Bulletin 118

Bulletin 118 is California’s official publication on the occurrence and nature of groundwater statewide. Bulletin 118 defines the boundaries and describes the hydrologic characteristics of California’s groundwater basins and provides information on groundwater management and recommendations for the future.

With the passage of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014, Bulletin 118 now serves an additional role by providing Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) with three critical pieces of information regarding groundwater basins: Critical Conditions of Overdraft, Basin Boundaries, and Basin Priority.

In 2020 and every 5 years after, we will release comprehensive updates to Bulletin 118.

Thumbnail image of B118 fact sheet document

Bulletin 118 Fact Sheet ( PDF) | (Publish Date: May 13, 2019)

*Updated, including new questionnaire* - Two-page description of the upcoming comprehensive Bulletin 118 Update 2020, including a link to a Bulletin 118 user questionnaire.

Tags: Groundwater-Management, Bulletin-118

Interim Update 2016

Bulletin 118 - Interim Update 2016 ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Dec 22, 2016) Version:

Update 2016 updates portions of Bulletin 118 Update 2003 and includes time-sensitive information important to implementing the new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Additionally, a new procedure for basin descriptions was developed as part of the basin boundary modification process. All basins with boundary modifications in 2016 have revised basin boundary descriptions that replace their 2003 descriptions.

Tags: Groundwater-Management, Sustainable-Groundwater-Management-Act, Bulletin-118, Groundwater-Basin-Boundaries, Groundwater-Sustainability

Update 2003

Bulletin 118 - Update 2003 ( ) | (Publish Date: Oct 01, 2003)

Update 2003 is the most recent comprehensive report on groundwater. It describes California’s groundwater basins and subbasins, including basin boundaries, hydrologic and hydrogeologic summaries, groundwater storage capacity and water budget, groundwater level and quality trends, well yields, basin management, and references.

Bulletin 118 statewide reports provide information about the nature and occurrence of groundwater in California with a focus on the state's groundwater basins.

Bulletin 118-80 - Ground Water Basins in California: A Report to the Legislature in Response to Water Code Section 12924 ( ) | (Publish Date: Jan 01, 1980)

This report, prepared under Senate Bill 1505, Chapter 601, Statutes of 1978, Section 12924 of the California Water Code, identifies the State's groundwater basins on the basis of geological and hydrological conditions and consideration of political boundary lines whenever practical. This report also contains existing general patterns of ground water pumping and ground water recharge within such basins to the extent necessary to identify basins which are subject to critical conditions of overdraft.

Bulletin 118-75 - California's Ground Water ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Sep 01, 1975)

Conclusions and recommendations are presented in Chapter I. Chapter II describes groundwater as a resource. Chapter III contains tabular summaries of information for 248 of the more important ground water basins, along with maps showing their locations. It provides references to 194 of the Department of Water Resources' reports on these basins and to 185 reports of other agencies. Chapter IV discusses ground water basin protection and utilization, and Chapter V describes opportunities for basin management and desirable future studies.

Ground Water Basins in California, Water Quality Investigations Report No. 3 ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Nov 01, 1952)

This report identifies the areas of alluvial-fill in the State of California which may be areas of groundwater storage. It establishes a uniform name an numbering system for groundwater basins which can be expanded as new areas of storage are identified. A selected bibliography pertaining to groundwater resources in California is included.

In addition to the statewide editions of Bulletin 118, DWR has published the following limited Bulletin 118 reports that focus on specific areas of the state.

Bulletin 118-1 - South San Francisco Bay

Volume 1 - Fremont Study Area ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Aug 01, 1968)

Volume 2 - Additional Fremont Study Area ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Aug 01, 1973)

Volume 3 - Northern Santa Clara County ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Dec 01, 1975)

Volume 4 - South Santa Clara County ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Jan 01, 2015)

Appendix A - Geology ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Aug 01, 1967)

Bulletin 118-2 - Livermore and Sunol Valleys

Bulletin 118-2 - Livermore and Sunol Valleys ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Jun 01, 1974)

Appendix A - Geology ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Aug 01, 1966)

Bulletin 118-3 - Sacramento County

Bulletin 118-3 - Sacramento County ( PDF) | (Revision Date: Apr 01, 1980) (Publish Date: Jul 01, 1974)

Bulletin 118-4 - Sonoma County

Content goes here

Volume 1 - Geologic and Hydrologic Data ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Dec 01, 1975)

Volume 2 - Santa Rosa Plain ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Sep 01, 1982)

Volume 3 - Petaluma Valley ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Jun 01, 1982)

Volume 4 - Sonoma Valley ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Feb 01, 1982)

Volume 5 - Alexander Valley and Healdsburg Area ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Jun 01, 1983)

Bulletin 118-6 - Sacramento Valley

Bulletin 118-6 - Sacramento Valley ( PDF) | (Publish Date: Aug 01, 1978)

B118 Update 2003 provided online descriptions of California’s groundwater basins and subbasins. The 2003 Basin Descriptions included available information on narrative descriptions of basin boundaries, summaries of the hydrologic and hydrogeologic setting, groundwater storage capacity and water budget, groundwater level and quality trends, well yields, basin management, and references.

The full 2003 Basin Descriptions have not been updated for B118 Interim Update 2016; however, we developed a new procedure for basin boundary descriptions as part of the 2016 Basin Boundary Modification process. As a result, all basins that had boundary modifications in 2016 have revised basin boundary descriptions. We will update basin description information as GSAs implement their GSPs and new and additional information becomes available.

View 2016 Basin Boundary Descriptions

View 2003 Basin Descriptions

NOTE: The basin boundary descriptions contained in the 2003 basin descriptions are no longer valid for the basins with revised boundaries.

View Map in New Window

A GIS data set, containing the boundaries for each of California's groundwater basins, is available for download. The compressed downloaded file contains both a shapefile of the basin boundary data, and a geodatabase containing a basin boundary feature class. Metadata is included with each version of the basin boundary data set.

Bulletin 118 Basin Boundary GIS Data

The Bulletin 118 Basin Boundary GIS data can also be accessed through the California Natural Resources Agency’s Open Data Portal. There you will find additional formats, including GeoJSON and KML, available for download. It should be noted that the shapefile available for download on the Open Data web site is projected in WGS84 Web Mercator.

Bulletin 118 Groundwater Basins - Open Data

GIC Interactive Map Application

GICIMA The Groundwater Information Center Interactive Map allows you to view GIS layers containing geo-referenced groundwater-related information and download these layers as GIS shapefiles or GeoTIFF raster files.

CASGEM

California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) Program - collaboration between local monitoring parties and DWR to collect groundwater elevations statewide and make that information publicly available.

Data & Tools

Data & Tools We have a long history of data collection, monitoring, and reporting. With the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), there is an increased need for local and state agencies and the public to easily access water data in order to make informed management decisions. Here you will find a curated set of data, interactive mapping tools, and reports which are important resources to inform sustainable groundwater management decision-making.

CWP Groundwater Update 2013

View Report California's Groundwater Update 2013: A Compilation of Enhanced Content for California Water Plan Update 2013 compiles and analyzes readily-available groundwater information to characterize California’s groundwater basins, aquifers, and well infrastructure.

Bulletin 118

Interim Update 2016

Update 2003

Bulletin 118-1 - South San Francisco Bay

Bulletin 118-2 - Livermore and Sunol Valleys

Bulletin 118-3 - Sacramento County

Bulletin 118-4 - Sonoma County

Bulletin 118-6 - Sacramento Valley

GIC Interactive Map Application

CASGEM

Data & Tools

CWP Groundwater Update 2013

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