Farmland Valuation Data from Acres, LLC

CIWR partnered with Acres, LLC to provide UC researchers access to unique datasets on land sales and valuations compiled and published by Acres, LLC. Researchers are able to use data by providing an acknowledge and disclosure statement within research products and publications:

This research was supported by the Customer Partnership program with Acres (acres.com).
Disclaimer: "The findings and conclusions in this [publication/presentation/blog] are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Acres. The information has not been formally disseminated by Acres and should not be interpreted as an endorsement.”

Interested researchers in California can contact Erik Porse (eporse <@> ucanr.edu) regarding data access.

Acres (acres.com) is a valued collaborator of our university, providing essential data and software tools for research and teaching with emphasis on agricultural and rural property transactions and land evaluations. This collaboration is part of the Acres Customer Partnership program.

The California Residential Water Demand and Supply Data Set (CaRDS)

Led by Marie Philine-Gross and Andrea Cominola at the Technische Universität Berlin, the statewide California Residential Water Demand and Supply (CaRDS) open dataset is a compiled database with eight years (2013-2021) of monthly water supply and demand time series for 404 water suppliers in California.

Access to detailed temporal and spatial water supply and demand operations at the state-level can be useful to researchers and practitioners, e.g., to evaluate the effectiveness of water conservation policies and discover regional differences in water conservation measures.

The dataset is openly available on Hydroshare and its development is detailed in a published research article.

Network Modeling of Urban Water Supply and Wastewater Agency Links in California

Urban water management systems connect water supply, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. In California, over 400 water supply agencies provide water to 36 million people living in cities and suburbs. The wastewater generated by homes, businesses, and industrial facilities is managed by hundreds of wastewater collection, treatment, reuse, and recovery systems.

A network model of system-level connectivity to water supply and wastewater infrastructure was developed to simulate how changes in water demand affect downstream flows in wastewater collection, treatment, and reuse systems. The model was created to estimate potential impacts to flow in wastewater management systems from water use efficiency and conservation by linking where water is used to the collection systems and wastewater treatment/reuse facilities where it is managed and recovered. The model was used to support regulatory rulemaking for California’s “Making Water Conservation a Way of Life” associated with Assembly Bill 1668 and Senate Bill 606 (AB 1668-SB 606). Details of the model’s development and use were presented in public workshops in December 2021 and May 2022, which can be found at this link: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/conservation_portal/regs/water_efficiency_legislation.html

The model is openly available on Hydroshare.

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk via Flickr.

Electronic Annual Report (eAR) Data for California Water Systems: Processing Scripts and Formatted Data Files

In California, water systems, submit annual operational data such as demographics, water production, water demand, and retail rates to the State Water Resources Control Board. The State Water Resources Control Board publishes data in a flat file text format (https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/ear.html) From 2013-2019, distinct data was published for small and large systems. Since 2020, data is combined in a single file.

The code produces user-friendly versions of the 2020-2022 eAR files to improve accessibility. Flat files of raw data were formatted to have all questions associated with a water system (PWSID) on one line. This allows for data to be viewed and analyzed in typical worksheet software programs.

The Hydroshare repository with software contains: 1) Python script templates for parsing the 2020, 2021, and 2022 flat data files, and 2) the formatted eAR data files, saved as an Excel worksheet. There are separate Python scripts for parsing 2020 data and 2021/2022.

Use of the script and files is permitted with attribution. Users are solely responsible for any issues that arise in using or applying data. If any errors are spotted, please contact the author.

Artes: Urban Water Systems Analysis in Los Angeles

Artes is a network model for simulating scenarios of urban water management in LA County across hundreds of agencies and including infrastructure, hydrology, institutions, and groundwater pumping.  The model evaluates when and how changes in expectations for imported water availability affect supply and operations throughout LA County.

The data and code associated with Artes are publicly-available. From 2016-2022, data and code were published on Github. Starting in 2022, the model is available through Hydroshare.

A Storymap published by UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities provides context on current water management in LA County and opportunities for transitioning to future regimes less reliant on imported water.

Porse, E. (2022). Artes: Modeling Water Resources Management in Los Angeles, HydroShare, https://doi.org/10.4211/hs.c2a8bb7e07b3409995c90a86120b2a9f