MAP SERIES NO.36 SECOND EDITION


S9) 88











ESTIMATED WATER USE IN FLORIDA, 1965

by
R. W. Pride
Prepared by
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
in cooperation with the
BUREAU OF GEOLOGY
30 FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
1970
SECOND EDITION 1975

INTRODUCTION
As part of the nationwide inventory of water use in 1965,
estimates of water use in Florida were made by county, by source of
water, and by principal use. The map shows the estimated water
withdrawn in Florida in 1965 by counties by the major categories of
public supply, self-supplied industrial, irrigation, and thermoelectric
power generation. Rural domestic and livestock water is an important
use, but the amount in Florida is not significant in comparison with
other uses; hence, this use is given in tabular form for the total for the
state, but not by counties. The statewide total for military use is also
given in this table.
29* Nonwithdrawal uses, which include hydroelectric power
generation, navigation, water-based recreation, propagation of fish and
wildlife, and dilution and conveyance of sewage and other liquid and
solid wastes are not tabulated in this report.
PUBLIC SUPPLIES
In 1965, a total of 528 public water-supply systems in Florida,
most of which are publicly owned, served about 4.8 million people an
average of 148 gallons per day per capital or about 708 mgd (million
gallons per day).
Water used for public supplies includes all that is pumped into the
system. This water may be used for fire protection, street flushing,
irrigation of lawns and gardens, and by industry and commerce, as well
as for domestic supply.
Most of the water for public supply was ground water-640 mgd
for 4,320,000 people. Surface water supplied 68 mgd for 486,000
people.
2* Of the 708 mgd of water for public supplies, 620 was for domestic
use and the remainder for industrial and commercial uses. An estimated
160 mgd or 23 percent of the water was consumed.
SELF-SUPPLIED INDUSTRIAL WATER
Industry used an average of 930 mgd of self-supplied water during
1965, not including that used in the generation of thermoelectric
power. About 700 mgd of the self-supplied industrial water was ground
water. In the coastal areas saline water supplied 60 of the 230 mgd
obtained from surface-water sources. About 8 percent of the
self-supplied water was consumed.
The greatest amount of ground water for industrial uses in 1965
was in the phosphate mining area in Polk and Hillsborough Counties
with an estimated 350 mgd, which is 50 percent of the total industrial
use of ground water in the state.
The processing of pulp wood in the manufacture of paper
products requires large amounts of water, most of which is
self-supplied. The large ground-water withdrawals in Bay, Duval,
27* Escambia, Gulf, Nassau, Putnam, and Taylor counties were mostly for
this use.
IRRIGATION
The major use of fresh water in Florida in 1965 was for irrigation
with about 3,160 mgd (3,540,000 acre-feet per year) used to irrigate
1,250,000 acres. About 40 percent of the water used for irrigation was
consumed.
Irrigation use is shown on the map in units of million gallons per
day to be comparable with other types of use. To convert million
gallons per day to acre-feet per year, multiply by a factor of 1,120.
About 63 percent of the water used for irrigation in the state was
from surface-water sources. Nearly all irrigational use was in central and
southern Florida, with the greatest use occurring in Hendry, Martin,
Palm Beach, and St. Lucie counties and accounting for 57 percent of all
irrigation water used during 1965. Excluding the four counties of
greatest use, ground water supplied 58 percent of the irrigation water in
26 the remainder of the state.
During 1965 more water was used for the irrigation of citrus than
for any other crop in Florida. An estimated 490,000 acres of citrus
were irrigated using 510,000 acre-feet of surface water and 650,000
acre-feet of ground water. The 260,000 acres of irrigated truck crops
required 540,000 acre-feet of surface water and 250,000 acre-feet of
ground water. About 1,170,000 acre-feet of surface water and 420,000
acre-feet of ground water were used to irrigate 500,000 acres of other
crops, principally pasture and sugar cane.
Generally the number of acres irrigated in each county was
determined from estimates supplied by the county agricultural agents.
Irrigation use for 1965 in counties in northern and central Florida was
estimated by using the irrigation requirements for average conditions as
determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1965) and
increasing about 25 percent for conveyance losses. The water use rates
for irrigation in the counties generally east and south of Lake
Okeechobee (St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Hendry, Lee, Collier,
25* Broward, and Dade) were estimated to be greater than those for the
remainder of the state.
The following table shows the rates of water use for irrigated
acreage that were used for the 1965 estimates.
Water withdrawn, feet per acre per year
North and central South
Crop Florida Florida
Citrus 2.0 3.6-4.7
Pasture 2.9 -
Vegetables (truck crops) .6 4.0-4.4
Other .6-3.0 2.1-4.7





