Abstract: The first national water census in 2010 was an overall survey for basic water data since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It is divided into three phases inventory, general investigation, data summarization and results display. The water census involves eight investigations the basic situations of rivers and lakes, water conservancy projects, economic and social water consumption, development and protection of rivers and lakes, conservation of water and soil, water industry capacity building, and specialized investigation on irrigation area and groundwater wells. During the three phrases and the eight investigations, spatial information technology has been applied extensively. Especially, the investigation of rivers and lakes and conservation of water and soil mainly depends on the spatial information technology the data was mainly acquired using remote sensing image interpretation. During the phase of results display and results development and utilization, spatial information has been used as technical support. All water census results are displayed in a map, which directly reflects the extensive and in-depth application of spatial information in the water industry.

Key words: water census, spatial information technology, application