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Understand Idaho

Idaho livestock water use

61,480 acre-feet

Water withdrawn for livestock in Idaho, 2022 (estimate)

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Livestock water-use withdrawal estimates for 2022 by 12-digit hydrologic unit code, county, month, and year for the United States, excluding territories. Data period 2022. Status: estimate. Published .

Modeled water withdrawn for livestock (including poultry) per year, converted from USGS's published million-gallons-per-day annual mean.

Change and comparison

Among 50 states and the District of Columbia, Idaho ranked 11th highest in 2022. Texas was highest at 256,970 acre-feet and District of Columbia lowest at 0 acre-feet.

Idaho is highest among its neighboring states at 61,480 acre-feet.

Idaho's figure is 2.9% of the national figure of 2.11 million acre-feet.

Among 44 Idaho counties in 2022, Gooding County was highest at 11,262 acre-feet and Shoshone County lowest at 4 acre-feet.

By county

44 of 44 counties have a value for 2022. Idaho statewide on the same basis: 61,480 acre-feet.

  1. Gooding11,262
  2. Twin Falls7,753
  3. Jerome7,715
  4. Cassia6,472
  5. Canyon3,701
  6. Elmore3,578
  7. Owyhee3,573
  8. Lincoln2,033
  9. Payette1,679
  10. Jefferson1,663
  11. Minidoka1,633
  12. Ada1,547
  13. Bingham1,314
  14. Bonneville1,052
  15. Franklin973
  16. Power546
  17. Washington421
  18. Caribou376
  19. Idaho372
  20. Lemhi367
  21. Oneida325
  22. Custer321
  23. Bear Lake288
  24. Fremont276
  25. Gem264
  26. Bannock260
  27. Adams217
  28. Clark188
  29. Blaine176
  30. Nez Perce135
  31. Madison128
  32. Valley117
  33. Butte105
  34. Teton99
  35. Latah79
  36. Bonner75
  37. Kootenai75
  38. Camas73
  39. Boundary71
  40. Lewis65
  41. Boise46
  42. Clearwater46
  43. Benewah17
  44. Shoshone4

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Livestock water-use withdrawal estimates for 2022 by 12-digit hydrologic unit code, county, month, and year for the United States, excluding territories. Data period 2022. Published .

Ada County: 1,547 Acre-feet (2022)Adams County: 217 Acre-feet (2022)Bannock County: 260 Acre-feet (2022)Bear Lake County: 288 Acre-feet (2022)Benewah County: 17 Acre-feet (2022)Bingham County: 1,314 Acre-feet (2022)Blaine County: 176 Acre-feet (2022)Boise County: 46 Acre-feet (2022)Bonner County: 75 Acre-feet (2022)Bonneville County: 1,052 Acre-feet (2022)Boundary County: 71 Acre-feet (2022)Butte County: 105 Acre-feet (2022)Camas County: 73 Acre-feet (2022)Canyon County: 3,701 Acre-feet (2022)Caribou County: 376 Acre-feet (2022)Cassia County: 6,472 Acre-feet (2022)Clark County: 188 Acre-feet (2022)Clearwater County: 46 Acre-feet (2022)Custer County: 321 Acre-feet (2022)Elmore County: 3,578 Acre-feet (2022)Franklin County: 973 Acre-feet (2022)Fremont County: 276 Acre-feet (2022)Gem County: 264 Acre-feet (2022)Gooding County: 11,262 Acre-feet (2022)Idaho County: 372 Acre-feet (2022)Jefferson County: 1,663 Acre-feet (2022)Jerome County: 7,715 Acre-feet (2022)Kootenai County: 75 Acre-feet (2022)Latah County: 79 Acre-feet (2022)Lemhi County: 367 Acre-feet (2022)Lewis County: 65 Acre-feet (2022)Lincoln County: 2,033 Acre-feet (2022)Madison County: 128 Acre-feet (2022)Minidoka County: 1,633 Acre-feet (2022)Nez Perce County: 135 Acre-feet (2022)Oneida County: 325 Acre-feet (2022)Owyhee County: 3,573 Acre-feet (2022)Payette County: 1,679 Acre-feet (2022)Power County: 546 Acre-feet (2022)Shoshone County: 4 Acre-feet (2022)Teton County: 99 Acre-feet (2022)Twin Falls County: 7,753 Acre-feet (2022)Valley County: 117 Acre-feet (2022)Washington County: 421 Acre-feet (2022)
  • 4 to 76
  • 77 to 225
  • 226 to 374
  • 375 to 1,668
  • 1,669 to 11,262

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Livestock water-use withdrawal estimates for 2022 by 12-digit hydrologic unit code, county, month, and year for the United States, excluding territories. Data period 2022. Published .

