About 27 million people live in parts of the U.S. where water availability is limited, according to a first-of-its-kind federal assessment.
The analysis from the U.S. Geological Survey compared water supply and demand from 2010 to 2020. It found “severe” limitations on the amount of available water in groundwater and surface waters in California, the arid Southwest, and much of the Great Planes and Texas. Other regions facing slightly less severe water constraints include Florida and eastern Washington state and Oregon.
The report is the most comprehensive federal study to date on whether the U.S. has enough water to power the economy, researchers said during a call Thursday.
“For the first time, the USGS can answer this question at the national scale,” said Lori Sprague, program manager of the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments.