89a 88


I


THERMOELECTRIC POWER
Thermoelectric power utilities used more water during 1965 tha
any other water user. Most generating plants in Florida are near th
coast and use cooling water from saline surface-water source:
Consequently more than 75 percent of the water used to coo
condensers was saline and was returned to the source.
The use of self-supplied cooling water during 1965 is shown b
county and by source on the map. The total, about 8,100 mgd, is listed
by source in table 1. Water for uses other than condenser cooling, suc
as boiler feed, sanitary services, irrigation of lawns, etc., totaling about
2 mgd was obtained from ground-water sources.
RURAL USES
Rural use of water totaled about 145 mgd, of which 25 mgd wa
for livestock and 120 mgd was for domestic use. Rural homes ar
defined as those not served by public water-supply systems; thus man
suburban homes are included in this category.
About 135 mgd of the total rural use was obtained from wells an
10 mgd, primarily for livestock, was obtained from lakes, streams, an
ponds. Because much of the water was evaporated or transpired afte
being discharged on or immediately below the surface of the ground
about 100 mgd was consumed by this use.
Rural water use was computed by multiplying per capital uses b
the human and livestock population. Of the 5.8 million people living i
Florida in 1965, about 1 million used rural domestic supplies. Water fo
rural domestic use by homes with running water is estimated to b
about 50-60 gpd (gallons per day) per capital in the United State
(MacKichan, 1961; Murray, 1968). The corresponding average fo
homes without running water is only 10 gpd per capital. Quantities o
rural domestic water in Florida were computed by using 10 gpd pe
capital for homes without running water and per capital rates ranging
from 60 to 175 gpd (in Dade County) for homes with running wate:
The estimated average per capital use of rural domestic water in Florid
was 120 gpd in 1965.
The quantity of water used by livestock in Florida was estimate
using the following rates:
Use p
Livestock head
Milk cows 20
Horses and mules 10
Beef cattle 10
Hogs 3
Chickens .04
Turkeys .06
SELF-SUPPLIED MILITARY USE
Military bases in Florida used about 30 mgd of self-supplie
ground water during 1965 for domestic supply, fire protection
irrigation of lawns and golf courses, and industrial supply.
TRENDS IN WATER USE, 1950-65
The estimated amount of fresh water withdrawn i
1950,1955,1960, and 1965 for the major use categories is shown i
figure 1. Water use data are from MacKichan (1951, 1957), MacKicha
and Kammerer (1961), and Murray (1968). Population data are from
the Florida Development Commission (1966).
The most significant increase in water use in 1965 was fo
irrigation, which increased nearly fivefold from 1960 to 1965.

REFERENCES

Florida Development Commission
1966 Population of Florida
Healy, H. G.
1972 Public Water Supplies of Selected Municipalities
Florida, Florida, 1970: Florida Dept. Nat. Res., Bur. Geol. Inf. Cire. 81
MacKichan, K. A.
1951 Estimated use of water in the United States, 1950: U. S. Geo
Survey Circ. 115.
1957 Estimated use of water in the United States, 1955: U. S. Geo
Survey Circ. 398.
MacKiehan, K. A.
1961 (and Kammerer, J. C.) Estimated use of water in the Unite
States, 1960: U.S. Geol. Survey Cirec. 456
Murray, C. Richard
1968 Estimated use of water in the United States, 1965: U. S. Geo
Survey Cire. 556.
Pride, R. W.
1973 Estimated Use of Water in Florida, 1970: Florida Dept. Na
Res., Bur. Geol. Inf. Cire. 83.
U. S. Department of Agriculture
1965 Water and Related Land Resources, Florida West Coa
Tributaries: Appendix to the report of River Basin Investigation
Florida West Coast Tributaries


DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
BUREAU OF GEOLOGY
This public document was promulgated at a total
cost of $310.00 or a per copy cost of $.13 for the
purpose of disseminating hydrologic data.


8I 86


1- -~ f
~4LTpe
n

I -,


UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY published by BUREAU OF GEOLOGY

860 85 84 83 82 81 80






-IOLMES 31


j LL





I I ',I A
-E. L-


.6 'J E- '
n-e I 0: i -In n :



G IL'LAFAYETTE UNION '
o, .. ,- W fIso*











Type Use Fresh Saline Fresh Saline Fresh Saline
............ u- '


Public supplies 68 640 710 -In r
re self-supplied 170 60 700 .. 870 60 [ I9
Irrigation 1.980 .... 1.180 -. 3,160 ... 29
Thermoelectric E AKE
pd power 1900 6,101 10 80 1,900 6,180
d Rural CI us IS
er Domestic--- 1. 20 --. 120
Livestock 10 ..- 15 -- 25 -- _T I.
Military use, SEM
y self-supplied .... 30 *..- 30
if f 'I

be TOTAL(rounded) 4,130 6,160 2,690 80 6,820 6,240 .


or
of 1 i ,. t
r 8000 8 i :

m1. "1 -- ,J. -

nOd-
d 6000- 0 0 POLK. I ) -

er POPULATION I -i. *
(gpd) aj














fresh water in Florida, 1950-65. .-. "
BLUE 4000- Public Supply-





GREEN- IrrigationEE











m RED Thermoelectric power generation '
S2000 0 -2
| I00 -- *-. a : --,.,



















t MILLION OF GALLONS PER DAY < -"
n, H.eMth711. 0





















n fresh wat Open bar is fresh ground water. 101-2001950-65.



BLACK Self-sutippled bar indicates strialine water. 5 Z 1 """ L
GREENGreater than 200 i I -
-I





TYPEF TOTAL FRESH WATERWTR U SEI "


























2 ..
S- l FOR PUBC SUPPLY, INDUSTRY, AND IRRIGATION



Less than I -gd The mo e tr p e
0-.








2 1-10 26'




Open bar is fresh ground water. 101-200 N


edo* G- .






FLOR i0F GE PLBL6S1YC IDVEST MAP SER AD I R R A I36
MILO OF GALLONS> PER DAY- .