Water Use Site

Water-Use Site File Components

The Water-Use Site is subsequent to the Site, Owner, Owner Contact, Contact, and Permit files. Information within this file is then tracked by the Conveyance, Water Quantity, Place-of-Use Site Quantity, Population Served, Ancillary Data, and Thermoelectric Fuel files.

---

Important Links:

• Water-Use Site template
• NWIS User Manual

Mandatory Information*	Non-Mandatory Data	Conditional Mandatory Data**

---

Water-Use Site Variables

Agency Code (C4)*	Site Number (C1)*	Delete Record Indicator (Modify)	Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC)	North American Classification System Code	Instream Use Code**	Surface Water Name**	Surface Water Type Code**	Physical Address Line 1	Physical Address Line 2	Physical City	Physical State Postal Code	Physical Zip	Physical Country	WU Site Comment

---

Water-Use Site Attribute Dictionary

Attribute Name	Definition	Data Entry Rules
Agency Code (C4)*	A code that references the agency or organization that is the source of the site data.	The system checks that the site, with this agency code, exists in the NWIS site file before data can be added with the water-use site view.
Site Number (C1)*	The site identification number.	Site number and agency code must exist in the NWIS site file before entering a water-use site record. The site number and agency code are the minimum required data set for all site types. If the site is a hydroelectric power plant (FA-HP), commercial or aquaculture water-use establishment (FA-WU), or commercial or aquaculture aggregate water-use establishment (AW), then the system will default the instream use code to unspecified unless the user specifically enters instream use.
Delete Record Indicator (Modify)	The delete record indicator is used in modify transactions to indicate which records should be deleted. Enter a value of '$'. All water-use data associated with this site will be deleted from the database.	On a modify operation the delete record indicator can be set to the value '$' or '*' to indicate that the water-use site should be deleted from SWUDS. One needs to specify the site number and agency code. If a water-use site record is deleted, then of the following data are deleted for this site: water-use site data, water quantity data, place of use site quantity data, ancillary data, and population data. The system does not delete the site file, owner, contact, owner contact, assigner, site owner, site contact, site permit, and surface water name records.
Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC)	The Standard Industrial Classification Code, 1987 (SIC) is the industry classification system that provides uniform and comparable descriptions of business establishments for use by the statistical agencies of the United States. The SIC system is intended to cover the entire field of economic activities. If the primary production or use of the site changes over time, modify the SIC code in the water-use site view to represent current day use. The SIC codes in the ancillary data view represent products or services that existed for the year entered. SIC codes have been replaced with NAICS codes. NAICS is a "production-oriented" system and provides a broader range of comparability among business establishments. SWUDS will continue to use SIC codes for backward compatibility. However, you should start to use NAICS codes since SIC codes will eventually be phased out of the database.	The Standard Industrial Classification Code, 1987 (SIC) is verified against a reference list that was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. The system does not check for consistency in the use of SIC codes entered in the water-use site view with SIC codes entered in the ancillary data view. The system also does not check that the SIC code is consistent with the national water-use category code. A $ can be entered on an modify transaction to blank out any entered value.
North American Classification System Code	The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), 2000 is a system for classifying business establishments. NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America, see http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html. The NAICS system replaces the old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. However, for compatibility purposes, SWUDS allows you to enter both NAICS and SIC codes. It is recommended that you start to use NAICS codes. Eventually SIC code will be phased out of the SWUDS system. Enter a 2 to 6 digit NAICS code to identify the current day production that occurs at the site. If the primary production, or use, of the site changes over time, modify the NAICS code in the water-use site view to represent current day use. NAICS codes in the ancillary data view represent products or services that existed for the year entered.	The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is verified against a reference list that was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, The reference list is stored in the NWIS table NAICS_CD. The NAICS codes are not padded with zeros. A $ can be entered on an modify transaction to blank out any entered value.
Instream Use Code**	Instream use code. The instream use code is used to indicate if the use of water at a site is considered an instream or off stream use of water.	The system checks the NWIS site file to validate that the site type was marked as a hydroelectric plant. The system validates the instream use code using the reference list table INSTREAM_USE_CD. In addition, the national water-use category code (nat_water_use_cd) that was entered in the NWIS site file must be set to hydroelectric (PH).
