What’s measured This section examines local water system use in average gallons per day per person served by the water systems. Both North and South Carolina require reporting of water withdrawals by local water-supply systems above minimum thresholds. North Carolina requires reporting of withdrawals by all local government water systems or other water systems that regularly serve 1,000 or more service connections or 3,000 or more people. South Carolina requires reporting withdrawals of three million gallons or more in any given month. Data for this indicator are from North Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources and South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control. This indicator includes only the use of water by local water systems filing reports with the states, and excludes water used for agriculture or power generation, water drawn from individual wells and permitted water intakes by residential or industrial water consumers. These local water systems include municipal, county, and private water systems. Each state provides an estimate of the number of people served by these water systems, which is used to calculate the per person indicator. South Carolina mandates yearly reporting; North Carolina requires it every five years. Both states provide data by county; however, they differ in how they report those withdrawals. North Carolina includes purchases of water from systems in other counties and excludes sales of water to systems in other counties, yielding a local consumption figure. South Carolina reports local withdrawals, which does not include water purchased from other counties or water sold to systems in other counties. Ideally, a future indicator would include all consumptive uses (typically defined as water withdrawals that are consumed by humans or livestock, incorporated into products or crops, evaporated, transpired or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment), especially agriculture and industrial uses. However, it is important to note that to the extent industrial water consumers use public water systems rather than their own water intakes, some industrial water consumption is included in the current indicators. Why it’s measured Adequate supplies of water for power generation as well as residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural uses are essential to the region’s continued economic prosperity and sustainability. Our local water systems are the second-largest users of water, after power generation, and are much heavier consumers of water than non-consumptive uses such as hydroelectric power generation, which typically diverts water temporarily before returning it to its source. Indicator results In 2002, for the 11-county North Carolina portion of the region, the water-use average was 160.9 gallons per day, per person. For the three-county South Carolina part of the region, the water-withdrawal average was 186.0 gallons per day per person in 2002. This report used figures from 2002 for calculating the North and South Carolina regional averages because it is the only year for which there were data from both states. South Carolina has water withdrawal data for 2001 through 2004, whereas North Carolina has water-usage data for 1992, 1997 and 2002. In North Carolina, Rowan County yielded the lowest average daily per person consumption for 2002, at 141.4 gallons per day per person, followed by Cleveland, Cabarrus, Iredell, and Union counties, in that order. Mecklenburg and Gaston counties were closest to the 2002 North Carolina regional average, at 154.6 and 169.4 gallons per day per person, respectively. Stanly County had the highest average daily per person consumption (266.3 gallons per day per person), followed by Lincoln, Anson and Catawba counties, in that order. In South Carolina, York County had the lowest average daily per person withdrawal for 2002, at 115.5 gallons per day per person, while Chester and Lancaster counties reported substantially higher amounts (219.4 and 295.8 gallons per day per person, respectively). Seven of the region’s North Carolina counties reported reduced average daily per person water consumption between 1992 and 2002: Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Rowan, and Union. Among South Carolina counties, Chester and York showed a reduction in per person daily consumption over the three-year period, 2001-2003. Evaluation Given the wide variation in per person water consumption among the region’s counties, and predictions of increasing pressures on water supplies, it will be helpful if future reports can include data that shed light on possible explanations for these variations. Are they reflections of urban versus rural consumption patterns? Are they due to differences in extent of smaller water suppliers not required to report withdrawals to the states, or in extent of industrial water users relying on local water systems? To gain a better understanding of local consumption in future reports, the regional water consumption indicator could capture self-supplied industrial water use as well as local water system use, to monitor a larger share of total water use in the region. Connections The most immediate connections for water consumption are health-related and economic. Both intermittent drought years and continued population growth with its commensurate demands for industrial and power generation as well as residential and commercial uses of water have the potential to strain the region’s water resources. That places a premium on good water resources management, including water conservation, appropriate uses of potable and reclaimed water and careful allocation of water supplies among industry, power generators and domestic consumers. |