Report Number: 3002001154
More than a decade ago, EPRI identified water availability constraints as a major issue facing current operations and future development of the electric power sector in the United States and internationally. As a result, EPRI initiated research to assess and reduce both current and future vulnerabilities to water shortages. This report derives and applies algorithms for calculating water consumption by the U.S. electric power, municipal, and agricultural sectors. Using the most recent available national data sets, a national water consumption budget is calculated based on the spatial resolution of U.S. counties as well as United States Geological Survey (USGS) medium-sized watersheds.