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Water Plan Water Balance Data

Department of Water Resources California Water Plan program computes applied, net, and depletion water balances for California. Water balances are simplified water budgets for a water year based on analyses of developed and dedicated water supplies, water uses by sector, water reuses, operational characteristics for an area, and inflows and outflow for a study area that occur above the root zone. Dedicated and developed water supplies include surface water, groundwater, reused and recycled water. Water uses by sector for these analyses include parameters for agriculture, urban, managed wetlands, Wild and Scenic river annual volumes, minimum required instream flows, and minimum required delta outflow, recognizing that water is often used multiple times and benefits multiple sectors. Water balance results show what water was applied to actual uses so that use equals supply. Recent data provided includes water uses and supplies for WYs 2002-2020 at Detailed Analysis Unit by County (DAUCO), Planning Area (PA), Hydrologic Region (HR), and Statewide spatial scales. Computation and aggregation equations for applied, net, and depletion water balances are included in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data management and analyses. Metadata are provided in a .txt file which can be opened by any text editor. Zipped data files are in .CSV format. A data verification file with summary tables is included for each year in .PDF format. The California Water Plan Update 2018 Water Balances Supporting Document includes water use and supply discussion, graphics, and links to files and folders of water use and supply data for 1998-2015, and related information. There is also a 1-page Water Balance Fact Sheet available. California Water Plan Update 2023 is underway, data for WYs 2016, 2018-2020 are available now.

Data files

Data title and descriptionAccess dataFile detailsLast updated

Water balance data for water years (WY) 2002 - 2016 by DAUCO, PA, HR, and ST

Department of Water Resources California Water Plan program computes applied, net, and depletion water balances for California. Water balances are simplified water budgets for a water year based on analyses of developed and dedicated water supplies, water uses by sector, water reuses, operational characteristics for an area, and inflows and outflow for a study area that occur above the root zone. Dedicated and developed water supplies include surface water, groundwater, reused and recycled water. Water uses by sector for these analyses include parameters for agriculture, urban, managed wetlands, Wild and Scenic river annual volumes, minimum required instream flows, and minimum required delta outflow, recognizing that water is often used multiple times and benefits multiple sectors. Water balance results show what water was applied to actual uses so that use equals supply. Recent data provided includes water uses and supplies for WYs 2002-2020 at Detailed Analysis Unit by County (DAUCO), Planning Area (PA), Hydrologic Region (HR), and Statewide spatial scales. Computation and aggregation equations for applied, net, and depletion water balances are included in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data management and analyses. Metadata are provided in a .txt file which can be opened by any text editor. Zipped data files are in .CSV format. A data verification file with summary tables is included for each year in .PDF format. The California Water Plan Update 2018 Water Balances Supporting Document includes water use and supply discussion, graphics, and links to files and folders of water use and supply data for 1998-2015, and related information. There is also a 1-page Water Balance Fact Sheet available. California Water Plan Update 2023 is underway, data for WYs 2016, 2018-2020 are available now.

DownloadZIP
08/11/23

Water balance data for WY 2018 by DAUCO, PA, HR, and ST - updated 07-24-2023

Department of Water Resources California Water Plan program computes applied, net, and depletion water balances for California. Water balances are simplified water budgets for a water year based on analyses of developed and dedicated water supplies, water uses by sector, water reuses, operational characteristics for an area, and inflows and outflow for a study area that occur above the root zone. Dedicated and developed water supplies include surface water, groundwater, reused and recycled water. Water uses by sector for these analyses include parameters for agriculture, urban, managed wetlands, Wild and Scenic river annual volumes, minimum required instream flows, and minimum required delta outflow, recognizing that water is often used multiple times and benefits multiple sectors. Water balance results show what water was applied to actual uses so that use equals supply. Recent data provided includes water uses and supplies for WYs 2002-2020 at Detailed Analysis Unit by County (DAUCO), Planning Area (PA), Hydrologic Region (HR), and Statewide spatial scales. Computation and aggregation equations for applied, net, and depletion water balances are included in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data management and analyses. Metadata are provided in a .txt file which can be opened by any text editor. Zipped data files are in .CSV format. A data verification file with summary tables is included for each year in .PDF format. The California Water Plan Update 2018 Water Balances Supporting Document includes water use and supply discussion, graphics, and links to files and folders of water use and supply data for 1998-2015, and related information. There is also a 1-page Water Balance Fact Sheet available. California Water Plan Update 2023 is underway, data for WYs 2016, 2018-2020 are available now.

