Crop irrigation — watering the plants that make our food — is one of the most intensive uses of water in the world. This year, at the United Nations 2023 Water Conference, the biggest water conference in 50 years, water for agriculture topped many countries' lists of concerns.
Every five years the United States Geological Survey (USGS) calculates our national water use across all water sectors. In 2015 (the most recent year for which data is available), the U.S. withdrew 118,000 Mgal/d for irrigation, which represented 42% of all our freshwater withdrawals.
