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Land & Water Use Data Collections

Land and Water Use

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Division of Statewide Integrated Water Management

Water Use and Efficiency
901 P Street
Sacramento, CA
95814-3515

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 942836
Sacramento, CA 94236

DWR Home Land & Water Use Home Land & Water Use Data Collections
  • Land Use Surveys - In 1947, the California Legislature requested that an investigation be conducted of the water resources and present and future water needs for all hydrologic regions in the State. Accordingly, the Department and its predecessor agencies began to collect the urban and agricultural land use and water use data that serve as the basis for the computations of current and projected water uses. Water Resources began surveying land use in the early 1950's for specific projects and investigations. By the mid 1960's the Department began an ongoing program to perform land use surveys every year. Since 1950 the Department has conducted over 250 land use surveys of all or parts of California's 58 counties.

    Early land use surveys were recorded on paper maps of USGS 7.5' quadrangles. In 1986, DWR began to develop georeferenced digital maps of land use survey data, which are available for downloading from this website. Our long-term goal for this program is to survey land use more frequently and efficiently using satellite imagery, high elevation digital imagery, local sources of data, and remote sensing in conjunction with field surveys. < Download Data >

  • Public Water Systems Production Survey - The Water Use unit of Statewide Water Planning conducts a yearly survey of public water agencies in the state of California. The data is used by Water Resources to update the California Water Plan (Bulletin 160), as well as Bulletin 166, Urban Water Use in California. The monthly urban water production data is disaggregated by:

    • Number of connections by customer class - Residential (single-family & multi-family, commercial-institutional, industrial, landscape irrigation, agricultural irrigation and other. Also notes metered, unmetered or if using recycled water.
    • Water production - Water produced by wells, surface water, purchased water and recycled water. This section also includes information regarding the level of recycled water treatment..
    • Metered water deliveries by customer class - This section also includes agricultural irrigation and wholesale to other agencies.
    • Promote Sustainability - Take actions that improve compatibility with the natural environment and reduce the expected costs to operate and maintain flood management systems into the future.

    This data helps us estimate regional water demands and to plan for future water needs. We appreciate the cooperation and support of the water agencies that provide this annual information.

    Data is available in Excel format for the years 1994-2002, and in more limited basis for the years 1991-1993. Data is also available in Access format for 1994-2002. Paper data is sparsely available from 1980-1990.

    As this is a survey conducted for forecasting purposes, data is not collected from every agency in the state.

  • Survey of Irrigation Methods in California
    Approximately every 10 years, a one-page irrigation survey form is mailed out to California growers to update records on irrigation system methods. A statewide survey of current irrigation methods was conducted during 2011 to determine which irrigation methods were used in California during 2010. The 1991, 2001, and 2010 studies were conducted by mailing questionnaires to growers who were randomly selected from a list of growers. A list of approximately 58,000 growers in California, from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), was used to determine the mailing list. All rice-only, non-irrigation, and livestock only growers were excluded from the list. Growers were asked to state the main county in which they farmed and the acreages they had planted during 2001 and 2010 to each of 20 possible crop categories by irrigation method within that county.