DownloadZIP
08/11/23

Water balance data for WY 2019 by DAUCO, PA, HR, and ST - updated 07-24-2023

Department of Water Resources California Water Plan program computes applied, net, and depletion water balances for California. Water balances are simplified water budgets for a water year based on analyses of developed and dedicated water supplies, water uses by sector, water reuses, operational characteristics for an area, and inflows and outflow for a study area that occur above the root zone. Dedicated and developed water supplies include surface water, groundwater, reused and recycled water. Water uses by sector for these analyses include parameters for agriculture, urban, managed wetlands, Wild and Scenic river annual volumes, minimum required instream flows, and minimum required delta outflow, recognizing that water is often used multiple times and benefits multiple sectors. Water balance results show what water was applied to actual uses so that use equals supply. Recent data provided includes water uses and supplies for WYs 2002-2020 at Detailed Analysis Unit by County (DAUCO), Planning Area (PA), Hydrologic Region (HR), and Statewide spatial scales. Computation and aggregation equations for applied, net, and depletion water balances are included in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data management and analyses. Metadata are provided in a .txt file which can be opened by any text editor. Zipped data files are in .CSV format. A data verification file with summary tables is included for each year in .PDF format. The California Water Plan Update 2018 Water Balances Supporting Document includes water use and supply discussion, graphics, and links to files and folders of water use and supply data for 1998-2015, and related information. There is also a 1-page Water Balance Fact Sheet available. California Water Plan Update 2023 is underway, data for WYs 2016, 2018-2020 are available now.

DownloadZIP
08/11/23

Supporting files

Data title and descriptionAccess dataFile detailsLast updated

California Water Plan Update 2018 Supporting Document for Water Portfolio Water Balances

California Water Plan Update 2018 draws from and builds on reference documents related to water resources to enhance the content and produce a better plan with each succeeding update. They provide the methodology, assumptions, data, estimates, and expanded discussion used in the development of this update. California Water Plan Update 2018 (Update 2018) supporting documentation for water portfolios includes discussion and accountings of water uses and their supplies for the state; a hydrologic overview; water balance tables and graphics for Water Years (WYs) 2011–2015; a geographic overview of California's surface water inflows and outflows with adjoining states, between hydrologic regions, and to the Pacific Ocean; descriptions and links to various data files for WYs 1998-2015; related information and definitions of related terms.

PDF
08/11/23

Water Balance Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Open Water Information Architecture (OWIA) applied to Water Plan Water Balances automation includes categorization into quality control (QC), data publication (DP) and analysis (AN) procedures. Document includes information about governing equations, computer configuration, directory structure, overview of geospatial metadata extraction (GS), quality control (QC), configuration management and change control (CM), application programming interfaces (API) for water balance data, parameterization and controlled vocabulary, as well as, water balance equations, and equations for aggregation adjustments for reuse at different spatial scales.

PDF
08/11/23

California Water Plan Update 2018 Water Balances Fact Sheet - 1 page

A one-page fact sheet for the California Water Plan Update 2018 Water Portfolio Water Balances Supporting Document

PDF
08/11/23

Water balance data for WY 2020 by DAUCO, PA, HR, and ST

Water balance data for WY 2020. Water balances are simplified water budgets for a water year based on developed and dedicated water supplies applied to actual uses; and inflows and outflows for a study area that occur above the root zone. Study areas for water balances are Detailed Analysis Unit by County (DAUCO) polygons, Planning Areas (PA), and Hydrologic Regions (HR). Spatial data is found in DWR's GIS Atlas. Zipped data files are in .CSV format.

.ZIP
08/11/23

Update 2023 Standard Operating Procedures for Water Balance Automation

Open Water Information Architecture (OWIA) applied to Water Plan Water Balances automation includes categorization into quality control (QC), data publication (DP) and analysis (AN) procedures. Document includes information about governing equations, computer configuration, directory structure, overview of geospatial metadata extraction (GS), quality control (QC), configuration management and change control (CM), application programming interfaces (API) for water balance data, parameterization and controlled vocabulary, as well as, water balance equations, and equations for aggregation adjustments for reuse at different spatial scales.

PDF
11/20/24

API endpoint

Dataset Name

Use the query web API to retrieve data with a set of basic parameters. Copy the API endpoint you need to start.

Usage documentation