Water Use Data Feasibility Study

OMB Control # 1028-0118

Expiration Date: xx/xx/xx

US Water Use Data Sharing Feasibility Study

State and Territory Water Agencies Online Survey

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is collected to inform the USGS about water use. A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. OMB has approved this collection of information and assigned Control No. 1028-0118.

Public Burden Statement: The public burden for the collection of information is estimated to be 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding the burden estimate or any aspect of this collection of information may be sent to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, USGS, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., Mil Stop 242, Reston, VA 20192. Please do not send your form to this address.

Send invitations to study participants by email; include description of the project and team introduction. Survey will take 10 minutes to fill out a questionnaire.

Online Survey

_____________________________________________________________________________________

10 MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE: (fill out the questionnaire at the end of the interview)

1. What categories of water-use data are currently collected or compiled by your agency?

   1. Public Supply

   2. Industrial

   3. Irrigation-Crop

   4. Thermoelectric

   5. Irrigation-Golf Course

   6. Livestock (major facilities)

   7. Mining

   8. Aquaculture

   9. Other _____ (please list any additional categories)

2. For which categories is water-use reporting mandated (by law)?

   1. Public Supply

   2. Industrial

   3. Irrigation-Crop

   4. Thermoelectric

   5. Irrigation-Golf Course

   6. Livestock (major facilities)

   7. Mining

   8. Aquaculture

   9. Other _____ (please list any additional categories)

3. What are some of the reasons that site-specific water use data cannot be shared with the USGS (or must be aggregated before sharing)? (Please check all that apply)

   1. Statutes or laws

   2. Data privacy concerns

   3. Limited technical capacity (database management and formatting requirements related to site-specific data)

   4. Limited budget and staff availability

   5. General lack of trust in the Federal government

   6. Lack of trust in the USGS’s ability to handle sensitive data

   7. Concern that the shared data may be used for regulatory purposes

   8. Neighbor state water conflicts/litigation

   9. Homeland security-related sensitivity

   10. Data sovereignty

   11. Does not apply (there are no restrictions on site-specific water-use data)

   12. I don’t know

   13. Other ____ (please describe)

4. What are some of the reasons that site-specific crop irrigation data cannot be shared with the USGS (or must be aggregated before sharing)? (Please check all that apply)

   1. Lack of modernized irrigation data collection systems

   2. Statutes or laws regarding agricultural water-use data

   3. Data privacy concerns

   4. General lack of trust in the Federal government

   5. Lack of trust in the USGS’s ability to handle sensitive data

   6. Concern that the shared data may be used for regulatory purposes

   7. Neighbor state water conflicts/litigation

   8. Does not apply (there are no restrictions on site-specific crop irrigation data)

   9. I don’t know

   10. Other ____ (please describe)

5. What crop irrigation data are available to your agency? (please check all that apply)

   1. Water source

   2. Crop type

   3. Number of acres irrigated

   4. Irrigation method

   5. Site-specific withdrawals by well or diversion from surface-water feature, or delivery from reclaimed wastewater

   6. Spatially-aggregated withdrawal data (e.g., sub-county, county, watershed)

   7. Site-specific surface water diversions

   8. Site-specific return flows

   9. Aquifer designation for groundwater withdrawals

   10. Spatially-aggregated consumptive use and conveyance loss estimates (e.g., sub-county, watershed (HUC8 or up to HUC12).

   11. Site-specific consumptive use

   12. Interbasin transfers

   13. Sales across boundaries

   14. Information about coefficients and/or estimation methods

6. What livestock water-use data are available to your agency? (please check all that apply)

   1. Water source

   2. Water type (fresh or saline)

   3. Site-specific withdrawals

   4. Site-specific animal counts and animal types

   5. Improved and verified coefficients for water-use per head (for animal type, confined or open-range, seasonal variability, and other variables)

   6. Information to indicate if water withdrawals are from sources supported by USDA programs to protect streams

7. What industrial water use data are available to your agency? (please check all that apply)

   1. Water source

   2. Water type (fresh or saline)

   3. Industry type and/or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code

   4. Groundwater withdrawals reported with aquifer designation

   5. Site-specific withdrawals (by intake and/or well)

   6. Deliveries from public supply to industrial facilities

   7. Deliveries from other sources, such as treated wastewater, to industrial facilities

   8. Site-specific consumptive use estimates

   9. Site-specific discharges to surface water or land application

8. What public supply water-use data are available to your agency? (please check all that apply)

   1. System (that provides water to the public)

   2. Water source

   3. Water type (fresh or saline)

   4. Deliveries to domestic users from public-supply systems, and populations served

   5. Groundwater withdrawals with aquifer designation

   6. Site-specific withdrawals (by intake and/or well or well field)

   7. Quantity of water purchased between systems and source(s) of water

   8. Quantity of water sold between systems

   9. Interbasin transfers

   10. System uses (internal and other non-revenue uses) and losses

   11. Use of reclaimed wastewater for public or landscape irrigation

   12. Site-specific daily withdrawals

   13. Water service area boundaries (e.g., maps, boundary service viewer)

9. What thermoelectric water-use data/information are available to your agency? (please check all that apply)

   1. Net power generation reported by cooling-system type (once-through or recirculating)

   2. Water source

   3. Water type (fresh or saline)

   4. Source of information (e.g., plant, government agency)

   5. Site-specific withdrawals

   6. Site-specific return flows

   7. Site-specific annual and/or monthly consumptive use

10. What is the temporal resolution* of withdrawal data available to your agency for each of the main water-use categories? (please check all that apply)

*This refers to the time-step of reported data, NOT the frequency of reporting and NOT latency between collection and reporting.

	Daily	Monthly	Quarterly	Annually	N/A	Don’t know
Public Supply
Industrial
Irrigation-Crop
Thermoelectric
Irrigation-Golf Course
Livestock
Mining
Aquaculture

Thank you very much for your time!

Optional (if limited knowledge about water use data): Are there any other agencies or organizations that collect or compile water-use data in this State or Territory that we should talk to?