Ground water withdrawn for municipal, industrial, and irrigation use in the Upper Peace and Alafia River basins, west-central Florida, 1970-74
Data are presented for ground-water withdrawals for municipal, industrial and irrigation use in the upper Peace and Alafia River basins during 1970-71. Within the 1,160-square-mile study area, the principal source of ground water is the Floridan aquifer. Methods used to determine ground-water withdrawal include: metering water use; relating measured well discharge to power consumption of pumping time; and relating water use to phosphate production, citrus irrigation or processing. About 90 percent of municipal pumpage is metered, and annual pumpage increased from 11,165 million gallons in 1970 to 13,455 in 1974. Water use per ton of phosphate produced is estimated to be 3,320 gallons per ton prior to 1971 and 2,460 gallons per ton from 1971 through 1974. Estimated ground-eater use by the phosphate industry has declined from 93.3 billion gallons in 1970 to 78.7 in 1974. Citrus irrigation pumpage is obtained by extrapolating pumpage obtained from pilot areas of unmeasured areas and has declined from 33.4 billion gallons in 1970 to 31.3 in 1974. The citrus processing industry used about 4.9 billion gallons in 1970 and about 5.9 in 1974. (Woodard-USGS)