Variations in Withdrawal, Return Flow, and Consumptive Use of Water in Ohio and Indiana, with Selected Data from Wisconsin, 1999-2004

Abstract

This report contains an analysis of water withdrawal and return-flow data for Ohio and withdrawal data for Indiana and Wisconsin to compute consumptive-use coefficients and to describe monthly variability of withdrawals and consumptive use. Concurrent data were available for most water-use categories from 1999 through 2004. Average monthly water withdrawals are discussed for a variety of water-use categories, and average water use per month is depicted graphically for Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin (public supply only). For most water-use categories, the summer months were those of highest withdrawal and highest consumptive use. For public supply, average monthly withdrawals ranged from 1,380 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) (November) to 1,620 Mgal/d (July) in Ohio, 621 Mgal/d (December) to 816 Mgal/d (July) in Indiana, and 515 Mgal/d (December) to 694 Mgal/d (July) in Wisconsin. Ohio and Indiana thermoelectric facilities had large increases in average monthly withdrawals in the summer months (5,520 Mgal/d in March to 7,510 Mgal/d in August for Indiana; 7,380 Mgal/d in February to 10,040 Mgal/d in July for Ohio), possibly because of increased electricity production in the summer, a need for additional cooling-water withdrawals when intake-water temperature is high, or use of different types of cooling methods during different times of the year. Average industrial withdrawals ranged from 2,220 Mgal/d (December) to 2,620 Mgal/d (August) in Indiana and from 707 Mgal/d (January) to 787 Mgal/d (August) in Ohio. The Ohio and Indiana irrigation data showed that most withdrawals were in May through October for golf courses, nurseries, and crop irrigation. Commercial water withdrawals ranged from 30.4 Mgal/d (January) to 65.0 Mgal/d (September) in Indiana and from 23.2 Mgal/d (November) to 49.5 Mgal/d (August) in Ohio; commercial facilities that have high water demand in Ohio and Indiana are medical facilities, schools, amusement facilities, wildlife facilities, large stores, colleges, correctional institutions, and national security facilities. Monthly livestock withdrawals were constant for Ohio but were more variable in Indiana and depended on whether the livestock facility operated on a Variations in Water Withdrawal, Return Flow, and Consumptive Use in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin relatively few records were available; the Ohio median annual consumptive-use coefficient for livestock was 76 percent (18 records), for aquaculture was 0 percent (33 records), and for mining was 10 percent (418 records). In terms of maximum accuracy and minimal uncertainty, use of available withdrawal, return-flow, and consumptiveuse data reported by facilities and data estimated from similar facilities are preferable over estimates based on data for a particular water-use category or groups of water-use categories. If monthly withdrawal, return flow, and consumptive use data are few and limited, monthly patterns described in this report may be used as a basis of estimation, but the level of uncertainty may be a greater than for the other e...

A High Spatiotemporal Assessment of Consumptive Water Use and Water Scarcity in the Conterminous United States

“…Temporal partitioning of domestic and livestock water use are dependent on only cooling degree days. It is assumed that domestic consumptive water use is higher during the summer when additional water is utilized for yard watering and other household uses (U.S. Geological Survey 1997;Shaffer 2009). Monthly partitioning of water for livestock is also based on the departure of temperature above a base temperature of 18°C to allow for increased water for facility and/or animal cleaning and increased drinking water requirements (Shaffer 2009;Lardy et al 2008).…”

Groundwater budgets for Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys, Mohave County, Arizona, 2007-08

“…Within the study area, consumptive-use activities consist primarily of summertime activities, such as yard watering, gardening, and use of evaporative-cooling systems. An annual consumptive-use coefficient of 28 percent was calculated for domestic water uses within the study area by using the winter base-rate method (LaTour, 1991;Shaffer, 2009). This method assumes that (1) all increased summertime domestic water use is associated with 100 percent consumptive-use activities, (2) consumptive use is minimal in the winter, and (3) conconsumptive use remains constant throughout the year.…”

Estimating Monthly Water Withdrawals, Return Flow, and Consumptive Use in the Great Lakes Basin

“…This method is to provide a general estimate (and should be used with caution) when monthly data are not available. Shaffer (2009) graphs the distribution of monthly water withdrawals for individual records and the 25 th and 75 th percentiles by water-use category for Ohio and Indiana. The interquartile range (IQR; the distance between the 25 th and 75 th percentiles) and the number of records are listed on figures in Shaffer (2009) for Ohio and Indiana and are listed in table 2 for each water-use category and month.…”

“…1). This poster lists references used in Shaffer (2009) for water withdrawals, consumptive use, and return flows. Monthly percent of annual withdrawals and monthly consumptive-use coefficients are used to compute monthly water withdrawals, consumptive use, and return flow for the Great Lakes Basin.…”

“…[Numbers were computed by multiplying 2006 annual water withdrawals from Great Lakes Commission (2010) and percentage of monthly water withdrawals (Shaffer, 2009 1 Public supply monthly percentage of annual water withdrawals was used for self-supply domestic.…”