WATER CONSUMPTION BY THE MINERAL INDUSTRY Water consumption by the mineral industry in the Lower Colorado River Basin will increase from approximately 130,000 acre-feet in 1960 to over 320,000 acre-feet by 2000 (Fig. 3). Most of the water consumed will be for the processing of copper ore, crude petroleum, and nonmetallic minerals such as sand and gravel (Table 2). Consumption data represent a minimum as they include only that quantity of water lost by evaporation or by incorporation in a product (Ref. 5). Recirculation of water notwithstanding, a given mining operation usually takes in considerably more new water (fresh water used for the first time in an operation) than it consumes. Most of the difference is lost by discharge into a stre...