Mendenhall and others (1916) published depth-to-water data compiled in 1910 for all known wells in the San Joaquin Valley, California. Data for the 3,429 wells having depth-to-water of greater than zero feet were used to construct an interpolated depth-to-water surface for the entire SJV. This map represents groundwater levels in approximately 1910, prior to extensive development of the groundwater system. A depth-to-water contour map with contour lines of 5, 10, 15, and 25 meters below land surface was then drawn from this raster surface.

Mendenhall and others (1916) assessed groundwater resources in California's San Joaquin Valley in 1910 to estimate the availability of groundwater of suitable quality for agricultural, industrial, and drinking water supplies. They inventoried nearly all existing wells, compiled depth-to-water at 4,002 wells, and collected water-quality data at 485 wells. Samples were collected from 114 wells for laboratory analysis of total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride, sulfate, bicarbonate, carbonate, calcium, magnesium, sodium+potassium, and silica (Mendenhall and others. 1916; Dole, 1909). Field assays were used to measure TDS, chloride, sulfate, bicarbonate, carbonate, and total hardness in samples from 371 wells (Mendenhall and others. 1916; Leighton, 1905). Samples from 32 wells were analyzed using both laboratory and field assay methods. These data have been transcribed into a modern database format for use in future groundwater research.

Depth-to-water data in the San Joaquin Valley, CA were collected in 1910 and published in Mendenhall and others, 1916. These data were used to create a depth-to-water contour of the Valley described in Plate 1 entitled "Map of San Joaquin Valley, California showing artesian areas, ground-water levels and location of pumping plants", which includes a depiction of geographical areas where flowing well (artesian) conditions existed in 1910. These "Areas of flowing wells" have been converted into a digital vector format (ArcGIS Shapefile) for use in future research.

Groundwater-quality data collected between 1993 and 2015 were compiled from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS) database for 722 wells in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV). Groundwater-quality data retrieved included lab analyses of complete major ion data (calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, alkalinity, bicarbonate, carbonate, silica, and TDS) for 613 samples, and an additional 109 samples with measured values of specific conductance. Most of these wells were sampled as part of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program Priority Basin Project or the USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. In addition to GW quality data, the dataset includes well depths, measured or interpolated water levels, summary land-use information, and a tritium-based groundwater age classification. Each well was assigned to a geospatial grid cell in one of six SJV regions (https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5892423ee4b072a7ac145e06). These data support the following publication: Hansen, J.A., Jurgens, B.C, Fram, M.S., Quantifying Anthropogenic Contributions to Century-Scale Groundwater Salinity Changes, San Joaquin Valley, California, USA: Science of the Total Environment, vol. XX, no. X, pp. XX-XX, 2018.

This report provides a full digitization of historic groundwater-quality and depth-to-water data from Mendenhall and others (1916) Water Supply Paper 398, “Ground Water in San Joaquin Valley, California” in a modern format suitable for further analysis of California’s water supply resources. Included are geochemical data for over 400 wells collected by Mendenhall in the fall of 1910, as well as depth-to-water and well construction information from over 4000 wells compiled by his team from over 15 years of well surveys throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Additionally, these data provide geospatial and geochemical data for sampled wells in California's San Joaquin Valley (SJV) in support of the publication: Hansen, J.A., Jurgens, B.C, Fram, M.S., Quantifying Anthropogenic Contributions to Century-Scale Groundwater Salinity Changes, San Joaquin Valley, California, USA, Science of the Total Environment, vol. XX, no. X, pp. XX-XX, 2018.

Groundwater-level data collected by the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency during 1970 to 2018 was provided to USGS and used to assess changes in groundwater levels as it relates to aquifer system compaction and resultant land subsidence in the Pajaro Valley.

This digital dataset defines the spring 1961 water-table altitude for the California's Central Valley. It was used to initiate the water-level altitudes for the upper zones of the transient hydrologic model of the Central Valley flow system. The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmid and others, 2009). This simulation is referred to here as the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM) (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The starting heads are based on the water-table and potentiometric surface developed by Williamson and others (1989). Maps of the spring 1961 water-table and hydraulic head in the lower pumped zone are shown in Figure 31 of Williamson and others (1989). The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (Faunt, 2009. See "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) entered into a cooperative study with the California Department of Water Resources and the Ramona Band of Cahuilla to characterize the hydrogeology of the Cahuilla Valley and Terwilliger Valley groundwater basins and surrounding water-bearing units, with the ultimate goal of developing a calibrated integrated hydrologic model to manage the groundwater supplies on a sustainable basis. A three-dimensional geologic framework model (GFM) was developed to quantify the structural geometry and distribution of water-bearing units in the groundwater basins, using borehole lithology and hydraulic information, geologic maps, and gravity-derived depth-to-basement information. This dataset includes (1) tabular data of selected boreholes with their location and construction information, (2) borehole lithology information, (3) a geographic information systems (GIS) shapefile of a cellular array containing interpolated elevations and thicknesses of modeled geologic units from the GFM in the format of a polygon feature class, (4) and a table of summary textural classes for the alluvial fill unit from borehole logs and summary textural classes used in geologic framework model.

The Central Valley, and particularly the San Joaquin Valley, has a long history of land subsidence caused by groundwater development. The extensive withdrawal of groundwater from the unconsolidated deposits of the San Joaquin Valley lowered groundwater levels and caused widespread land subsidence—reaching 9 meters by 1981. More than half of the thickness of the aquifer system is composed of fine-grained sediments, including clays, silts, and sandy or silty clays that are susceptible to compaction. In an effort to aid water managers in understanding how water moves through the aquifer system, predicting water-supply scenarios, and addressing issues related to water competition, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) developed a new hydrologic modeling tool, the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM; Faunt and others 2009). The data presented in this data release will be used to facilitate updates to the original CVHM, and represent aquifer-system compaction observations (measurements) using borehole extensometer data during 1958–2018 by USGS, California Department of Water Resources, San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Agency, and Luhdorff and Scalmanini Consulting Engineers. For a more detailed description of borehole extensometer methods, please see Sneed and others (2013; 2018).

The Central Valley, and particularly the San Joaquin Valley, has a long history of land subsidence caused by groundwater development. The extensive withdrawal of groundwater from the unconsolidated deposits of the San Joaquin Valley lowered groundwater levels and caused widespread land subsidence—reaching 9 meters by 1981. More than half of the thickness of the aquifer system is composed of fine-grained sediments, including clays, silts, and sandy or silty clays that are susceptible to compaction. In an effort to aid water managers in understanding how water moves through the aquifer system, predicting water-supply scenarios, and addressing issues related to water competition, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) developed a new hydrologic modeling tool, the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM; Faunt and others 2009). The data presented in this data release will be used to facilitate updates to the original CVHM, and represent aquifer-system compaction observations (measurements) using borehole extensometer data during 1958–2018 by USGS, California Department of Water Resources, San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Agency, and Luhdorff and Scalmanini Consulting Engineers. For a more detailed description of borehole extensometer methods, please see Sneed and others (2013; 2018).