Getty Images
More than one-third (38%) of U.S. states are already facing 'medium to high' or 'extremely high' water stress in 2024, according to new research released by Schneider Electric in conjunction with Bluefield Research. Water stress is expected to increase in 40 out of 50 states between now and 2050.
"It's encouraging that water availability and security are government priorities," says Aamir Paul, president of North America operations at Schneider Electric. "As one of the largest users of freshwater resources, industry has a responsibility to adopt more circular water management practices to preserve reserves for the future."
Key takeaways:
- The latest analysis shows that the energy sector has the largest freshwater withdrawals across all industrial sectors, using nearly 52 billion gallons of water each day (BGD) – the equivalent to 78,788 Olympic pools of water. The other sectors using several billion gallons of water per day (BGD) include chemical and pharmaceutical (3.9 BGD), pulp and paper (3.5 BGD), food and beverage (1.5 BGD), mining (1.6 BGD), semiconductor (0.2 BGD) and data centers (0.2 BGD).
- Looking ahead to 2050, daily water withdrawals are expected to increase to 4.8 BGD in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Daily water withdrawals will also increase in the food and beverage (1.7 BGD).