Utah Division of Water Rights: Hydroinformatics and Technology Gap Analysis Report

The Utah Division of Water Rights (DWRi) is an agency of Utah State Government within the Department of Natural Resources that administers the measurement, appropriation, apportionment, and distribution of the State’s valuable water resources. The extensive data collection DWRi undertakes to enable management of Utah’s water resources and to meet its mandate requires significant information technology (IT) infrastructure. Data collection hardware (e.g., measurement structures and sensors installed in the field), software, and databases are needed to enable collection, management, and use of the data. While DWRi has developed and operates a water use data infrastructure for the state of Utah, some of the systems used by DWRi have become dated and lack necessary flexibility to meet DWRi’s growing data management needs. To address this, DWRi initiated a process to critically examine their existing data infrastructure and identify areas needing modernization.

This report is the result of a "Hydroinformatics and Technology Gap Analysis" conducted for the Utah Division of Water Rights (DWRi) by Utah State University and provides an in-depth examination of DWRi's current data and IT infrastructure, software systems, and processes. While DWRi manages several other important datasets, this gap analysis document is focused on measurement data (e.g., observations of flow recorded at stream diversions), Water Use Program data (water diversion data primarily from public water suppliers), and water distribution accounting (the procedures used by DWRi to ensure that water is distributed to water users by priority of legal water rights). The analysis aimed to identify the disparities between existing capabilities and the organizational goals, industry standards, and improvements needed as identified by DWRi personnel. The focus of the report is not only on data collection and management but also on the underlying software and database systems, as well as the software development processes employed by DWRi for managing water use data within Utah.

To access the report, scroll to the "Content" section below, right click on the PDF document, and select download. You can also double click on the file to download.
To learn more about Utah Division of Water Rights, visit: https://waterrights.utah.gov/
To access the Technology Modernization Roadmap document produced to address this Gap Analysis, scroll to the Related Resources section below and click on the link.