The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has released its annual Water Withdrawal Report for 2024.
This annual report by the DNR examines the role of water use in our state’s energy production, and this year, Manitowoc County ranked second in Wisconsin in surface water withdrawal.
Manitowoc County only trailed Milwaukee County, while Ozaukee, Buffalo, and Sheboygan Counties rounded out the top five.
The main source of surface water withdrawal in 2024 remained for power generation, but also included paper manufacturing and cranberry production in Wisconsin.
Manitowoc County ranked amongst the highest once again in large part to the Point Beach Nuclear Plant in Two Rivers, which generated more than 10 million megawatt-hours of energy, the most of any thermoelectric power plant in the state by a significant margin.
While Point Beach withdrew the most water of any such thermoelectrical power plant in Wisconsin, approximately 359 billion gallons, the plant only reported a 1% water loss.
The 2024 report also found that once-through cooling systems, like Point Beach, withdrew the largest amount of water but returned the vast majority of it to the lakes and waterbodies they took from.
The complete 2024 Water Withdrawal Report from the DNR can be found online by visiting dnr.wisconsin.gov.
