Consistent Terminology and Reporting Are Needed to Describe Water Quantity Use

Abstract

The value of water use quantification assessments is hindered by the use of inconsistent terminology and reporting standards. Challenges associated with data collection and maintenance are made unnecessarily worse by the community’s lack of agreement on definitions and reporting standards. Three major problems stand out: terminology conflicts, imprecise units, and data integrity. This work illustrates the impact of these problems using recent work on water use in the US energy system as a case study. Relatively minor changes to the definition of water consumption can change reported water consumption by −50% to +270%, with no change to underlying data. Quantitative impacts of imprecise units and data integrity are more difficult to estimate, but this work demonstrates that minor changes to reporting standards in these realms can substantially improve certainty. This article identifies major terminology conflicts and recommends a mass flow–based approach to definitions, with the goal of clearly separating conversations about water quantity versus quality. Regardless of chosen approach, standardizing terminology and reporting within the research community can improve data quality at no to low cost.