Data table (44 rows)
County2022
Gooding County11,262
Twin Falls County7,753
Jerome County7,715
Cassia County6,472
Canyon County3,701
Elmore County3,578
Owyhee County3,573
Lincoln County2,033
Payette County1,679
Jefferson County1,663
Minidoka County1,633
Ada County1,547
Bingham County1,314
Bonneville County1,052
Franklin County973
Power County546
Washington County421
Caribou County376
Idaho County372
Lemhi County367
Oneida County325
Custer County321
Bear Lake County288
Fremont County276
Gem County264
Bannock County260
Adams County217
Clark County188
Blaine County176
Nez Perce County135
Madison County128
Valley County117
Butte County105
Teton County99
Latah County79
Bonner County75
Kootenai County75
Camas County73
Boundary County71
Lewis County65
Boise County46
Clearwater County46
Benewah County17
Shoshone County4

Compared with other states

  1. United States2,114,019
  2. Texas256,970
  3. Iowa200,807
  4. Idaho61,480
  5. Montana38,331
  6. Washington31,335
  7. Wyoming17,015
  8. Oregon16,712
  9. Utah16,295
  10. Nevada5,591
  11. Rhode Island93
  12. Alaska64
  13. District of Columbia0

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Livestock water-use withdrawal estimates for 2022 by 12-digit hydrologic unit code, county, month, and year for the United States, excluding territories. Data period 2022. Published .

The first 10 of 52 rows; the full table is below.

State2022
1. United States2,114,019
2. Texas256,970
3. Iowa200,807
4. California193,706
5. Nebraska126,654
6. Kansas118,762
7. Oklahoma81,153
8. Missouri77,161
9. Wisconsin76,487
10. North Carolina73,360
Data table (52 rows)
State2022
1. United States2,114,019
2. Texas256,970
3. Iowa200,807
4. California193,706
5. Nebraska126,654
6. Kansas118,762
7. Oklahoma81,153
8. Missouri77,161
9. Wisconsin76,487
10. North Carolina73,360
11. Minnesota64,996
12. Idaho61,480
13. South Dakota53,508
14. Indiana48,664
15. Pennsylvania46,918
16. Illinois39,590
17. Arkansas39,448
18. Kentucky39,011
19. Montana38,331
20. Colorado35,587
21. New Mexico33,044
22. Washington31,335
23. Alabama30,054
24. Ohio29,752
25. Georgia29,169
26. New York27,915
27. Michigan27,872
28. Florida26,351
29. Virginia25,391
30. Tennessee23,946
31. North Dakota21,768
32. Wyoming17,015
33. Oregon16,712
34. Mississippi16,517
35. Utah16,295
36. Arizona15,038
37. South Carolina11,558
38. Louisiana10,149
39. Maryland7,689
40. Nevada5,591
41. Vermont5,133
42. West Virginia4,638
43. Hawaii1,689
44. Maine1,629
45. Delaware1,443
46. Connecticut1,191
47. Massachusetts900
48. New Hampshire762
49. New Jersey722
50. Rhode Island93
51. Alaska64
52. District of Columbia0

Source

Organization
U.S. Geological Survey
Dataset
Livestock water-use withdrawal estimates for 2022 by 12-digit hydrologic unit code, county, month, and year for the United States, excluding territories
Geography
Idaho (statewide and every county), every other state, United States
Time coverage
2022
Update frequency
Irregular
Published
Original file
https://doi.org/10.5066/P1YUVSRN
Methodology
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/66e47b09d34e1cc1f894ed22
License
Public domain. Marked CC0 1.0 Universal by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Our copy
Livestock water-use withdrawal estimates for 2022 by 12-digit hydrologic unit code, county, month, and year for the United States, excluding territories, built by scripts/fetch-usgs-livestock-water-use.py

Caveats

  • This dataset covers livestock, including poultry, water use only; other categories such as irrigation, public supply, and industrial are not included.
  • These are modeled estimates: state-level per-head water-use coefficients multiplied by county animal inventories, not reported or metered withdrawals.
  • This is not the same series as the 1985-2015 Water Use Circular figures; it uses a different, more recent county base and is not comparable.
  • USGS publishes withdrawals in Mgal/d; values here are converted to acre-feet per year (1 Mgal/d = 1,120.14 acre-feet per year).

Cite

Cite this page as Understand Idaho, “Idaho livestock water use”, https://understandidaho.com/water/livestock-water-use/, retrieved on the date you read it, and the publisher named above for the figures themselves. The dataset behind it is described in the data catalog.

This page was last updated .