Stream Stats Delivering Streamflow Information to the Public

Stream. Stats: Delivering Streamflow Information to the Public By Kernell Ries and Al Rea U. S. Department of the Interior U. S. Geological Survey MD-DE-DC District 410 -238 -4317 kries@usgs. gov

Uses of Streamflow Statistics n n n Water resources planning Flood-plain mapping for zoning and insurance Instream flow determinations for pollution and habitat TMDLs Design and permitting of facilities such as wastewater-treatment plants, hydropower plants, and water-supply reservoirs Design of structures such as roads, bridges, culverts, dams, locks, and levees

Stream. Stats Web Application Provides estimates of streamflow statistics, basin and climatic characteristics, and other information for user-selected points on ungaged streams n Automatically measures basin and climatic characteristics for ungaged sites using GIS n Provides published streamflow statistics, basin and climatic n

Stream. Stats Benefits n n n n Published statistics are readily available Ungaged site process takes < 10 minutes Large collections of maps, equipment, and software not necessary Consistent information delivery Little or no additional error is introduced Only basic understanding of hydrology, computer science, geographic analysis is needed Reduced information requests

Development Team n Jacque Coles (ID District) Arc. IMS Specialist / Site Administrator n Al Rea (ID District) GIS Specialist n Pete Steeves (MA-RI District) GIS Specialist n Kernell Ries (OSW / MD-DE-DC District) Coordinator / Hydrologist n Contractors ESRI, Inc. – Application programming / Arc. Hydro Aqua Terra Consultants – NFF Program / Stream. Stats. DB

Massachusetts Stream. Stats n On Web at http: //ststdmamrl. er. usgs. gov/stream stats/ n n n Based on Arc. View/Arc. View. IMS/Java Available internally Jan. 1999 Available to public Jan. 2001 Considerable interest nationally Not easily modified for use in other areas

National Prototype Objectives n n n Potential expandability to all States Improved basic functionality Improved statistics database Flexible use of GIS data Potential to add other types of data, such as sediment, water use

Development Strategy n n n Initial development on desktop, then move to Web Program based on the Arc. GIS Hydro-Data Model and Tools (http: //www. crwr. utexas. edu/giswr/) Standard GIS methods for measuring basin characteristics will be built into the Arc. GIS Hydro Tools Basin characteristics will be pre-processed for previously determined sub-basins At least initially, all GIS data to reside on local server

Stream. Stats Components User Interface At a streamga ge Streamflow Statistics Database At an ungaged location Statistics Calculation Program GIS Database

User Interface n Displays maps and enables site selection n Displays default data layers for selected scale ranges and allows adding/subtracting map layers Zoom and pan to places of interest Zoom to named geographic location or stream Evaluate basin boundaries in the map frame Print maps shown in the map frame Download basin boundary n n n

Statistics Database Includes n For data-collection stations: Previously published streamflow statistics Descriptive information, such as station name and number, coordinates, period of record Basin characteristics, such as drainage area, total stream length, mean basin slope n For ungaged sites: Data for solving regression equations in the National Flood Frequency Program (NFF) n Details in following presentation

Statistics Calculation Program n n Determines drainage boundaries for user-selected sites Measures basin characteristics Runs NFF to solve regression equations Delivers results in pop-up browser window

NFF Program User Interface n Solves regression equations for Stream. Stats

Modifications to NFF n n n Ability to solve regression equations for any flow type Calculation of prediction intervals Calculation of drainage-area ratio estimates and weighting with regression estimates Solving of region-of-influence equations Adding of data base attributes to allow use as a subroutine of Stream. Stats

National Flood Frequency Program n n Solves regression equations for any flow type Provides standard errors, equivalent years of record and/or prediction intervals as indicators of potential errors Computes of region-of-influence estimates, where available Urban equations, drainage-area ratio estimates, and weighted estimates not implemented initially in

GIS Database Includes n n Datasets needed to delineate accurate basin boundaries (DEM derivatives, streams, drainage divides) Datasets needed to determine basin characteristics (precipitation, land use, soils, DEM, etc. ) Data-collection station locations Basemap datasets (DRG topos, roads, political boundaries, etc. )

GIS Data n n n Local map layers used when needed to solve local equations or where resolution is better than available national layers National map layers used where local layers are not available at higher resolution Flexibility is key to wide use of application

New User Interface at Startup

Example Point Selection

Drainage Boundaries 1. User selects point on stream 2. GIS determines boundary from flow- direction grid up to points at which the boundary for the new site intersects boundaries in boundary map layer 3. GIS accumulates all upstream areas and dissolves internal boundaries

