On August 16-18, 2022, the Western States Water Council (WSWC), in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Interstate Council on Water Policy (ICWP), and Internet of Water Coalition (IoW Coalition), held a National Water Use Data Workshop, in Salt Lake City, Utah. This report summarizes the workshop, the key takeaways from breakout sessions, and the post-workshop survey results. The report also includes the agenda and attendee list.
Water use measurements, estimates, and reporting are important to water supply planning, drought response planning, mitigation, water project construction and operations, water policy, and water rights administration. Yet, States and USGS face challenges in estimating and reporting water use to make informed decisions.
The goal of the workshop was to: (1) provide a platform for state agencies' staff to learn from each other about the latest efforts related to water data management and sharing; (2) engage state information technology (I.T.) and water resources management staff with the USGS Water Mission Area staff (including the Water-Use Data and Research program- WUDR) and the WSWC Water Data Exchange (WaDE) Programs; (3) exchange the latest developments on water use data sharing methods and how States can benefit from them; and (4) identify challenges related to states' data sharing efforts and consider potential solutions.
Overall, the workshop drew some 100 participants, roughly half in-person and half virtually, from 32 states (Figure 1), representing 67 states, federal, private sector, non-profit, academic agencies, and organizations.
Thirty speakers covered topics of (1) programs and initiatives related to improving data collection, sharing, and access to water use data (2) data collection methods and models estimating and reporting surface and groundwater use for all categories of water use, such as agriculture, public supply, and thermoelectric and reporting; and (3) software tools to share, visualize, query, and download water use data. All workshop materials, including this report, are available online at https://westernstateswater.org/events/2022-national-water-use-data-workshop/.