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Open-File Report 2014–1212

Documentation for the U.S. Geological Survey Public-Supply Database (PSDB)—A Database of Permitted Public-Supply Wells, Surface-Water Intakes, and Systems in the United States

By Curtis V. Price and Molly A. Maupin

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (384 kB)Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a database containing information about wells, surface-water intakes, and distribution systems that are part of public water systems across the United States, its territories, and possessions. Programs of the USGS such as the National Water Census, the National Water Use Information Program, and the National Water-Quality Assessment Program all require a complete and current inventory of public water systems, the sources of water used by those systems, and the size of populations served by the systems across the Nation. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) database already exists as the primary national Federal database for information on public water systems, the Public-Supply Database (PSDB) was developed to add value to SDWIS data with enhanced location and ancillary information, and to provide links to other databases, including the USGS’s National Water Information System (NWIS) database.

The purpose of this report is to document the PSDB and explain the methods used to populate and update the data from the SDWIS, State datasets, and map and geospatial imagery. This report describes 3 data tables and 11 domain tables, including field contents, data sources, and relations between tables. Although the PSDB database is not available to the general public, this information should be useful for others who are developing other database systems to store and analyze public-supply system and facility data.

First posted December 1, 2014

For additional information, contact:
Director, South Dakota Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
1608 Mountain View Road
Rapid City, South Dakota 57702
http://sd.water.usgs.gov/

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Suggested citation:

Price, C.V., and Maupin, M.A., 2014, Documentation for the U.S. Geological Survey Public-Supply Database (PSDB)—A database of permitted public-supply wells, surface-water intakes, and systems in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014–1212, 22 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141212.

ISSN 2331-1258 (online)



Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Development of the Public-Supply Database

Structure and Data Sources for the Public-Supply Database

Summary

References Cited

Glossary


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