Category
Description
Background: New demands for water can be satisfied through a variety of source options. In some basins surface and/or groundwater may be available through permitting with the state water management agency (termed unappropriated water), alternatively water might be purchased and transferred out of its current use to another (termed appropriated water), or non-traditional water sources can be captured and treated (e.g., wastewater). The relative availability and cost of each source are key factors in the development decision. Unfortunately, these measures are location dependent with no consistent or comparable set of data available for evaluating competing water sources. With the help of water managers, water availability was mapped for over 2500 watersheds throughout CONUS. These values are unique in that they account for institutional factors (i.e., water rights, compacts, treaties, instream flows) that locally limit water use. Five water sources were individually examined, including unappropriated surface water, unappropriated groundwater, appropriated water, municipal wastewater and brackish groundwater. Associated costs to acquire, convey and treat the water, as necessary, for each of the five sources were estimated. These metrics were developed to support regional water planning and policy analysis with initial application to electric transmission planning in the western US.
Problem: These data were originally developed in 2014 (Tidwell et al. 2014) and updated in 2018 (Tidwell et al. 2018). New datasets on which these data depend have been published. As such, there is need to update the water availability and cost data. There is also need to map this same data to a county resolution and to publish the data in a more accessible place.
Organization of the dataset: Data are organized according to five primary water sources:
- Unappropriated fresh surface water
- Unappropriated fresh groundwater
- Appropriated water (water (both surface and groundwater) that could be made available by abandonment and transfer of the water right from its prior use to a new use.
- Recycled wastewater
- Brackish water
Each file contains CONUS-wide datasets resolved at the HUC8 and county level. Both the original and updated data for both water availability and cost are included.
The raw data, scripts used to create the dataset, and GIS files for data visualization are available from the authors upon request.
Dataset Suggested Citation
Tidwell, V. and Son, K.: CONUS Wide Water Availability and Cost Data: Update 2026. PNNL Datahub (2026), https://doi.org/10.25584/3022708
References
[1] Tidwell, V.C, Moreland, B.D., Zemlick, K.M., Roberts, B.L., Passell, H.D., Jensen, D., Forsgren, C., Sehlke, G., Cook, M.A., King, C.W. & Larsen, S. (2014). Mapping water availability, projected use and cost in the Western United States, Environmental Research Letters, 9(6), doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/6/064009.
[2] Tidwell, V. C., Moreland, B. D., Shaneyfelt, C. R., & Kobos, P. (2018). Mapping water availability, cost and projected consumptive use in the eastern United States with comparisons to the west. Environmental Research Letters, 13(1), 014023. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9907