The use of water, fresh and saline, in the United States in 2010 was the lowest in 45 years, a U.S. Geological Survey report says.

“The 45-year low shows the positive trends in conservation that stem from improvements in water-use technologies and management,” the report said.

In 2010, the latest data available, overall use of water, fresh and saline, was 365 billion gallons a day, the report said. This is a 13 percent reduction in use compared with a total of 410 billion gallons a day in 2005, which itself was the lowest annual use since before 1970.

Among the 12 top users of water, Colorado was the eighth-largest, the report said.

Colorado used 848 million gallons of public-supplied and 38 million gallons of self-supplied (well or stream) water a day.

The state consumed 9.71 billion gallons a day for irrigation, 37 million for livestock, 122 million for aquaculture and 130 million for industry.

California was the largest consumer, accounting for 11 percent of all water use and 10 percent of fresh water use, which included what the state receives through the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

Following California in use were Texas, Idaho, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, Michigan, New York, Alabama and Ohio.

daler@durangoherald.com