Surface Waters of the State

                            National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) high resolution NHDFlowline features for California were originally dissolved on common GNIS_ID or StreamLevel* attributes and routed from mouth to headwater in meters. The results are measured polyline features representing entire streams. Routes on these streams are measured upstream, i.e., the measure at the mouth of a stream is zero and at the upstream end the measure matches the total length of the stream feature. Using GIS tools, a user of this dataset can retrieve the distance in meters upstream from the mouth at any point along a stream feature.** *See the Source Citation section of this metadata for further information on NHD, NHDFlowline, GNIS_ID and StreamLevel. **See the Data Quality section of this metadata for further explanation of stream feature development. CA_Streams_v2x Update Notes: This version includes hundreds of stream modifications and additions resulting from requests for updating from CDFW staff and others as well as some updates included in the current USGS NHD dataset***. Stream edits and additions tracking and editor notes are available in new attribute fields 'EditVersion' and 'EditNotes.' In addition, for users that have indexed data to the older version of CA_Streams, 'EditNotes' attempts to describe how the edit has affected the indexed measure values on the edited streams. Also, 'EventAlert' attributes provide a quick way to query for streams where editing has affected previously indexed data. New value added attributes have been included in v2, including 'Down_Name' and 'Down_ID' which provide the CA_Stream DFGWATERID and GNIS_Name (if applicable) of the stream's downstream parent (i.e., "Tributary to")****. These attributes can aid the user in locating a stream that might share its name with several streams throughout California for example. An 'Alternate_Name' attribute field has been added for users in their area of interest to record stream names that might be different or not included in GNIS (USGS Geographic Names Information System). This version has also been configured to be geometric network ready. Advanced users may now be able to create a geometric network to enable downstream and upstream tracing and utilize the new 'Enabled' attribute to enable or disable tracing on any given stream. More information on geometric networking can be found online at ESRI arcgis.com. ***Some current NHD data has not yet been included in CA_Streams. The effort to synchronize CA_Streams with NHD is ongoing. ****Some streams have more than one downstream parent, but the attributes in this dataset can only include one of those parents (the named parent is included if applicable). Please email the point of contact for this dataset for a table including all downstream parents.
                          

                            To provide an alternative to the native NHD measuring system of percentage of distance along reach length with one that enhances the ability to examine distance relationships along entire stream courses.
                          

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                            CA_Streams are roiginally based on NHDFlowline feature geometry, GNIS_ID attributes and StreamLevel attributes.* When not provided by NHD, StreamLevel attributes were calculated using the NHD PGDB Releveler tool, a tool provided by NHD to trained NHD editors.

*Many NHDFlowline features, including but not exclusive to canal and ditch features, are not included in this dataset due to problems with the interpretation of streams from such features. Some NHDFlowline features as indicated in 'EditVersion' attributes as having been modified by DFW projects and programs prior to routing as streams, are planned to but have not yet been submitted to NHD. See 'EditNotes' attributes for descriptions of these edits or email this dataset's point contact for additional information.