Global water usage is significant and many people are interested in getting their water footprints so they can lower their water use.

While global water usage is important, our Water Footprint Calculator was created for users in the United States, using primarily US data and units (versus metric units). The Calculator helps visitors understand how they use water and how they can use less.

This is information is useful for people outside of the United States as well. With a little bit of work before they take it and the understanding that certain data might be more or less applicable to where they live, users outside of the United States can get an estimate of how their water use habits and behaviors impact their water footprint.

Global Water Usage and the Water Footprint Calculator

The Water Footprint Calculator provides a snapshot of how a person’s daily activities and routines impact their water use. The results, reported as a water footprint, are meant to be an estimate that can help people better understand how their habits and behaviors contribute to their overall water use.

View or download a pdf of the methodology that shows all of the data, sources and equations.

Metric to US Unit Conversions

The following conversions will help users understand their results:

• 1 gallon = 3.785 liters
• 1 gallon per minute = 3.785 liters per minute
• 1 mile = 1.60934 kilometers
• 1 square foot = 0.092903 square meters
• 1 pound = 0.453592 kg
• 1 ounce = 28.3495 g

Users Outside the United States

Electric Power Production

The main challenge users outside the United States face in using the Water Footprint Calculator is deciding how to answer the question that asks them to choose their state. The question relates to electric power production because different forms of electric power production – hydroelectric, thermoelectric, solar PV, wind, etc. – consume more or less water depending on the technology, and each US-state’s power production profile varies depending on the types of technologies used.

A user from outside the US can determine their area’s predominant power portfolio (for example, by looking at their power company’s website), and then they can compare their profile to profiles from US states (listed in Table 1). Then, when they get to the state question in the Water Footprint Calculator, they can choose that state.

Table 1. 2016* State Power Production Profiles
(Shown as Percentages)

State	Coal	Hydroelectric	Natural Gas	Nuclear	Petroleum	Solar (PV & Thermo)	Wind	Other
Alabama	24	5	41	28	0	0	0	2
Alaska	9	26	48	0	13	0	3	1
Arizona	28	7	31	30	0	3	0	0
Arkansas	39	6	30	22	0	0	0	2
California	0	15	49	10	0	10	7	10
Colorado	55	3	23	0	0	1	17	0
Connecticut	0	1	49	45	0	0	0	4
Delaware	5	0	89	0	1	1	0	4
District of Columbia	0	0	30	0	1	0	0	69
Florida	17	0	67	12	1	0	0	3
Georgia	28	3	40	26	0	1	0	3
Hawaii	15	1	0	0	67	1	6	10
Idaho	0	58	21	0	0	0	16	4
Illinois	32	0	9	53	0	0	6	1
Indiana	71	0	20	0	1	0	5	3
Iowa	46	2	5	9	0	0	37	1
Kansas	49	0	4	17	0	0	30	0
Kentucky	83	4	10	0	2	0	0	1
Louisiana	11	1	62	16	4	0	0	5
Maine	1	26	30	0	1	0	14	28
Maryland	37	4	15	40	0	1	1	2
Massachusetts	6	2	66	17	1	2	1	5
Michigan	36	1	26	28	1	0	4	3
Minnesota	39	2	15	23	0	0	17	4
Mississippi	8	0	80	9	0	0	0	2
Missouri	77	2	8	12	0	0	1	0
Montana	51	36	2	0	0	0	8	3
Nebraska	60	2	1	26	0	0	10	0
Nevada	5	4	73	0	0	8	1	9
New Hampshire	2	6	25	56	0	0	2	9
New Jersey	2	0	56	39	0	1	0	2
New Mexico	56	0	30	0	0	2	11	0
New York	1	20	42	31	0	0	3	2
North Carolina	29	3	30	33	0	3	0	2
North Dakota	70	5	3	0	0	0	22	0
Ohio	58	0	24	14	1	0	1	1
Oklahoma	24	3	46	0	0	0	26	0
Oregon	3	57	25	0	0	0	12	2
Pennsylvania	25	1	32	39	0	0	2	1
Rhode Island	0	0	96	0	0	0	0	3
South Carolina	22	2	17	58	0	0	0	1
South Dakota	18	42	8	0	0	0	32	0
Tennessee	39	9	14	37	0	0	0	0
Texas	27	0	50	9	0	0	13	1
Utah	68	2	23	0	0	3	2	2
Vermont	0	56	0	0	0	3	15	25
Virginia	18	2	44	32	1	0	0	4
Washington	4	69	10	8	0	0	7	1
West Virginia	94	2	2	0	0	0	2	0
Wisconsin	51	4	24	16	0	0	2	2
Wyoming	86	2	2	0	0	0	9	1

Example: South Korea

South Korea’s power production profile in 2016 was as follows:

Production Type	Percentage of Total
Coal	40
Nuclear	30
Natural Gas	22
Renewables	4
Petroleum	3
Hydroelectric	1

While there are no exact matches, the profile is somewhat similar to Arkansas, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee – any of these states would work. Note that the predominant forms of power production – coal, natural gas and nuclear – are all forms of thermoelectric power which typically require a lot of cooling water that is consumed in order to produce electricity.

The Water Footprint Calculator is not intended to be an exact accounting of anyone’s water use. The point of it is to act as a mirror for how people use water and for people to think about their behaviors and how they could use less water. 

More on Global Water Usage

If you’d like to see a list of countries by water consumption per capita check out the graph and table in this post.

Water Footprint Networks’ Water Footprint Calculator

Another option for people who are not in the United States is to use the personal water footprint calculator on the Water Footprint Network’s site. That calculator allows users to select their country and language and the data is based on individual countries. Note that it does not ask about power production or transportation fuels.