WATER CONSUMPTION

AND
BUDGETING
PRESENTED BY:

LOVE GRACE A. DAVIN

 What’s the Difference Between Water Use and
Water Consumption?
 Water use” describes the total amount of water
withdrawn from its source to be used. Measures of
water usage help evaluate the level of demand from
industrial, agricultural, and domestic users. For
example, a manufacturing plant might require 10,000
gallons of freshwater a day for cooling, running, or
cleaning its equipment. Even if the plant returns 95
percent of that water to the watershed, the plant needs
all 10,000 gallons to operate.
 What’s the Difference Between Water Use and
Water Consumption?
“Water consumption” is the portion of water use that is not
returned to the original water source after being withdrawn.
Consumption occurs when water is lost into the atmosphere through
evaporation or incorporated into a product or plant (such as a corn
stalk) and is no longer available for reuse. Water consumption is
particularly relevant when analyzing water scarcity and the impact of
human activities on water availability. For example, irrigated
agriculture accounts for 70 percent of water use worldwide and
almost 50 percent of that is lost, either evaporated into the
atmosphere or transpired through plant leaves.
 WHAT IS WATER CONSUMPTION?

• There are two ways in which we can classify our water use. One type
is in-stream use; this includes hydroelectric power, boating and
swimming, for example. While in-stream activities do not use up the
water, they can degrade the water quality through pollution. The
other type of water use is the withdrawal of water, and this
classification includes household use, industry use, irrigation,
livestock watering and thermal and nuclear power. Most
withdrawals are consumptions, meaning that the activity uses the
water and does not return it to the source.
 WHAT IS WATER CONSUMPTION?

• The amount of water that is taken (or withdrawn)

from the source is called the water intake, and the
amount that is returned is called the water discharge.
The difference between the water intake and the water
discharge is the amount consumed.

Water intake – water discharge = consumption

 WHAT IS WATER CONSUMPTION?

• The total amount of water that is used is called the

gross water use. The difference between the gross
water use and the water intake is equal to the amount
of water that is recirculated. The recirculated amount
is expressed as a recycling rate and is a good indicator
of water efficiency.
Gross water use – water intake = amount recirculated
(or recycling rate)
 WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CAUSES OF WATER
CONSUMPTION?

In 1996, environment canada found that the major withdrawal uses

of water were for thermal power generation, manufacturing,
municipal use, agriculture and mining. The following diagram
illustrates the amount of water that was withdrawn for each use, as
well as the amount that was recirculated, consumed and discharged.
While thermal power generation withdraws the greatest amount of
water, agriculture consumes much more water than thermal power
generation does. Also note that there is no indication of recycled
water in the home, making domestic water use very inefficient.
 WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CAUSES OF WATER
CONSUMPTION?

It is also important to notice that the consumption rate for the

mining sector is inaccurate, due to a lack of data. In fact, the oil
sands mining operations in alberta consume great quantities of
water. To produce one barrel of synthetic crude oil requires
between 2 and 5 barrels of water. Each year, more than 300
million cubic metres of water are diverted from the Athabasca
river in Alberta.
 WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CAUSES OF WATER
CONSUMPTION?

With the planned expansions, the amount of withdrawn water

could increase to more than 500 million cubic metres of water
each year! As well, oil mining is quite inefficient in the area of
water recycling, and a great deal of the withdrawn water ends up
in tailings ponds. Of the water taken from the athabasca river for
mining in alberta’s tar sands, only 10 percent is returned to the
river; the remainder is consumed or sent to tailings ponds,
because it is too polluted to enter the river.
 How much water is do I really need?
• Countries like canada are using ten to twenty times more water
than is necessary to meet basic human needs. In developing
countries, 20 to 30 litres of water per person per day are
considered adequate for basic human needs. In canada, we
generally use that amount of water in one or two flushes of the
toilet! The chart below lists the amount of water that is
required for domestic purposes, according to the World Health
Organization.