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

Open-File Report 2014-1212
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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.

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title 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
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2014-1212
DOI 10.3133/ofr20141212
Year Published 2014
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) South Dakota Water Science Center, Dakota Water Science Center
Description v, 22 p.
Country United States
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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