U.S. WATER USE DOWN DESPITE GROWING POPULATION, DATA SHOW.(MAIN)

Byline: WILLIAM K. STEVENS New York Times

In a little-noticed but potentially historic environmental turnabout, federal analysts report that Americans' use of water declined by about 9 percent from 1980 to 1995 -- even as the U.S. population grew by 16 percent over the same period.

The drop in water use, which came after decades of steady increase, is attributed by experts largely to a gradual shift in focus away from finding ways to capture more water -- building dams, for instance -- and toward devising ways of using it more efficiently.

The recent disclosure of the decline, by the U.S. Geological Survey, runs contrary to a deeply seated …