The California Water Crisis

The Future is in Our Hands

A map layout of the State of California showing it's natural hydrology, water infrastructure, water use and conservation trends, and the natural and social impacts of water misuse.
A map layout of the State of California showing it's natural hydrology, water infrastructure, water use and conservation trends, and the natural and social impacts of water misuse.

 ALL MAPS: I used the Esri World Hillshade behind all my data, as topography is key when studying water systems. I built a mask polygon to cover everything past the border of California, and symbolized various political borders uniquely. I used definition queries to display only the larger rivers, waterbodies, roads, and incorporated cities, and used the same font settings for item labels in legends as I used for the corresponding item labels in each map. I also maintained font choices for data layers between maps for consistency, as well as the locations of the north arrow, scale bar, and notes. I also monitored color choices for readability for color vision impairment and monochrome reproduction. In addition to color, I used a variety of symbols to further differentiate classes for point symbols. . I chose several datasets that averaged data over a large timespan, and avoided datasets based on models so that the data could be compelling to people with different climate preconceptions. I reviewed datasets visually and in their attribute tables thoroughly, and chose symbology that emphasized realities I found in the data rather than assumptions I made before starting the project. And I included relevant tables and statistics to help illustrate these realities, and to corelate the maps. 

A map of the natural water systems of the state of California, including precipitation averages, watersheds, rivers and lakes, and snowpacks.

NATURAL WATER SYSTEM: I made unique annotation labels for the HUC 6 watersheds, major rivers and streams, and lakes, using label classes to limit my labels to the most necessary for a reference map. I converted the mm values of the original PRISM annual average precipitation values to inches for clarity to an American audience, and used arithmetic ‘chunks’ to classify the raster as it best displays the diversity of rainfall averages across the state. I varied the arrows symbolizing snowpack trends to point up (blue) for growing snowpack locations, and down (red) for shrinking ones, with the size relative to the percent change.

A map of water infrastructure in the state of California, including dams, reservoirs, canals and pipelines, and the croplands and population centers they serve.

HUMAN WATER SYSTEM: I symbolized census block groups using low-value dot density with no borders and some transparency. This made very small regions of relatively higher density than their surroundings read clearly, but still showed the urban areas having much higher density. I symbolized all the croplands with a single symbol to emphasize crop vs. non-crop land rather than crop type. I symbolize three different sources of canal data to differentiate between canals and pipelines. I exported the NHD lakes I had selected by location (adjacent to major dams) to a new layer to symbolize them differently than the natural lakes. I also varied the size of the dam symbols by water storage capacity in acre-feet, behind the other data to keep from obscuring anything.

A map of water useage and conservation by water districts in the state of California as of May 2022.

ALLOTMENTS AND CONSERVATION: I recoded and combined the tables of water contractors from the CA State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Water Project to join with polygons of the water districts, which I then converted into an enriched point feature class and symbolized by use categories. I varied the symbol size by their 2022 Acre-Feet allotments, which I calculated from the percentage they each got of their contracted maximum allotment. I joined the Water District point feature class to another table of municipal water use statistics to show which cities have used less or more water compared with two years before. I varied the direction and size of the arrows to show magnitude and direction of change.

A map of the impacts of water usage in the state of California, including dry private wells, restricted water districts, overdrawn aquifers, and increase risk of fire statewide.

CONTEXT AND IMPACTS: I grouped yearly data for private wells going dry into three categories to simplify the progression visually and used graduated sizing and different outline color to highlight the most recent year. I symbolized aquifers that are classified as overdrawn vs. not with a pattern fill to show the fire threat risk classifications behind. I used a definition query to symbolize only water districts getting 0-5% of their contracted amount from the SWP and CVWP, using the same classification symbols and colors as the infrastructure map. I georeferenced a map of the proposed Sites Reservoir and digitized the proposed footprint and water pipeline, labeling it with the projected capacity, to illustrate the water crisis strategy government and industry have chosen, to increase storage capacity rather than decrease use.

The California Water Crisis

Storymap and Cartography by Naomi Yates, May 2022

Geography 14: Cartography and Visualization

Shasta College Geography and Geospatial Technologies: Professors Dan Scollon and Charles Shoemaker

NATURAL WATER SYSTEM: I made unique annotation labels for the HUC 6 watersheds, major rivers and streams, and lakes, using label classes to limit my labels to the most necessary for a reference map. I converted the mm values of the original PRISM annual average precipitation values to inches for clarity to an American audience, and used arithmetic ‘chunks’ to classify the raster as it best displays the diversity of rainfall averages across the state. I varied the arrows symbolizing snowpack trends to point up (blue) for growing snowpack locations, and down (red) for shrinking ones, with the size relative to the percent change.

HUMAN WATER SYSTEM: I symbolized census block groups using low-value dot density with no borders and some transparency. This made very small regions of relatively higher density than their surroundings read clearly, but still showed the urban areas having much higher density. I symbolized all the croplands with a single symbol to emphasize crop vs. non-crop land rather than crop type. I symbolize three different sources of canal data to differentiate between canals and pipelines. I exported the NHD lakes I had selected by location (adjacent to major dams) to a new layer to symbolize them differently than the natural lakes. I also varied the size of the dam symbols by water storage capacity in acre-feet, behind the other data to keep from obscuring anything.

ALLOTMENTS AND CONSERVATION: I recoded and combined the tables of water contractors from the CA State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Water Project to join with polygons of the water districts, which I then converted into an enriched point feature class and symbolized by use categories. I varied the symbol size by their 2022 Acre-Feet allotments, which I calculated from the percentage they each got of their contracted maximum allotment. I joined the Water District point feature class to another table of municipal water use statistics to show which cities have used less or more water compared with two years before. I varied the direction and size of the arrows to show magnitude and direction of change.

CONTEXT AND IMPACTS: I grouped yearly data for private wells going dry into three categories to simplify the progression visually and used graduated sizing and different outline color to highlight the most recent year. I symbolized aquifers that are classified as overdrawn vs. not with a pattern fill to show the fire threat risk classifications behind. I used a definition query to symbolize only water districts getting 0-5% of their contracted amount from the SWP and CVWP, using the same classification symbols and colors as the infrastructure map. I georeferenced a map of the proposed Sites Reservoir and digitized the proposed footprint and water pipeline, labeling it with the projected capacity, to illustrate the water crisis strategy government and industry have chosen, to increase storage capacity rather than decrease use.