A WATER USE SNAPSHOT: THE UNITED STATES

The United States, along with the rest of the world, is faced with the rising problem of water shortage. Currently, there is no collective data set that offers "big picture" analysis of the country's water usage-data that is vital for managing our water and energy resources. The State of the States project aims to provide comprehensive analysis of water usage in the United States and provide data relevant for policy research, in two forms: through a spreadsheet with data about each state, and a map of the country with key data points for each state. Our goal of presenting data in this manner is to help policy makers more easily identify where in the country action is needed to tackle water issues.

The State of the States map will include the following information:

• Population
• Water use by sector (public supply, irrigation, industrial, thermoelectric power, other)
• Policies regarding water reuse
• Number of unique drought-related supply problems in last 5 years
• Ratio of total withdrawal to total in-state renewable resources
• Percent of state's energy spent on water treatment, supply and disposal
• Percent GDP spent on water supply, treatment, and disposal in 2009 and a past year