Dreamflows flow reports in CSV format are intended for loading into third-party application software like spreadsheets and databases.  CSV stands for comma-separated values.  The Dreamflows CSV format is simple.  Each field on a data line is separated by a comma.  Text fields (which may include a comma) are surrounded by double quotes.  The first six lines in the CSV file are general information (five lines of text plus one blank line). 

The following (seventh) line holds header information, i.e. it specifies which data field holds what kind of data.  The remaining lines (i.e. line 8 onwards) are flow data, organized as follows:

RiverId:

The Dreamflows river id.  This is the three-digit identifier that Dreamflows uses internally to identify a given flow site, e.g. 075.  See the Dreamflows RiverId file for a list of currently-reported riverId values.

RiverName:

The Dreamflows river name corresponding to RiverId, surrounded by double quotes (e.g. "So. American").

PlaceName:

The Dreamflows place name corresponding to RiverId, surrounded by double quotes (e.g. "At Chili Bar").

Date:

The date the data was captured, in ISO format (yyyy-mm-dd).  Therefore, 2006-06-05 is June 5, 2006.

Time:

A value of davg means the data is a daily average (usually the case if the data was derived in some way from reservoir storage).  Otherwise, this field contains the time the data was captured, in ISO format (HH:MM).  This is a 24-hour format, so 10:15 is 10:15 AM, while 22:15 is 10:15 PM. 

Confidence and Deviation:

An indication of the quality of the data.  Confidence values are:

Gage	Gauge quality (presumed to be accurate).
Numeric value	The percentage confidence that the actual flow is within Deviation percent of reported.  See Note 1 on the Realtime report.
Resv	Derived from reservoir calculations - see Note 2 on the Realtime report.
Rate	Derived from a rating table - see Note 3 on the Realtime report.
Schd	Scheduled release - see Note 4 on the Realtime report.
Pred	Unofficial prediction - see Note 5 on the Realtime report.
Unkn	Confidence is unknown (treat this estimate with suspicion).

RiverFlow and FlowUnit:

Together these give the river flow, at Date and Time, and the unit of measurement, e.g. 1025 cfs (1,025 cubic feet per second).

FlowSlope:

The computed instantaneous rate of change of RiverFlow.  A positive value means it's rising, negative means it's falling, while zero means it's holding steady, e.g. -15 (falling 15 cfs per hour).  An empty field means slope wasn't calculated for this flow site.

RiverGage and GageUnit:

Together these give the gauge height, at Date and Time, and the unit of measurement, e.g. 10.25 ft (10.25 feet) or 19 in (19 inches).

WaterTemp and TempUnit:

Together these give the water temperature, at Date and Time, and the unit of measurement, e.g. 51 F (51 degrees Fahrenheit).

ColorCode:

This shows how Dreamflows color-coded this RiverFlow/RiverGage entry on the report:

FlowNa	Unknown (color-coded silver).
FlowFz	River is frozen (color-coded blue).
FlowLo	Flow is low (color-coded yellow).
FlowOk	Flow is good (color-coded green).
FlowPf	Flow is optimum (color-coded green and marked ).
FlowHi	Flow is high (color-coded red).

A snippet from a sample CSV format report might look like this:

Please contact chris@dreamflows.com if you have questions or comments about this page.