2026 Special Event – Open Water Data Challenge

To celebrate our 10 years of Open and Transparent Water Data Act in California, the Department of Water Resources and State Water Board present an opportunity to show what you have done (or can do!) with our open water data. This event will be a “light” data challenge, essentially a showcase with no formal judging or awards. Final projects may be featured on the Water Challenge website. Here are the rules for participating:

  1. All submissions must use at least one open water data source from either of our two open data platforms: the California Natural Resources Agency Open Data, and the California Open Data Portal. This is the only formal requirement for the projects!
  2. October 1st is the kick-off showcase, with opportunities to highlight projects or ongoing ideas in person at the Open Water Data Celebration event. We ask all participants to fill out the commitment form by this date.
  3. Final project submissions will be due December 1st, with a submission form to be posted shortly. A virtual showcase of all finished projects will be held in early January.
  4. Anyone can participate in this challenge, whether you are a long-time employee at the California Water Boards or a current student looking to highlight your academic work. 

This year’s open water showcase encourages submissions of all types – such as data dashboards, open-source tools, infographics, poems, and art. The only requirement is that the submission MUST use open water data. Challenge questions can be reviewed from prior water challenge events (see the 2019 and 2023 winning submissions), but here is a short list of questions on the minds of us at the Water Boards and Department of Water Resources:

  • One California Landscape: How can we create a flexible spatial framework for California’s diverse landscapes that supports water accounting, the California Water Plan, and other water-resource management needs?
  • The Value of Water: Can we quantify the economic, environmental, and societal value created by sustainable groundwater management?
  • Who Gets the Green? Is the grass really greener on rich people’s yard—and what can water and spatial data tell us about environmental inequality?
  • From Water Data to Regulatory Intelligence: How can Large Language Models (LLMs) augment water regulators by connecting data, regulations, evidence, and analysis?
  • Future of Open Data: Can we design and prototype a reusable data infrastructure that allows heterogeneous California water datasets to be discovered, understood, accessed, connected, and analyzed programmatically?

Highlighted Datasets

California’s water data landscape is extensive and spans many agencies, topics, spatial scales, and time periods. To help participants get started, we have highlighted a selection of datasets that may be particularly useful for exploring this year’s challenge themes. These datasets represent a starting point—not a prescribed list. Participants are encouraged to explore, combine, and connect these and other publicly available datasets to develop their ideas.

Explore the highlighted datasets below to discover data on:

Have questions about the California Water Data Challenge? Feel free to reach out to Greg Gearheart or Samantha Hordyk, and keep an eye out for future information sessions. DWR and State Water Board data practitioners will be available to answer questions about the challenge, available datasets, and how to get started.