Managing Environmental Flows Information

Data describing the stream flow, water chemistry, geomorphology, and biology of streams and rivers is often contained in a variety of formats and in many geographic locations. A prototype environmental flows information system is developed for the State of Texas that incorporates relevant known available datasets from federal, state, academic, river basin, and local sources. Tools are developed to assist in the publishing, visualization, and access of data and documents via map-based, spreadsheet-based, and other methods. The information system might be used to provide: (1) rapid low-cost data integration, (2) improved data access by the public, and (3) support for the analysis and determination of environmental flow needs. The environmental flows information system represents the integration of the physical, chemical, and biological information for rivers and streams in a consistent and accessible manner in one system in one place. Working cooperatively with the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS) project, an NSF-supported effort to improve access to hydrologic data at the nation's universities, environmental flows data are stored in the CUAHSI Observations Data Model and web services are established for the computer-to-computer communication of data in order to extract data from disparate sources in disparate formats, to transform the data into the common language of CUAHSI WaterML, and to load the data into an end user's system. The environmental flows information system includes a linkage to a georeferenced digital archive of documents, providing for parallel access to both data and the knowledge products derived from that data. Via the Data Model and accompanying Document Model, an information system capable of managing observational data, geographic data, modeled/constructed data, and documents is offered.