Public supply water use refers to the withdrawal, treatment, distribution, and end-use of water by public or private utilities that provide potable water to multiple users, typically including residential, commercial, institutional, and light industrial sectors, as well as public services such as firefighting. In water-resources research, it is quantified in terms of withdrawals from surface water and groundwater, conveyance losses, and delivered volumes, often disaggregated by customer category and metering data. This topic encompasses system efficiency, demand patterns, infrastructure leakage, per capita use, and interactions with regulatory, hydrologic, and climatic constraints in integrated water-resource planning and management.
With desert cities like Phoenix and Tucson bracing for their allotments of Colorado River water to be slashed dramatically, San Diego County's water agency could for the first time sell some of its water to other states by ...
Environment
Mar 4, 2026
0
33
Despite a barren start to Colorado's ski season, Winter Park Resort opened on Halloween and served up holiday powder. The ski area's secret is a contraption a few miles upwind of the chairlifts that looks like a meat smoker ...
Environment
Feb 9, 2026
0
40
The world is looking for more clean water. Intense storms and warmer weather have worsened droughts and reduced the amount of clean water underground and in rivers and lakes on the surface.
Environment
Feb 4, 2026
0
14
Against the backdrop of climate change and dwindling water resources, supplying water to large metropolitan areas is becoming an increasingly challenging task for public authorities, who must find urgent solutions. One of ...
Environment
Feb 4, 2026
0
15
The Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of nearly one-third of California's water supply, is looking a little like a New Year's resolution: full of hope and promise at the beginning of January, but now struggling with a bothersome ...
Environment
Jan 30, 2026
0
28
No matter where you live in the United States, you have likely seen headlines about PFAS being detected in everything from drinking water to fish to milk to human bodies.
Environment
Jan 29, 2026
2
26
When you turn on the tap, you can typically expect clean, safe water to flow out. But behind that simple action lies a complex system of pipes, pumps, governance, and financials that, for millions of Americans, is at risk ...
Environment
Jan 26, 2026
0
153
As temperatures rise and water supplies drop, public policy could bolster municipal water provisions under pressure. But one policy prescription—pushing conservation—will likely be insufficient as a standalone fix to sustain ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 23, 2026
2
80
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry researchers at the University of South Carolina measured disinfection by-products in bottled water, with total disinfection by-products ranging from 0.01–22.4 µg/L and compared them ...
When it rains, it pours. And that's good news for California's water supply.
Earth Sciences
Jan 6, 2026
3
36
