In 1980 72.8 million acres were developed. By 2003 that has risen to 108 million. As of 2003, 5.6 percent of the area of the United States had been developed.
70.8 percent of Iowa is used for cropland. 0.9 percent of Nevada is used for cropland.
Per capita water use in 1940 was 1,027 gallons per year. Water use rose to 1,972 gallons per year by 1975. By 2000, water use had been reduced to 1,430 gallons per person.
North Dakota has no sites listed on the National Priorities List for the Superfund program. New Jersey has 116.
Every state in the Union has reached 100 degrees farenheit, with the highest temperature ever recorded in both Hawaii and Alaska being 100.
Every state in the Union except Hawaii has reached negative temperatures. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Hawaii is 12 degrees.
Los Angeles, CA is the only major city where the highest temperature ever recorded is above 90 degrees in every month of the calendar year.
Wonder where all the water savings is coming from. Surely low-flow shower heads and front load washing machines can’t be doing all that.
Also, “developed” is a bit ambiguous. Is cropland “developed”? I’d guess not, but if it’s not what it would be without the work of human hands, I think it should count as “developed”. Or not. And Nevada, that makes sense. If you’ve ever driven through Nevada, man, it’s COMPLETELY barron. Seems to take an eternity to get across that state.
United States water
consumptionuse for the year 2000:Industrial (65%) —291.0 billion cubic meters or 1.1 billion gallons;
Domestic (8%) —35.8 billion cubic meters or 135.5 million gallons;
Agricultural (27%) —120.9 billion cubic meters or 457.6 million gallons;
These numbers make me think that the big savings aren’t coming from the consumer.