Water as a Factor in the Location of Industry in the Southeast

WATER AS A FACTOR IN THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTHEAST John R. McGregor* INTRODUCTION. Although water is generally recognized as one of the many factors involved in the location of industry, its impact is only partially documented. It is clear, however, from a delimitation of water costs across Illinois and western Indiana in 1957 that the cost of water may vary substantially over relatively small areas. (1 ) At that time, the cost of 7,500 gallons of water reportedly varied from $2.75 to $10.22 within a group of 60 cities in the research area. For various larger quantities of water (up to 35,000 gallons ) the cost variation proved to be comparable, with prices at the most expensive location ranging from 3.7 to 4.0 times those at the lowest cost location. Although such large areal variations in water costs may be unusual, it is apparent that water costs may be an important location factor for industries in which sizeable volumes of water are required. This does not necessarily imply that water costs must represent a substantial proportion of all operating costs for such an industry; the water costs must only be large enough that their areal variation is a definite factor in the overall operating costs of the industry at alternative locations. Since a general "census" of industrial water use was beyond the scope of this research, a basis for a logical selection of the industries and of the area to be considered was needed. This proved to be available from the most recent Census inventory of industrial water requirements in the United States. The prelimiary Census data on water needs were collected during the 1963 Census of Manufactures. In it representatives of all establishments with six or more employees were questioned in terms of broad size ranges of water usage in their plants. Among the nearly 300,000 establishments with six or more employees, the management of approximately 10,000 plants reported annual use of 20 million gallons of water or more. This group of relatively large water-using establishments was then included in the special water survey for 1964 (MC-D13 ) in which specific water use data were collected. Omitted from consideration were all establishments of major groups 23 (Apparel) and 27 (Printing and Publishing) as well as ". . . the government owned establishments operated by private contractors for the Atomic Energy Commission." (2) The 1964 coverage ". . . accounted for about 97 per cent of water withdrawn for manufacturing purposes. These plants, however, represent only about 3 per cent of all manufacturing establishments and employ approxi- *Dr. McGregor ¡s assistant professor of geography at the University of Georgia, Athens. The paper was accepted for publication in October 1969. 42Southeastern Geographer mately 39 per cent of the total number of persons engaged in manufacturing ." (3) The plants of a few major industry groups were found to be clearly dominant in industrial water use. In 1964, 85 per cent of the 14.1 trillion gallons of intake water used by manufacturing establishments was used in plants of the following four major industry groups: Paper and Allied Products (Group 26), Chemicals and Allied Products (Group 28), Petroleum and Coal Products (Group 29), and Primary Metal Industries (Group 33). More specifically, blast furnaces and steel mills required about 27 per cent of the total intake water, and manufacturers of industrial chemicals about 21 per cent. (4) Clearly, the requirement for large quantities of water is concentrated within a relatively small number of manufacturing industries. Since much of the increase in industrial water intake between 1954 and 1964 is attributed to the same four major industry groups, the concentration of industrial water use is also increasing. (5) Under these circumstances , the past focus of industrial water research on the major water using industries has obviously been appropriate. (6) This has, however, considerably limited research on the significance of water as a location factor in other manufacturing industries. Even though smaller quantities of water are required in such industries, water may still be a significant factor in their location. The cost of supplying the necessary quantity and quality of water may vary substantially over area and represent a significant variable in...