The State Water Resources Control Board on Oct. 21 showcased CalWaters, a new digital system for managing California’s water-rights records and annual reporting.

Board Chair Joaquin Esquivel introduced the item and thanked Division of Water Rights staff for the multi-year project, saying the rollout was “on budget and on time.” The board was shown the public-facing portal, an internal case-management system for staff, and a plan to digitize paper records over the coming years.

The new platform, formally called the California Water Accounting, Tracking and Reporting System (CalWaters), replaces legacy systems used since the mid-2000s and gives water-right holders a single online account to file annual reports, request services and view associated documents. Jeff Parks, the project’s product owner, said the state contracted Deloitte as system integrator and that the build included both public search tools and a staff “case” system intended to reduce lost help requests and improve response tracking.

Why it matters: Division of Water Rights staff and users have long relied on scattered records and an aging database. CalWaters is intended to speed staff work during curtailments and other urgent events, make data easier for the public to find, and give water-right holders digital tools — including GIS mapping and downloadable reporting graphs — that did not exist before.

What staff showed and promised
• Account consolidation: Primary owners and authorized agents will be able to create accounts, link records via a PIN system, and see all their water-right records in one place. Annual reporting will be submitted through those accounts.
• Search and GIS features: The public portal includes keyword search and an interactive GIS interface that lets users find water rights by parcel or owner, zoom to locations, and view time-series graphs of reported diversions.
• Digitization: Staff said about a quarter-million documents are already digitized and searchable, with an ongoing seven‑year plan to digitize the records room. "There are already a significant number of documents in there," Parks said during the presentation.
• Staff case management: The internal system will turn incoming help emails into trackable cases, assign them to staff and create an auditable record of responses.

Operations and near-term schedule
Staff said CalWaters was funded through 2021–22 budget appropriations and a system integrator contract. They said a live public system was ready by July 2025, legacy systems were deprecated in June 2025, and the new annual‑reporting workflow would open to reporters starting the day after the board meeting. Staff emphasized that the first year will require onboarding and help resources for reporting season and that they will treat late filings flexibly on a case‑by‑case basis.

Public response and next steps
Public and stakeholder commenters praised the system’s transparency and urged the board to be flexible early in the first reporting cycle. Aaron Woolley of Union of Concerned Scientists called a modern reporting dashboard “a huge task, but an important one,” and several water districts and consultants who previewed the system during a limited pilot reported positive feedback. Staff said they would hold public workshops (including an online workshop on Nov. 12 and in-person sessions in the Central Valley) and were prepared to provide in-person account setup at targeted events.

Technical caveats and limitations
Staff emphasized that the system shows whatever data is reported to the board; it cannot create missing data. Several commenters asked whether CalWaters would show outstanding fee balances tied to small irrigation use registrations (billed through the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration). Parks replied that fee data is available in the system but, because it is sourced from a separate agency database, it may lag and users should contact staff for specific billing questions.

Bottom line
CalWaters replaces an aging records environment with a single public portal and a staff case-management system. Board and staff leaders said the rollout is complete and that the system will be actively improved over the coming years; annual reporting begins with the new system immediately following the Oct. 21 meeting.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A at the Oct. 21 State Water Board meeting, Division of Water Rights staff and public commenters.