Water Rights Information Management System (WRIM)

Project ID: 20088
Principal Investigator: Ginger Dill
Research Topic: Water Resource Data Analysis
Funded Fiscal Years: 2020
Keywords: None

Research Question

This project will develop a centralized repository of information on Reclamation's interests in water rights to ensure they are inventoried and protected in order to avoid litigation processes on authorized Reclamation projects. Developing this water rights information management system will streamline data collection and maintenance of Reclamation's water rights and improve data quality, data integrity and ensures consistency. Improved data management, integration, and consistency in business practices will result in significant resource saving with regards to funding, time, and staff.

Need and Benefit

It is critical that Reclamation maintain an inventory of their assets. This WRIS is needed to track project water rights/entitlements/contracts through a centralized database with local Reclamation and state agency data connections that are reliant, updated, and associated with authorized Reclamation Projects. Implementing this new WRIS database system will 1) save on time in terms of providing and having water rights information readily accessible 2) ensure efficient business operations and collaboration Reclamation-wide/partners/stakeholders/etc. through the use of an integrated system, 3) the new system will improve management of water rights tracking and reporting tools, 4) water rights data will be reliable - real time linked to state agency sites, and 5) a potential integration of the water rights data with a GIS component will provide accurate location (spatial), and provide a complete understanding of water availability and be in compliance.

Contributing Partners

Contact the Principal Investigator for information about partners.

Research Products

Bureau of Reclamation Review

The following documents were reviewed by experts in fields relating to this project's study and findings. The results were determined to be achieved using valid means.

Water Rights Information Management System (final, PDF, 5.3MB)
By Ginger Dill, Jesus V Hernandez, Tyler Larsen, Darion Mayhorn
Report completed on September 30, 2022

This research product summarizes the research results and potential application to Reclamation's mission.

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Last Updated: 6/22/20