Americans are using less water than they did 30 years ago, despite a 30 percent population increase during the same period, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report that details estimated U.S. water use for 2005.

Most of the decrease is due to more efficient technologies at power plants and improved irrigation systems. That's not too surprising since 80 percent of the 410 billion gallons of water Americans use every day goes to generate electrical power (49 percent) and irrigate crops (31 percent).

Although water withdrawals for public supply have increased steadily since the USGS began its series of five-year trend reports in 1950, to keep pace with the growth in population, public supply accounts for only 11 percent of overall water use. The remaining 9 percent of U.S. water is used for livestock, aquaculture, mining, certain industrial purposes and rural domestic uses.

The report also breaks down water usage by state and reveals some surprising results. Four of the 50 states--California, Texas, Idaho, and Florida--accounted for more than 25 percent of all fresh and salt water withdrawn in the United States in 2005.

With water rationing already occurring in some states, and our population continuing to grow, Americans need to find new and more efficient ways to conserve and reuse water.

Also Read:

• Water Conservation: Global Water Supply Drying Up as Population Grows
• How Safe is Tap Water
• How Much Energy Does It Take to Make Bottled Water?

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has promised to mark up climate legislation in her committee on Tuesday, as planned, despite an expected boycott of the work session by the committee's Republican members.

While two members from the minority party (currently, the Republicans) are usually required for a quorum when the committee is marking up a bill, Boxer plans to use a provision in the rules that will allow the Democrats to proceed as long as a majority of committee members are present and votes in favor of the bill. Democrats outnumber Republicans on the committee 12 to 7, so Boxer is confident of her majority.

Led by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the committee's top-ranked Republican member, all of the Republican members plan to skip the scheduled mark up tomorrow, claiming the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to do a full economic impact analysis of the climate bill. Boxer and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.)--the two primary sponsors of the bill--rejected this claim and cited the many different ways the legislation has been examined and analyzed. They urged the Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to reconsider and rejoin their Democratic colleagues to finish their work on the bill this week. Regardless of what the Republicans decide, however, Boxer says she will proceed with the mark up.

But this battle of wills goes much deeper than the details of the EPA's economic analysis or, for that matter, of the bill itself.

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If you aren't attending WILD9--the weeklong World Wilderness Congress (November 6-13) that will bring together many of the world's leading conservationists and wilderness experts to debate and take action on critical environmental issues--you can still pull up a chair and join in through a variety of social networking tools that The WILD Foundation is using to broaden global participation in the event.

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The United Nations has named Tinker Bell--a leading citizen of both Disneyland and Neverland--as its "Honorary Ambassador of Green" to help promote environmental awareness among children.

Kermit the Frog once observed in song that "it's not easy being green," but he was talking about skin color, not lifestyle. For Tinker Bell, being green isn't just easy, it's as natural as flying.

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