Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Surface Water Data

This digital dataset contains the surface water data used for both the Salinas Valley Watershed Model (SVWM) and the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The surface water dataset includes describes two regions of the Salinas River Watershed; the upper region is occurs primarily within San Luis Obispo (SLO) County, California and lower region of the Salinas River Watershed is contained within Monterey County, California. Subcatchments within the Salinas River watershed were delineated using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 10m digital elevation model (DEM), USGS National Hydrography Dataset Best Resolution (NHD) watershed boundaries, and the NHD stream data. For each defined subcatchment, a pourpoint was defined that connects the watershed outflow to the tributary streams or ephemeral stream channels defined for the Salinas River in the lower and upper Salinas Valley Watershed. For the stream network of the lower Salinas River Watershed, NHD defined streams were used to initially define the network. The lower Salinas River Watershed stream network was refined to account for diversion canals and undefined ephemeral channels that drain into the Lower Salinas Valley in cooperation with Monterey County. For the lower Salinas Valley, the stream network and subcatchment data were defined simultaneously. For the upper Salinas Valley the pourpoints were defined based upon where previously defined subcatchments intersected with the stream network defined by the Paso Robles Basin Model (Fugro West, Inc and Cleath Associates, 2002; Furgo West, Inc, ETIC Engineering, Inc, and Cleath and Associates, 2005). The stream network spatial data were not provided from SLO County as a vector shape, and the USGS did not develop the Paso Robles Basin Model (PRBM), therefore a shapefile of locations where the PRBM grid contained a stream reach (Ford, 2017 personal communication) was used as a proxy for linear features of the stream network in the upper Salinas River Watershed. This data set includes the following files: - Shapefiles for stream network, both lower and upper watersheds - Streamflow gage data and location - Ungagged tributary inflow points, both lower and upper watersheds