Drought and Water Shortage Risk: Small Suppliers and Rural Communities (Version 2021)

Per California Water Code Section 10609.80 (a), DWR has released an update to the indicators analyzed for the rural communities water shortage vulnerability analysis and a new interactive tool to explore the data. This page remains to archive the original dataset, but for more current information, please see the following pages: 
- https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Water-Use-And-Efficiency/SB-552/SB-552-Tool
- https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/water-shortage-vulnerability-technical-methods
- https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/i07-water-shortage-vulnerability-sections
- https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/i07-water-shortage-social-vulnerability-blockgroup

This dataset is made publicly available pursuant to California Water Code Section 10609.42 which directs the California Department of Water Resources to identify small water suppliers and rural communities that may be at risk of drought and water shortage vulnerability and propose to the Governor and Legislature recommendations and information in support of improving the drought preparedness of small water suppliers and rural communities. As of March 2021, two datasets are offered here for download. The background information, results synthesis, methods and all reports submitted to the legislature are available here: https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Water-Use-And-Efficiency/2018-Water-Conservation-Legislation/County-Drought-Planning 
Two online interactive dashboards are available here to explore the datasets and findings. 
https://dwr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=3353b370f7844f468ca16b8316fa3c7b

The following datasets are offered here for download and for those who want to explore the data in tabular format.

(1) Small Water Suppliers: In total, 2,419 small water suppliers were examined for their relative risk of drought and water shortage. Of these, 2,244 are community water systems. The remaining 175 systems analyzed are small non-community non-transient water systems that serve schools for which there is available spatial information. This dataset contains the final risk score and individual risk factors for each supplier examined. Spatial boundaries of water suppliers' service areas were used to calculate the extent and severity of each suppliers' exposure to projected climate changes (temperature, wildfire, and sea level rise) and to current environmental conditions and events. The boundaries used to represent service areas are available for download from the California Drinking Water System Area Boundaries, located on the California State Geoportal, which is available online for download at https://gispublic.waterboards.ca.gov/portal/home/item.html?id=fbba842bf134497c9d611ad506ec48cc

(2) Rural Communities: In total 4,987 communities, represented by US Census Block Groups, were analyzed for their relative risk of drought and water shortage. Communities with a record of one or more domestic well installed within the past 50 years are included in the analysis. Each community examined received a numeric risk score, which is derived from a set of indicators developed from a stakeholder process. Indicators used to estimate risk represented three key components: (1) the exposure of suppliers and communities to hazardous conditions and events, (2) the physical and social vulnerability of communities to the exposure, and (3) recent history of shortage and drought impacts. The unit of analysis for the rural communities, also referred to as "self-supplied communities" is U.S. Census Block Groups (ACS 2012-2016 Tiger Shapefile). The Census Block Groups do not necessarily represent socially-defined communities, but they do cover areas where population resides. Using this spatial unit for this analysis allows us to access demographic information that is otherwise not available in small geographic units.

Tags: california, california-department-of-water-resources, climate-change, domestic-wells, drought, risk, rural-communities, small-water-suppliers
Organization: State of California