U.S. Geological Survey Stream Gages located in the Central Valley, California


This digital dataset contains the locations of, and links to USGS gages on the surface-water network for the Central 
Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM). The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region 
of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling 
code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmidt and others, 2006b).  This simulation is referred to here as the CVHM (Faunt, 2009).  
Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land 
subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003.  The total active 
modeled area is 20,334 square-miles. The CVHM includes complex surface-water management processes. The 
hydrology of the present-day Central Valley and the CVHM model are driven by surface-water deliveries and 
associated groundwater pumpage. The Streamflow Routing Package (SFR1) is linked to MODFLOW-FMP to 
facilitate the simulated conveyance of surface-water deliveries. If surface-water deliveries do not meet the farm-delivery 
requirement, the FMP invokes simulated groundwater pumping to meet the demand.  The surface-water network 
represents a subset of the entire stream network in the valley.  Even so, it covers about 3,000 kilometers of 
surface-water and is simulated using 208 stream segments that represent 2244 stream reaches, with 43 inflows and 
66 diversion locations providing 64 routed and 41 non-routed deliveries.  Most of these inflows are regulated by dams 
and most of the deliveries are conveyed through an extensive canal network. The routed deliveries are conveyed through 
the simulated surface-water network, while the non-routed delivery conveyance typically occurs through small canals or 
diversion ditches and are not directly simulated.  Much of the surface-water diversion and delivery information was 
compiled by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for 21 water-balance subregions (WBSs) covering 
the valley floor (C. Brush, California Department of Water Resources, written commun., February 21, 2007).  The CVHM 
is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The CVHM 
was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (see "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

Tags: Alameda County, Amador County, Butte County, CV-RASA, Calaveras County, California, Central Valley, Central Valley Aquifer, Central Valley Hydrologic Model, Colusa County, Contra Costa County, El Dorado County, Flow Model CVHM, Fresno County, Glenn County, Groundwater Availability of the Central Valley Aquifer, Humboldt County, Kern County, Kings County, Lake County, Madera County, Mariposa County, Mendocino County, Merced County, Monterey County, Napa County, Nevada County, Placer County, Sacramento County, Sacramento Valley, San Benito County, San Joaquin County, San Joaquin Valley, San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Santa Clara County, Shasta County, Solano County, Sonoma County, Stanislaus County, Sutter County, Tehama County, Texture Model, Trinity County, Tulare County, Tuolumne County, Ventura County, Yolo County, Yuba County, central-valley-california, data.gov, gage, geostatistics, groundwater, hydrogeology, hydrology, inlandWaters, model, surface water, unconsolidated sediments
Organization: Water Data Partners