Global Surface Water Supply and Demand (1985 to 2020) Summarized in Watershed Basins
Data associated with manuscript: Historical Trends in Snowmelt Used for Irrigation by Kinnebrew et al. 2025, Environmental Research: Food Systems (https://doi.org/10.1088/2976-601X/adacec).
These data represent surface water runoff (supply) and consumption (demand) from 1985 to 2020, summarized within watershed basins (HydroBASINS level 3; https://www.hydrosheds.org/products/hydrobasins). Surface water runoff data were derived from TerraClimate (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vx0k6dk2h), irrigation surface water consumption were derived from the Global Crop Water Model (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14278069), and domestic & industrial consumption were from Hoekstra et al. (2012). Please see the manuscript methods for additional information.
Column names and descriptions:
1. watershedNum: the HUC12 identifier number from HydroBASINS level 3
2. year: data year, from 1985 to 2020
3. month: data month, e.g., 1 (January), 2 (February), 3 (March), etc.
4. CropWaterDemand_km3: surface water irrigation consumption (in km3)
5. DomIndWaterDemand_km3: surface water consumption (in km3) from domestic and industrial sources
6. TotalDemand_km3: combined water consumption (in km3) from irrigation, domestic, and industrial sources
7. SnowRO_km3: snowmelt runoff (in km3)
8. RainRO_km3: rainfall runoff (in km3)
9. TotalRO_km3: combined snowmelt and rainfall runoff (in km3)
10. SnowConsumed_TotDemand_km3: snowmelt runoff (in km3) that supplied total (irrigation, industrial, and domestic) water consumption
11. RainConsumed_TotDemand_km3: rainfall runoff (in km3) that supplied total (irrigation, industrial, and domestic) water consumption
12. AltConsumed_TotDemand_km3: alternative water sources (in km3) that supplied total (irrigation, industrial, and domestic) water consumption
13. SnowConsumed_CropDemand_km3: snowmelt runoff (in km3) that supplied irrigation water consumption
14. RainConsumed_CropDemand_km3: rainfall runoff (in km3) that supplied irrigation water consumption
15. AltConsumed_CropDemand_km3: alternative water sources (in km3) that supplied irrigation water consumption