservoir by using mean squared error to test the model accuracy. Table 4 shows the results for each reservoir.…”

“…Based on a United States Geological Survey report, water withdrawals for thermoelectric power generation are considered offstream withdrawals, and therefore included in the calculation of total water withdrawal (Hutson et al, 2010). However, water used for hydroelectric power is not considered a withdrawal because water flowing through a dam is considered as an instream use (Ludlow et al, 2000).…”