The CHEEC Data Management Center (CDMC) was established in response to several water quality research needs described in the 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act. Initially, CHEEC was instructed to "assemble all existing data relating to Iowa drinking water supplies, including characteristics of source, treatment, presence of contaminants, precise location and usage patterns to facilitate data retrieval and use in research." In response to this mandate, work began on developing a number of environmental databases. The CDMC has been very successful in identifying and accumulating municipal and private water supply information that includes data on water sources, treatments used, populations served and water quality. These data include:

• The Historical Community Water Supply and Treatment Data for the State of Iowa is available, containing drinking water source and treatment information current through 2003 for all Iowa municipal drinking water supplies of population greater than 400 people.
• Municipal Analytical Water Quality data continue to be collected and linked to the the Community Water Supply and Treatment database. The earliest records are from January 1910. Data sources include the most recent Safe Drinking Water Act data (federal EPA), Iowa Municipal Well Water network data (IDNR and USGS), the 1986-87 survey of all Iowa municipal water supplies, the 1987 National Cancer Institute-EPA Municipal Water Supply Survey, historical raw and finished water quality data University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory records available electronically or historical laboratory paper records, finished water quality data from a 1979 National Survey of Environment and Health, and a variety of special sampling efforts conducted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
• The Iowa Statewide Rural Well Water Survey (SWRL) database. SWRL was conducted in 1988-89 as a collaborative effort by CHEEC and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources- Geological Survey Bureau, and is a "snapshot" view of the extent of bacteria, nitrate and pesticide contamination in a large sample of Iowa's private rural wells. In 1990 a repeat sampling consisting of a 10% subset of the original wells was undertaken to assess temporal changes in water quality during the original survey. A three year follow-up study to SWRL is currently underway and will completed in 2008.
• Other private well water data include a database on private drinking water quality in incorporated Iowa communities without a public water supply system.