Database of surface water diversion sites and daily withdrawals for the upper Colorado River Basin, 1980–2022

Scientific Data
By: , and 

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Abstract

The Colorado River drains about 8% of the conterminous United States, provides water for 40 million people, and is one of the most overallocated rivers in the world. As the upper Colorado River Basin (UCOL) contributes an estimated 92% of the total basin natural streamflow, knowledge of the location and amount of surface water withdrawals in the UCOL is important for managing the Colorado River system. Since the UCOL encompasses portions of five states, water use data are dispersed among numerous federal and state agency databases, and there is no centralized dataset that documents surface water use within the entire UCOL at a fine spatial and temporal resolution. This article presents an inventory of 1,358 major structures that divert surface water from and within the UCOL with corresponding daily time series withdrawal records from 1980 through 2022. Data compilation efforts, processing methods, and contents of this diversion database are documented, and summary information is provided.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Database of surface water diversion sites and daily withdrawals for the upper Colorado River Basin, 1980–2022
Series title Scientific Data
DOI 10.1038/s41597-024-04123-0
Volume 11
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher Springer Nature
Contributing office(s) Utah Water Science Center
Description 1266, 10 p.
Country United States
State Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
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