Interactive California Water Rights Map Made Public!

Well, I stumbled across this and just couldn't hop back here quickly enough to share. WOW! California is known as one of the more restrictive and unfriendly states for public data and information being posted online. If there is even a passing, outside possibility that it could cross any notion of privacy in any way ....it usually defaults to nothing posted at all in my experience. So this was a surprise!

From their front page:

This map is for citizens, journalists, legal professionals, policy analysts, institutional ratepayers, farmers, and water professionals who seek a comprehensive comparison of water usage in our state. By providing an intuitive and searchable interface, we hope to advance the understanding of the geographic distribution of water resources for all stakeholders.

Data on water rights in California is difficult to navigate, impossible to query, and is not provided in a machine-readable format. This modest prototype demonstrates that we can do better. This is a first in a series of interactive maps that will consolidate data from disparate agencies, and bring clarity to how water is managed, governed, and distributed in the state. ca.statewater.or

California Water Rights

Enjoy the data everyone! I'm still playing with it to get a feel for what all it shows in useful ways. The notes above also indicate there is more to come, of course. It looks like it will be something to watch for more useful data appearing as time goes on. California delivers this time!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Good find.

Isn't it strange at the frontpage:

Currently, water rights holders claim they divert in aggregate approximately 250 million acre feet of water each year.

California receives 71 million acre feet of usable water from annual precipitation

Does California goes in the minus for approximately 180 million acre feet a year?

reply to post by EartOccupant

Oh, that is an interesting story and one it's useful to see to understand. If you've driven extensively in California you'll have seen this but otherwise? It's really a foreign thing in that it doesn't exist this way almost anywhere else.

Pull up Google Earth and load "Lebec, California". It's a tiny little town on the North end of the Grapevine, which is the pass between Los Angeles and the Central Valley. 10 miles north of that town you will find a river running East/West at that point.

That isn't a river. It's a 100% artificial aqueduct system carrying water in a network of them to points around the growing areas of the state. That water, in large part, originates from the Colorado River that flows across Nevada and Arizona.

Thats how California can have what appears to be outright negative numbers on water. Taking precipitation? They do. That's how much they draw between the Colorado and whatever ground wells still pull significant amounts for use on the local level. The California Aqueduct system is an incredible achievement though and by following those on the imagery, you'll also see the HUGE pumping stations and steep grade pipes that carry the water over the mountains and high elevations California has all over the place.

California's water supply is being bought on the cheap by a bunch of Uber wealthy corporate farmers in the Central Valley as those farmers are "entitled" to a given number of acre feet per year. This water is sent down to the Westmorelands Water District. Where it is stored and resold to California at a significant profit during dry years, which happens to be all the years.

Billionaire grower and water privateer Stewart Resnick of Paramount Farms makes more money selling us back water than he makes farming. Check it out if you like but trust me when I say he is a scum sucking POS.

I have family in upper levels of California's water fight. My family is the good guys and you can blame one of them for having any water left to us up North at all.

Paramount Farms (and their buddies) are and have been costing Californians BILLIONS of dollars.

reply to post by Mamatus


I swear I remember you saying something about this a year or more back too. I really appreciate the addition to the thread. I know there is a good deal of funny business and the diversion of water for the Delta Smelt or whatever that cruddy little bottom feeding fish is called, isn't enough to Dust Bowl so much of the CA Central Valley. Granted. it's been a couple years now since I've been out there and loading produce but guys I know who still are don't seem all that much better now than I was then for bumper crops to load from.

California needs to talk to Saudi Arabia and get the secrets for large scale desalinization plants. Just my thinking without knowing anything in depth on that.

reply to post by Mamatus


Sent you a U2U. As a Nor Cal resident, I am curious about your families involvement in our water situation.

I am not in the least bit surprised that they made this information public.Unfortunately, I can not get the link to work.

reply to post by calstorm


It's hanging on the load for me as well. The info on their front page indicated it was part of a larger roll out of data and that it had *JUST* gone online. So, I'd keep the link and keep checking. It could be they didn't budget for a large enough server on it and need to upgrade. I'll bet they got a real avalanche of traffic from pure novelty 'check it out' factor alone.

It does have a link at the bottom to show by land owner/lease as well. I was in a rush to get to class earlier so I didn't check it out but I'll update the thread with still captures when it responds again.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


The link is working now, at least for me. I recommend that any one who is interested check. I am finding it very informative.

It's working for me as well. I'm not sure how I'd get stills off that which would be useful?

I did notice something though and it's a real interesting piece of trivia. It looks like 90% of the water leases around Salinas, Ca are owned by one company, Tanimura. As in Tanimura and Antle. For produce truckers, just known as T&A. I just thought of them as another of the produce sheds. I had no inkling they essentially owned Salinas Valley by owning the water rights. San Juan Batista is owned largely by another single name in a trust, A lesser for volume but no less major produce growing area outside Salinas.

That's quite a thing to find. Talk about corner of the market. Salinas, in season, ships to all 50 states and all major grocery store chains anyone's ever heard of. If I didn't end up at one myself in the form of a distribution center, then I sure talked to guys on the dock killing time while a load was put on who did go to one.

I would have thought water to such a critical place would have been county or state. I wonder how long that stays online for what it might show elsewhere in that way? Hmmmmmm.....

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Tis that smelly little smelt that is blocking the complete and total theft of ALL of the water in California....

reply to post by Mamatus

I'm a bit confused..... I watched the sheds I went to for years running from Delano to Fresno and across to Firebaugh close up and go dark from dry and ruined fields by lack of water. Diversion of the water is presented as being from EPA and state decisions to protect that fish. It's a rather staggering thing to have seen...watching the Central Valley dry up.

What are the other causes for the agriculture industry in some areas of the state being virtually starved of water to the point of simply going out of business? (I know it's dry out there...but then, it always is with periods of drought coming and going ....without having decimated the agriculture?)

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Wrabbit, I can't talk to much about this stuff online as I can get my uncle into serious trouble.

I can say do some research on the Westmorelands Water district, Stewert Resnick and Paramount Farms.

The Contra Costa Times newpaer has been doing a pretty good job covering the current water war.