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 2002-2016 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.

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 and the first year of data included is 2016.