Statewide water-use data program in Utah

Project Number: 97169GU
Cooperating Agency: Utah Division of Water Resources
Project Chief: David Susong, USGS Salt Lake City, Utah
Project Period: Ongoing

Problem: Water use in Utah has evolved in the past century from meager domestic and stockwater needs to the present complex requirements of large irrigation projects, municipalities, industrial plants, and power generation facilities. Advances have been made in the ability to control, divert, and develop water, but little attention has been paid to keeping accurate accounts of the actual amounts of water being used. With the ever-increasing competition for water (especially during periods of drought), accurate water-use information could be of considerable value in determining future water availability and making sound resource management decisions.

Objectives: Beginning in FY 1978, the Utah State Department of Natural Resources, with assistance from the U.S. Geological Survey, initiated a water-use data-collection program appropriate for the State of Utah. In successive years, the objective is to build the program to its optimum level and maintain a data-collection and information system that will adequately accommodate, in a timely manner, the needs of all users, in both the State and Federal sectors.

Relevance and Benefits: An important part of the USGS mission is to provide scientific information to manage the water resources of the Nation, and to enhance and protect our quality of life. The future health and welfare of the Nation's population is dependent upon a continuing supply of uncontaminated fresh water. Increasing withdrawals and increasing demands for instream flows are limiting the water available for future use. More comprehensive water-use data and analysis of water-use information are needed to quantify the stress on existing supplies and to better model and evaluate possible water-supply management options to supplement traditional water-supply approaches. By compiling water-use data from numerous sources and reporting it in a common format for all parts of the country, the USGS provides resource managers at all levels of government with vital information needed to make informed decisions about managing their water resources. The results of such efforts provide benefits to our Nation's sustainable health, welfare, and prosperity. The water-use data collected and compiled in this State are an integral part of the nationwide assessment of water supply and demand.

Approach: (1) Develop a local data-base system based on and compatible with NEWSWUDS (New Site Specific Water-Use Data Base) that allows for storage, retrieval, and aggregation of data by Water-Resource Inventory Area, county, latitude-longitude, range-township, and/or project identification; and (2) develop and maintain an extensive data base for water-use information that will be accessible to all users at local, State, and Federal levels.

Products: Data from the program our compiled into a national assessment of water use every five years. Data from the program are also incorporated into an annual report on ground-water conditions in Utah and are available to the public via USGS online data bases.

USGS Water Use program page and reports

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL:http://ut.water.usgs.gov/newUTAH/Programs/wateruse.html
Page Contact Information: GS-W-UT_Web_Requests@usgs.gov
Page Last Modified: Wednesday, 17-May-2006 11:30:32 EDT