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Water Use Permits as of July 2024 and Reported Water Use Near the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, 1980–2023

Scientific Investigations Map 3545
Prepared in cooperation with the National Park Service
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3545

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Abstract

Starting in the early 2000s, increasing oil and gas development in western North Dakota created a need for additional water resources from surface-water and groundwater sources near the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. To summarize the use of water in that area, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, developed a map of surface-water and groundwater resources, aquifers, and water-use diversions, and plotted water-use trends from 1980 to 2023. Reported water used from permits in the map area has more than doubled since 2020, increasing from about 750 acre-feet in 2020 to about 2,300 acre-feet in 2022 and 2,000 acre-feet in 2023. Surface water provided the primary source of reported water used for the study period with an average of about 410 acre-feet per year from 1980 through 2017 and about 1,330 acre-feet per year from 2018 through 2023. After 2011, groundwater sourced from the Little Missouri River, Tobacco Garden Creek, Fox Hills, Fort Union, and Dakota aquifers became a larger portion of total annual reported water use from permits in the map area. From 1980 through 2015, water use for irrigation averaged 86 percent of the total annual reported surface-water and groundwater use in the map area. Starting in 2011, however, industrial uses became a proportionally larger total use of water, and in 2015, became the highest reported volume of water use in the map area. From 2011 to 2023, industrial use designated for water depots increased from 50 acre-feet to about 1,370 acre-feet, accounting for about 70 percent of total reported water use in the map area in 2023.

Plain Language Summary

This map shows the location of water permits and graphs of the reported amount of water used from those permits from rivers, streams, and wells as of July 2024, near Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Total water use in the map area  more than doubled from 2020 to 2023. From 1980 through 2023, water from rivers and streams was used more than water from wells, but water use from wells began to increase starting in 2011. From 1980 through 2015, most water was used for irrigation, but after 2015, most water was used for industrial purposes. 

Suggested Citation

Anderson, T.M., and Medler, C.J., 2026, Water use permits as of July 2024 and reported water use near the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, 1980–2023: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3545, 1 p., scale 1:75,000, https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3545.

ISSN: 2329-132X (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Plain Language Summary
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Hydrogeologic Setting
  • Sources of Water
  • Water Uses
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Water use permits as of July 2024 and reported water use near the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, 1980–2023
Series title Scientific Investigations Map
Series number 3545
DOI 10.3133/sim3545
Publication Date March 09, 2026
Year Published 2026
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Dakota Water Science Center
Description 1 Sheet: 51.96 x 32.00 inches
Country United States
State North Dakota
Other Geospatial North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Additional publication details