Definitions used by Statistics Canada
Total water intake (water withdrawal) refers to the total amount of water added to the water system of the establishment to replace water discharged or consumed during production. It may be broken down into the amounts withdrawn from various sources (e.g. surface water, groundwater) and the amounts used for various purposes, or end uses. The latter refers to the initial use of water in these purposes – cooling, processing, condensing, steam generation, and sanitary and other purposes. Cooling and condensing water refers to water used for the production of steam or the dissipation of waste heat. Processing water refers to water that comes in contact with an intermediate or final product of the manufacturing operation. Sanitary water use serves basic human sanitary requirements at industrial establishments.
Recirculated water (recirculation or recycling) refers to water used more than once in an industrial establishment and in Canada applies mainly to cooling and processing activities. Recirculation does not refer to water used a number of times within a particular process subsystem of an establishment, but only to water that leaves a particular process subsystem and re-enters it or is used in another process. Recirculation and water intake combine to form the gross water use of an establishment.
Gross water use refers to the total amount of water used in the production of a product. It is the sum of total water intake and water recirculation.
Water consumption refers to water that is lost in the production process. In other words, consumed water is not returned to its original source. The two major portions of consumed water are escaped steam and the incorporation of water into a product, as for example in the production of soft drinks. Water consumption is a strictly “local” concept for the purposes of this report and refers to water not returned to the source of abstraction in the vicinity of the establishment in question. Therefore, “consumption” is used in Industrial Water Use, 2005 as an accounting concept to describe the water balances at single establishments only. In the broader context, because of the earth’s water cycle, water is never really “consumed” (evaporated water will fall back to the earth in the form of precipitation, so is not “lost” to the environment as a whole).
Wastewater (effluent) discharge refers to water that is returned to the environment in liquid form, usually close to the establishment. Discharged water may be treated or untreated. The sum of water discharge and water consumption is approximately equal to the total water intake of the establishment.