ABSTRACT
About 80,000 cubic miles of water evaporates from the ocean annually, and about 15,000 cubic miles is evaporated from lakes and land surfaces.§ This water goes into the atmosphere and later falls as precipitation in amounts equal to the total evaporation. About 24,000 cubic miles of water fall as rain each year, over land.¶
Generally, a water right is a right to use water in some amount for a beneficial purpose.†† In the United States, total withdrawals equaled 408 billion gallons per day in 2000.‡‡ Freshwater withdrawals were 85 percent of the total. Seventy-nine percent of total withdrawals were from surface water.§§ Thermoelectric-power plants withdrew an estimated 195 billion gallons per day.¶¶ (See chart in Appendix 3)
* See Tables 1-12 for jurisdictional breakdown of water withdrawals and uses; Figures 5 Water Cycle, 6 Water Cycle, 8 Aquifers and Wells, 11 Average pH of precipitation, 12 Average Rainfall in United States, 13 Average Rainfall of World, 25 Total Water Use in United States, 26 Groundwater Withdrawals in United States, 27 Surface Withdrawals in United States, 28 Bureau of Reclamation Water Operations, 30 Distribution of Earth’s Water, 31 Global Annual Components of Precipitation.
