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Domestic well locations and populations served in the contiguous U.S.: 2010, Block-group method (BGM) dataset

Metadata Updated: September 16, 2025

The 1990 census was the last nationally consistent survey of a home’s source of water, and has not been surveyed since. The associated larger work presents a method for projecting the population dependent on domestic wells for years after 1990, using information from the 1990 census along with population data from subsequent censuses. The method is based on the “domestic ratio” at the census block-group level, defined here as the number of households dependent on domestic wells divided by the total population. Analysis of 1990 data (>220,000 block-groups) indicates that the domestic ratio is a function of the household density. As household density increases, the domestic ratio decreases, once a household density threshold is met. The 1990 data were used to develop a relationship between household density and the domestic ratio. The fitted model, along with household density data from 2000 and 2010, was used to estimate domestic ratios for each decadal year. In turn, the number of households dependent on domestic wells was estimated at the block-group level for 2000 and 2010. High-resolution census-block population data were used to downscale and refine the spatial distribution of domestic-well usage and to convert the data into population numbers. The results are aggregated to 1km x 1km pixels and presented in two datasets for each decadal year: a BGM (Block Group Method) dataset and an REM (Road Enhanced Method) dataset. This dataset is an estimation of the location and population served by domestic wells in the contiguous United States for 2010.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 16, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 16, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5c8c32afe4b093882452a025
Data Last Modified 2020-08-26T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 0c261d2f-862c-4180-acab-0f89f59e41cf
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -127.8904, 22.8719, -65.3344, 51.5819
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 4ae90ecbf21f93b1828955072aa6cde37b9bbd71de7099a6f57de0c2219523ec
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -127.8904, 22.8719, -127.8904, 51.5819, -65.3344, 51.5819, -65.3344, 22.8719, -127.8904, 22.8719}

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