White Water, California
40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Desert Hot Springs census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92282. It stands on Super Creek. The Survey maps it on the White Water quadrangle. 984 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,575 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1901 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 95 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1901 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresWhite Water grew from 859 to 984 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 859 | |
| 2020 | 984 | +125 (+15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 40 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1901 USGS San Jacinto quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1940 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS White Water quadrangle1:24000
- 1955 USGS Whitewater quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS White Water quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
624 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 624 fires within 5 miles of White Water between 1992 and 2020, burning about 48,351 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 18 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 306 |
| Smoking | 128 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 103 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 20 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 11 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Desert District | FREEMAN |
| 8 September 2003 | Smoking | under an acre | California Desert District | LOCAL |
| 7 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Bernardino National Forest | not named |
| 7 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL 14823 |
| 6 September 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Bernardino National Forest | WINDY |
| 6 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Desert District | STATE |
| 5 September 2007 | Smoking | under an acre | California Desert District | UNNAMED FIRE 2715 |
| 4 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | I 10 W/ WHITEWATER OFRP |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 21 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of White Water: 11 occurrences, 6 past producers, 4 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackshock Claims | Silver, Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Dbl Claims | Uranium, Copper, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Painted Hill Quarry | Flagstone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Super Creek Claims Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Silica Sand Occurrence | Silica | Occurrence | ||
| White Water Sericite-Schist Deposit | Mica | Occurrence | ||
| Desert Gold Claims | Gold, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Bonanza | Gold | Prospect | ||
| Desert Rainbow Claims | Gold | Prospect | ||
| Good Hope Group | Gold | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
5 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names White Water in 5 storm reports between 2002 and 2021: 3 flood, 1 wildfire, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2019 | Flash Flood | White Water | $3,000,000 | Heavy rainfall of 3 to 5 inches occurred on the desert slope of Mt San Jacinto and the Coachella Valley floor. This resulted in massive flooding and water flow into the Whitewater river (up to 10,000 CFS). Flooding severely damaged highway 111 causing a week long closure. |
| July 2021 | Flood | White Water | $1,000 | Riverside Emergency Management reported minor rock slide on Highway 111 at Windy Point. Rain gauges showed 0.50 in 30 minutes early that morning. |
| December 2021 | Flood | White Water | - | Road closures include indian canyon from tramview to palm road springs station road, gene autry from interstate 10 to east via escuela, araby drive through wash, vista chino from gene autry to cathedral city, elm street from bonita ave to adele ave, and part of seminole drive. 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rainfall and 2 to 3 inches across surrounding foothills. 1 inch rainfall reported at Palm Springs Airport. |
| July 2011 | Flood | White Water | - | The Whitewater River gage at Windy Point rose 1000 cfs in 30 minutes from 1830 TO 1900 PST. The source of the heavy rainfall was in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. |
| June 2002 | Wildfire | White Water | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonnie Bell | 1.7 miles | 40 | |
| Snow Creek | 3.4 miles | 40 | |
| North Palm Springs | 5.1 miles | 39 | |
| Garnet | 5.2 miles | 39 | |
| Mons | 5.8 miles | 40 | |
| Dos Palmas Corners | 7.2 miles | 39 | |
| Desert Hot Springs | 7.7 miles | 39 | |
| Cabazon | 7.9 miles | 40 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on White Water | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q518382 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1667936. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.















