Study finds Americans using less water, but Idahoans use the most

Americans are using less water, though people in the Northwest individually use more than the national average and Idahoans use more than people in any other state. A study by local, state and federal officials tracking everything from collective sips at the public fountain to irrigating crops to water used to cool nuclear power plants has found that water usage has dropped to levels of at least 40 years ago. "This is the first time we've seen this large a decline nationally," said Molly Maupin, a Boise-based hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of "Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2010." "The magnitude of the overall decline was a little surprising to us," she said. The 56-page report released earlier this month is a snapshot taken at five-year intervals with the most recently compiled information covering 2010. The report was somewhat delayed, Maupin noted, because of the government shutdown and sequestration. Officials found that in 2010 the U.S. used an average of 355 billion gallons of water per day. That's 13 percent less than 2005, and the lowest amount since before 1970. The five-year snapshots that started in 1950 track water removed from the system, meaning water that is used and then returned to the system can be counted again...more