Example Drainage Boundary

Example Output

Software n n n n ESRI Arc. GIS with Arc. Hydro Tools ESRI Arc. SDE ESRI Arc. IMS Microsoft SQL Server IIS ASP Tomcat

Programming languages n n n Visual Basic for Applications Arc. Objects Javascript XML HTML

System Design Map Client Server (IE 6. 0) (Arc. IMS) Client (IE 6. 0) Web Data Server (Arc. SDE) Server (IIS, ASP) Client Application (IE 6. 0) Server (Arc. Map, NFF) Database (SQL Server)

Status and Short-Term Plans Prototype working in part of Idaho n Implement statistics database and rest of Idaho by 12/03 n Implement MA, NH, and VT by 5/04 n Partially implement TN by 9/04 n

Long-Term Plan n Include additional States n Add drainage-area ratio estimates Add automated update of non-interpretive streamflow statistics Add methods for regulated streams Add sediment (and possibly other) data n n Add internal desktop version with batch processing

State Implementation Process n Done through cooperative agreements between Districts and local agencies n Populate the streamflow statistics database n Generate and format any custom GIS data n Test accuracy of basin and climatic characteristics and equation results, and summarize results Potentially develop new equations, using GIS data to measure basin characteristics n n USGS OSW and District concurrence to put

State Implementation Options 1. Implement database for datacollection sites first a. Populate with previously calculated statistics b. Calculate new statistics 2. Implement regression equations first a. Implement existing equations only b. Develop new equations 3. Implement database and regression equations at the same time

District Responsibilities— What will it take? n Building Arc. Hydro data sets from EDNA (experienced GIS expert) ~30 min per 8 -digit HUC interactive processing 2 -4 weeks building global and regional data sets 2+ weeks learning curve for learning to do networks in Geo. Database Note: (ID and OR districts have people with experience, consider farming this out)

District Responsibilities— What will it take? (cont. ) n n n n ~2 weeks per state to prepare DRGs ~1 week per state to append/prepare NHD Optional “New England Method” Enhanced DEM processing, 3 -6 hrs interactive work per HUC plus (typically overnight) CPU time Multiply GIS total by ~2 X for general data management Multiply GIS total by ~2 X— 5 X for less experienced GIS staff (AML and Grid experience very desirable) Very fast PC essential for processing District funding of Stream. Stats team for

District Responsibilities— What will it take? (cont. ) n Hardware Server and disk space <= $5 K Hardware maintenance plus replacement every 3 yrs ~$2 K/yr External USB 2 Hard Drive ~$400 (will return to district) n Software licensing and site support Districts will pay for new licenses Probable shared costs w/ OSW for support

District Interest in Stream. Stats n n n ID, MA, NH, VT, TN are prototype states CO, CT, KY have ongoing projects KS, PA have related projects At least 12 Districts have cooperators that are highly interested in Stream. Stats Less than half of Districts responded to 10/30/2003 query Nine Districts attended a recent datapreparation workshop held for the SE Region in TN

Funding n n Funding from NSIP/Headquarters FY 2001 $160, 000 FY 2002 $200, 000 FY 2003 $200, 000 FY 2004 ~ $150, 000 State of Idaho/National Forest Service FY 2002— 3 $75, 000

Current ESRI Contract Tasks n n n n Current contract for $51 K began in September ‘ 03 Implement ability to solve low-flow equations with NFF Partly resolve issues related to multistate implementation Implement Stream. Stats. DB for gage data/stats Partly expand Arc. Hydro tools to enable easily adding new basin parameters User ability to edit drainage boundary Some bug fixes, web support, speed

Additional ESRI Work Needed n n n Additional cost ~ $100 K Fully resolve issues related to multistate implementation Fully expand Arc. Hydro tools to enable easily adding new basin parameters, including addition of enhanced stream slope measurement Documentation Implement drainage-area ratio, weighting functionality More bug fixes, web support, speed

Issue n n How do we balance further program development with the need to support Districts with implementation? Current $150 K budget allows about 0. 75 FTE labor plus about $40 K for contracts, travel, etc. As more Districts implement Stream. Stats, support needs increase but budget is stable Districts will need to pay for support

Summary n Stream. Stats Is a Web application that provides estimates of streamflow statistics and other information for gaged and ungaged sites Uses cutting-edge technology to provide the information to the public by running a GIS interactively over the Web Implementation for States will be done through cooperative funding agreements Available resources limit functionality and implementation speed Full implementation will likely take several

Stream. Stats Resources n Public informational page: http: //water. usgs. gov/osw/programs/ streamstats. html (Major updates coming soon!) n NFF Program: http: //water. usgs. gov/osw/programs/nff p. html n Proposals, presentations, poster available on request