Operational since 1988, the Great Lakes Regional Water Use Database provides information on water uses to fulfill to state and provincial commitments under the 1985 Great Lakes Charter. Aggregated water use information is available for 9 water use categories (e.g., public supply and self-supply domestic, irrigation, livestock, industrial, thermoelectric fossil fuel, thermoelectric nuclear, hydroelectric and other), the 5 Great Lakes basins, 10 Great Lakes states and provinces. This database was designed to be a crude tool to track of water withdrawals, diversions and consumptive use. The most recent year for which water use data was collected is 2004. In total, water withdrawals for the year 2004 were approximately 850 billion gallons per day, or about 3,219 billion liters per day. Self-supplied hydroelectric is the largest single category of withdrawal and represents 95 percent of the total amount of water ?withdrawn? in 2004. This presentation will highlight 2004 regional water use trends, setting the stage for the sessions timely focus on the valuation of Great Lakes waters.

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