Annual Maximum Dam Water Level in United States

The annual maximum dam water level dataset includes data from 33 dams operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). Daily water level records were sourced from publicly accessible databases, specifically the USBR’s Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE) website and the USACE’s water management data dissemination system. Initially, we considered dams from the 92,490 existing across the United States, selecting those with at least 50 years of historical water level records and minimal missing data, resulting in 134 dams. Recognizing that dam water levels can be significantly influenced by operational management, we refined the dataset to include only uncontrolled dams, isolating 57 dams suitable for hydrological frequency analyses. To ensure the randomness and suitability of the data for hydrologic trend analyses, we applied the Bartels Rank Test, a non-parametric approach adapted from von Neumann’s Ratio Test for Randomness. This statistical test reduced the dataset to 33 dams, comprising 24 managed by USACE and 9 by USBR.