Water Use and Conservation Facts

Georgia has historically been considered a water-rich state. Annually, we receive an average of 60 inches of water a year. However, recently we have experience drought conditions throughout most of the state. Currently, the state is at an advance drought response.

How the State Determines Drought Responses

Scientists at EPD monitor many indicators of moisture in the state to help determine if a “drought response” is necessary. The data and information to help determine if drought response is needed comes from EPD monitoring stations, the state climatologist, the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Weather Service and others. The indicators include:

• groundwater levels,
• streamflows,
• reservoir levels,
• rainfall in the past 3, 6, and 9 months,
• expected rainfall in the next 90 days, and
• water use patterns across the state.

Based on the information provide from these sources, the EPD Director, with the help from a diverse group of advisors, makes a decision to (or not to) declare advanced levels of drought response. Increased levels (1 to 4) indicate increased levels of drought response (see the State Drought Management Plan for details).

For information about current drought indicators, review this presentation prepared for the Drought Response Committee meeting held on September 28, 2007.

Every five years the United States Geological Survey (USGS) compiles information collected by the permitting programs in Georgia EPD to develop the "Water Use In Georgia" Report. The latest report was released in 2003 and compiles information from 1980 to 2000. This report provides basic information about water withdrawals throughout the state. The report breaks information down by county, as well as by user group. It can be found at the USGS website.

Note: Most information contained on this page is gathered from this report. Also, in 2000, Georgia was in the midst of one of the greatest droughts in the state's history. Therefore the numbers represented in the chart below reflect the high end of the water use range for most water use groups.

Water Withdrawals in Georgia

Total off-stream water withdrawal from Georgia 's rivers, streams, and aquifers is estimated to be about 6.5 billion gallons of water per day. Thermoelectric power was the largest off-stream water use during 2000 with withdrawals estimated at about 3.3 billion gallons of water per day. The next largest use group was public supply at 1.2 billion gallons a day, followed by agriculture at 1.1 billion gallons a day.

Georgia Water Use Estimates

USGS breaks water use down into two major categories offstream use and instream use. Offstream uses include water withdrawn or diverted from a source and transported to a place of use. Offstream uses include public supply, commercial, industrial, mining, irrigation, and thermoelectric power. Instream uses are defined as those that occur within a stream. In Georgia, the only recognized and reported instream use is hydroelectric power generation.

Public Supply

Public supply in Georgia has steadily increased over the past twenty years. USGS attributes this steady growth to statewide population growth. However, many recent surveys from around the country indicate that population and water withdrawals DO NOT have to follow parallel lines. In fact, many areas such as Los Angeles and New York have increased populations substantially without increasing water withdrawals. For more examples see EPA's Cases in Conservation.

Domestic and Commercial

Domestic water use is defined as self-supplied water for residential purposes, and occurs mostly in rural areas of the state. Commercial users are businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, and retail stores, large enough to require their own permit. Both user groups in this category are self-supplied.

Industrial and Mining

Water use reported to the USGS provides a snapshot of water withdrawals for industrial purposes where the industry holds the permit themselves. The largest industrial water user is the pulp and paper mills (concentrated on the Georgia Coast), textile industries (in Northwest Georgia), chemical manufactures and mining and mineral operations.

Irrigation

Estimates conducted for the USGS study indicate that water used for irrigation in 2000 was about 1.1 billion gallons of water per day. Irrigation water use is defined as water used for crops, large nurseries, athletic fields, and golf courses. It is important to note that this usage is high due to the severe drought conditions that severely impacted most agricultural regions of the state.

Thermoelectric-Power Generation

Thermoelectric-power water use is defined as water used in the generation of thermoelectric power (primarily for purposes related to cooling.) In Georgia, there are 17 plants that operate on fossil fuels and 2 nuclear-powered plants. It is estimated that from these, 3.31 billion gallons of water a day is used. Water consumed in the cooling process (and not returned to the source) depends on the type and age of the power operation. The percent of water consumed ranges from 1 to 100%.

Hydroelectric-Power Generation

Hydroelectric power generation is considered an "instream use," meaning the water is not actually taken out of the water source. Water is used for the generation of electricity at plants where turbine generators are driven by falling water. Water used in the generation of hydropower is estimated at 31.9 billion gallons of water per day.

Information for this page was collected from:

Fanning, Julia. 2003. Water Use In Georgia by County for 2000 and Water-Use Trends for 1980-2000. United States Geological Survey. Information Circular 106.

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. 2003. Climatological Data Monthly Summaries. Georgia.