There are three basic ways of locating records for surface water gaging stations in the United States:
Printed Resources | CD-ROM data | Internet

Printed Resources
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the primary agency responsible for recording streamflow. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stages of lakes and reservoirs were published in an annual series of the U.S.G.S. Water-Supply Papers entitled Surface Water Supply of the United States. Each volume covers an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records for California are contained in Parts 9, 10, and 11 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data for California were released in an annual series of reports on a state-boundary basis. Originally entitled Surface Water Records for California, the series was renamed Water Resources Data, California in 1965. In 1971, the USGS, in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources, also published summary data for California and adjacent areas for each year of record through September 1968 in a report entitled California Streamflow Characteristics. The WRCA Reference Collection contains all of these volumes.

Indexes to Surface Water Supply of the United States (USGS Water-Supply Papers [WRCA call no. G200 USG Locked Cage]):

• Part 1: North Atlantic Slope Basins
• Part 2: South Atlantic Slope Basins & Eastern Gulf of Mexico Basins
• Part 3: Ohio River Basin
• Part 4: St. Lawrence River Basin
• Part 5: Hudson Bay & Upper Mississippi River Basin
• Part 6: Missouri River Basin
• Part 7: Lower Mississippi River Basin
• Part 8: Western Gulf of Mexico Basins
• Part 9: Colorado River Basin
• Part 10: The Great Basin
• Part 11: Pacific Slope Basins in California
• Part 12: Pacific Slope Basins in Washington & Upper Columbia River Basin
• Part 13: Snake River Basin
• Part 14: Pacific Slope Basins in Oregon & Lower Columbia River Basin
• Part 15: Alaska
• Part 16: Hawaii

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CD-ROM Data
WRCA subscribes to two streamflow databases on CD-ROM: USGS Daily Values and USGS Peak Values. Both databases are published by Hydrosphere Data Products and are updated annually. The data source for the publications is the USGS WATSTORE database.

Daily Values contains data collected by the USGS at their surface water monitoring stations and are based on daily mean values. Most of the data are historical streamflow records, but there is also some information on water quality, water temperatures, wind, dissolved oxygen, and reservoir storage. Information for the entire U.S. is published on four compact discs. WRCA subscribes to Volume 11.0 - West I only, which has information for the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Peak Values contains the hydrological data for nearly 24,000 stations for the entire period of record. The Peak Flow file is a collection of instantaneous maximum (peak) discharge data and associated gage height measurements made at streams throughout the United States, Canada, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Trust Territories of the Pacific.

Both Daily Values and Peak Values are also available on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/sw.

Simplified Instructions for Using Hydrodata CD-ROM

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Internet Resources
USGS Sources

• USGS Water Resources of the United States -- Provides access to water-resources data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The National Water Information System (NWIS) provides information on historical daily and peak values for each state. This site includes links to each state's NWIS-W page.
• Surface-Water Data for California -- Historical streamflow data for California.
• Real-Time Water Data for the United States -- Provisional real-time hydrologic data for each state.
• Real-Time Water Data in California -- Provisional real-time hydrologic data for California.
• National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) -- A conceptual plan developed by USGS for a new approach to the acquisition and delivery of streamflow information.
• National Water Conditions (NWC) -- "The National Water Conditions are generally depicted on a streamflow map that shows generalized contour patterns of streamflow conditions for any given month on the basis of provisional data from 287 index streamflow-gaging stations-- 12 in Canada, 273 in the United States, and 2 in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico."
• Daily Streamflow Conditions for California -- Provisional real-time water data and station information.
• Water Watch - Map of real-time streamflow compared to historical streamflow for the day of the year (United States)

Non-USGS Sources

• Current Hydrologic Conditions -- National Weather Service
• California Nevada River Forecast Center (CNRFC) -- National Weather Service
• EPA's Surf Your Watershed - Surf Your Watershed is a service to help you locate, use, and share environmental information about your state and watershed.
• Links to Online River Gauges -- Maintained by the American Whitewater Affiliation

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