Industry

Industrial water use in the United States accounts for approximately 43 percent of withdrawals and 9 percent of consumption. ¹ The fifteen states with the highest absolute levels of industrial withdrawals are indicated in table 3–1, in which 1980 withdrawal and consumption are broken down into thermal electric power and "other" industrial uses. It is quite evident that the percentage of withdrawals consumed in industrial use is much smaller than in agricultural use (approximately 55 percent) and municipal use (25 percent). And although withdrawals of cooling water for electric power plants are far greater than for all other industrial uses combined, the amount of water consumed as a percentage of that withdrawn is lower. ² Excluding the electricity sector, 84 percent of industrial water use in 1977 was concentrated in four industry sectors: primary metals, chemicals, petroleum and coal products, and pulp and paper. ³ Industrial water use is also concentrated in certain geographic regions: the states listed in table 3–1 are located exclusively in the eastern half of the country. Two additional states with high levels of water use in sectors other than electric power are Idaho and Washington, where mining and pulp industries are found.