The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board compiled and analyzed historical produced water chemistry data and ancillary oil well information at the Buena Vista, McKittrick, and Cymric Oil Fields in the southwestern San Joaquin Valley (SWSJV), Kern County, California. Historical water chemistry data provide information on the salt mass balance of produced water disposed of on land, and in particular, chloride which is a conservative, nonreactive tracer. Data were compiled from the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) Underground Injection Control (UIC) scans of laboratory results for produced water samples, the CalGEM Well Finder database for oil and gas wells, and historical documents (Rogers, 1917; WZI; 1988). The SWSJV_geochem.csv dataset supplements previously compiled chemistry data by the USGS at the Midway-Sunset, Elk Hills, North Belridge, South Belridge, and Lost Hills Oil Fields (cross-referenced in this data release). The Fall1953_volumes_chemistry.csv dataset contains Fall 1953 water production volumes by lease and produced water sample results compiled from Rickett and Reaves (1954a-d) to provide a spatial understanding of historical disposal on land.