Surface Water Name**	Surface water name. A surface water name is the name of the principal surface-water body that water is either withdrawn or discharged too. Be sure to check the spelling of surface-water resource name so sites are linked to the same named resource. Surface water resources are unique based on the surface-water type code and the spelling of the surface-water name. It is recommended that Water Science Centers standardize the format of surface water names. It is also suggested that you use the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) names. The use of a standard convention may eliminate the duplication of surface water names in the surface-water table with slightly different spellings. Surface water names can be entered in upper and lower case. However, all surface water names are stored in the database in uppercase with all extra white space removed. Identification of an unique surface water name is done using a case-insensitive match on the surface water name and surface water code.	Surface water name can be entered for the following station types: diversion, outfall, aggregate surface-water, spring, stream, lake/reservoir, and estuary. To enter a surface water name the surface water code must also be entered. If either surface water code or surface water name are missing then the system will raise an error. The system maintains a master reference list of surface-water names. The NWIS table name is SURFACE_WATER. The table is dynamically built as new surface-water resource names are added using the water-use site view. The system does not delete nor does it modify existing surface water name records. All new surface water names are appended to table SURFACE_WATER. When modifying a surface water name, the system has no additional data checks when changing a surface water name or surface water code. If a $ is entered on a modify transaction then the values for surface water name and surface water type will be removed (blanked out), however, the surface water name entry in table SURFACE_WATER will remain intact.
Surface Water Type Code**	Surface water code. A two-character code describing the type of surface water body that is associated to the entered surface-water name (surface_water_nm).	The code is verified against the NWIS reference list SURFACE_WATER_CD. To enter a surface water code the surface water name must also be entered. If either surface water code or surface water name are missing then the system will raise an error. A $ can not be entered on an modify transaction to remove the surface water code.
Physical Address Line 1	Address line one. The first line of the street address of the physical location of the site. This is the address to which someone would go too, to get to the actual location of the site. It may or may not be the same as the mailing address for the owner or contact. If there is no street address, this attribute may contain the name of the nearest access highway.	A $ can be entered on an modify transaction to blank out any entered value.
Physical Address Line 2	Address line two. The second line of the street address of the physical location of the water-use site. This is the address to which someone would go too, to get to the actual location of the site. It may or may not be the same as the mailing address for the owner or contact. If there is no street address, this attribute would contain the name of the nearest access highway.	A $ can be entered on an modify transaction to blank out any entered value.
Physical City	The name of the city in which the site is physically located. If it is not located in a city, this data element is not used.	Any text string can be entered. The city name is not validated for spelling, capitalization, or typographical errors. The value can be modified after initial entry. A $ can be entered on an modify transaction to blank out any entered value.
Physical State Postal Code	U.S. Postal Service postal abbreviation code of the State in which the site is physically located. Do not enter the postal abbreviation if the site is outside the United States.	The system does not validate U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postal abbreviations. However, see http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviations.htm for a list of valid USPS postal abbreviations. A $ can be entered in a modify transaction to remove (blank out) a value.
Physical Zip	U.S. Postal Service zip code associated with the sites physical location. A zip code can be either a five digit zip code or a nine digit extended zip code. The zip code is usually a length of five or nine. A hyphen should be entered in the sixth character position for nine digit extended zip codes.	The system performs no formatting checks for zip code. A $ can be entered in a modify transaction to remove (blank out) a value.
Physical Country	The country name in which the site is physically located, usually United States (US), Canada (CN), or Mexico (MX).	The system does not validate country names. A $ can be entered on a modify transaction to remove (blank out) a value.
WU Site Comment	Free format comment text associated with a water-use site. A comment about a water-use site.	A $ can be entered on a modify transaction to blank out any entered value.