Seeking Watershed Information?
Visit the New WITS Website

WITS, the Watershed Information Technical System, now is on-line, offering a new, single-point source for a wide variety of environmental documents, basin plans, visual materials, key contacts in watershed groups, and map-making.

The Resources Agency developed WITS and introduced it in April at the California Watershed Symposium. It is the newest addition to CERES, the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System, at http://ceres.ca.gov

WITS went on-line with two pilot projects in the Russian River and Mendocino Coast watersheds, and as it expands, it will add others among California's some 200 watersheds, as well as information about funding, regulations and permitting, species listings, and environmental measures.

Watersheds are areas of land that drain into a common point such as a river, lake, or stream.

"Each watershed has its own unique characteristics, and WITS is designed to accommodate them with specific, consistent information," Secretary for Resources Doug Wheeler said.

Other partners in developing WITS are the California Departments of Fish and Game, and Forestry and Fire Protection, and the State Water Resources Control Board.

Eventually, WITS will be linked on-line to the California Watershed Projects Inventory, a listing of watersheds statewide that is being prepared as a cooperative project partially funded by the California Biodiversity Council.