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The location of industrial plants is dependent on an ample water supply of suitable quality. Information relating to the chemical characteristics of the water supplies is not only essential to the location of many plants but also is an aid in the manufacture and distribution of many commodities.Public water supplies are utilized extensively as a source of supply for many industrial plants, used either as delivered for domestic consumption or with further treatment if necessary to meet specific needs of the plant, such as water• for processing, cooling, and steam generation. The industrial use of water in the United States in 1950 was estimated to be more than 75 billion gallons per day from private sources. In addition, about 6 billion gallons per day was estimated to be taken from public water supplies.U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 658, "The industrial utility of public water supplies in the United States, 1932" contains information pertaining to the public water supplies of 670 of the larger cities throughout the United States. This report, which is still in print and being distributed, has filled an important need in the field of water-supply engineering. The demand for more up-to-date information and more extended coverage has led to studies by the Geological Sur• vey for revision of the information contained in the 1932 report. The revised report, which will include data pertaining to public water supplies of more than 1, 200 cities in the United States, will eventually be published as a Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper. However, in order that the information might be available at the earliest possible time, nine preliminary reports are being issued which give data on the •larger cities in each state. These nine reports are being released as Geological Survey Circulars, each covering a group of states as delineated by the Bureau of Census in taking the census of the population of the country. (See fig. 1). The reports give descriptive information and analytical data for approximately three-fourths of the cities that will be included in the final report for each of the states.This circular is the second of the series and includes data for the States of Arizona,

The quality of natural waters, as judged by the dissolved mineral content, is quite varied throughout the Northwest. The concentrations of dissolved solids range from less than 50 ppm for many of the surface waters in Washington and Oregon, to several thousand ppm in the alkaline lakes of these states. On the whole, the quality of the natural waters is good but in some areas the waters have become unsatisfactory for many purposes, including irrigation, through contamination with wastes from industrial processes, which may include drainage from irrigated lands.

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