Surface water supply allocation, crop, and disadvantaged community data for the San Joaquin Valley, CA, 2016

Societies globally are struggling to meet freshwater demands while agencies attempt to address water access inequities under a rapidly changing climate and growing population. An understanding of dynamic interactions between people and water, known as sociohydrology, regionally could provide approaches to addressing local water mismanagement and water access inequity. In semi-arid California, local water agencies, primarily agricultural irrigation districts, are at the intersection of rethinking approaches to balance freshwater demands. More than 150 years of complex water governance and management have defined San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts and the region's water access inequities and sociohydrologic instability. Data in this dataset supported analysis of water governance, specifically including surface water and groundwater dependence within and outside of irrigation districts. Additional data includes disadvantaged community designation, allowing for assessment of inequities between water users and the relationship to broader societal inequities.