This data release contains data associated with the journal article “Land and water use for energy in the Colorado River Basin”. The area of interest is defined by the counties intersecting with the Colorado River Basin (HUC-7 and HUC-8) and a shapefile outlining these counties has been included. The data release includes 4 child items and metadata files that provide descriptions of the processing steps, original data sources, and attributes. “Electricity_Producing_Facilities” provides information on location, capacity,generation, land use, and water use at individual power plants. “Land_Cover_Digitized_Facilities” provides digitized polygons of individual power plants and energy extraction facilities that were used to determine land use estimates for the different power plant types. “Coal_Mine_Facilities” provides location, production, land use, and water use at individual coal mines. “2mi_Fishnet_oil_and_gas” provides an overview of oil and gas production, treatment water use, and well count in the years 2015 and 2019 within the Colorado River Basin counties.