Factsheets

Sources of Water

• Surface sources account for 74% of all water withdrawals.⁴
• Approximately 87% of the U.S. population relied on public water supply in 2015; the remainder relied on water from domestic wells.⁴ 
• Approximately 145,648 publicly owned water systems provide piped water for human consumption in 2024, of which 34% are community water systems (CWS).⁵ Of all CWSs, 9% provide water to 84% of the population.⁵
• In 2006, CWSs delivered an average of 96,000 gal/yr to each residential connection and 797,000 gal/yr to non-residential connections.⁶
• Nearly all rural populations rely on groundwater for drinking water.⁷ Over 84B gal of groundwater is withdrawn in the U.S. every day, nearly 70% of which is for irrigation.⁵

Energy Use

• 2% of U.S. electricity use goes towards pumping and treating water and wastewater, a 52% increase in electricity use since 1996.⁸ Electricity accounts for around 80% of municipal water processing and distribution costs.⁹
• Groundwater supply from public sources requires 2,100 kWh/M gal, about 31% more electricity than surface water supply, mainly due to higher water pumping requirements for groundwater systems.⁸
• The California State Water Project is the largest single user of energy in California, using 6-9.5B kWh per year, partially met by its own hydroelectric generation.¹⁰ In the process of delivering water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta to Southern California, the project uses 3%-4% of all electricity in the state.¹¹ 19% of California’s total electricity use is from pumping, treating, collecting, and discharging water and wastewater.⁹

Water Treatment

• The UN 6th Sustainable Development Goal aims to secure access to clean water for all. Providing clean water and sound management of water resources are essential for a sustainable future.¹²
• The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), enacted in 1974 and amended in 1986, 1996, and 2018, regulates contaminants in public water supplies, provides funding for infrastructure projects, protects sources of drinking water, and promotes the capacity of water systems to comply with SDWA regulations.¹³
• The U.S. EPA monitors drinking water for microorganisms, disinfectants, radionuclides, and organic and inorganic compounds.¹⁴
• 91% of CWSs are designed to disinfect water, 23% are designed to remove or sequester iron, 13% are designed to remove or sequester manganese, and 21% are designed for corrosion control.¹⁴
• Use the Municipal Drinking Water Database to learn more about the drinking water systems of over 2,000 U.S. cities and the communities that they serve.¹⁵

Life Cycle Impacts

Infrastructure Requirements

• The 2023 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment found that U.S. water systems need $625B of investment by 2041 to keep providing clean drinking water.¹⁶
• Water systems maintain more than 2.2M miles of transmission and distribution mains.¹⁷ In 2020, the average age of water pipes in the U.S. was 45 years, an increase from 25 years in 1970.¹⁸ Each year, 250,000 to 300,000 main breaks occur in the U.S., disrupting supply and risking contamination of drinking water.¹⁹
• There are an estimated 9.2M lead service lines in the U.S.²⁰ In 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) that allocated $15B towards lead service line replacement.¹⁶ 

Water System Need by 2041, ($) by Project Type¹⁶

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Consumptive Use

• Consumptive water use draws water from a source within a basin and returns none or only a portion back.⁴ 
• Agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of total U.S. consumptive water use.²¹ Of the 118B gal/d of freshwater withdrawn for irrigation, over half is lost to consumptive use.⁴ Over the past 50 years, water consumption has tripled.²²

Solutions and Sustainable Alternatives

Supply Side

• Periodic rehabilitation, repair, and replacement of distribution infrastructure would help improve water quality and avoid leaks.¹⁷ Right-sizing, upgrading to energy efficient equipment, and monitoring and control systems can optimize systems for the communities they serve, while saving energy and water.⁹
• Significant energy efficiency improvement opportunities include pumps and motors.²³ Implementing on-site energy and chemical use efficiency measures, including sludge recycling and chemical recovery, reduces environmental impacts and chemical use.
• Effective watershed management plans to protect source water are often more cost-effective and environmentally sound than treating contaminated water. For example, NYC invested $1-1.5B in a watershed protection project to improve the water quality in the Catskill watershed rather than construct a new filtration plant at a cost of $6-8B.²⁴
• Less than 4% of U.S. freshwater comes from brackish or saltwater. Desalination technology, such as reverse osmosis membrane filtering, unlocks large resources, but improvements are needed to lower costs, energy use, and environmental impacts.⁸
• Consider following EPA Sustainable Water Infrastructure guidance when designing and operating facilities.²⁵

Demand Side

• Better engineering practices: plumbing fixtures to reduce water consumption, e.g., high-efficiency toilets, low-flow shower-heads, and faucet aerators; water reuse and recycling, e.g., gray water systems and rain barrels; efficient landscape irrigation practices.^26,27
• Better planning and management practices: pricing and retrofit programs; proper leak detection and metering; residential water audit programs and public education programs.^26,27
• Communities experiencing environmental injustice can use environmental justice toolkits, such as the Water Justice Toolkit.²⁸