The National Water Data Network: A case history

Abstract

In 1964 the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) issued Circular A‐67 to coordinate water data acquisition activities by federal agencies. Under Circular A‐67 the Department of the Interior's Office of Water Data Coordination (OWDC) has the responsibility to (1) maintain a catalog of information on water data, (2) undertake a continuing review of water data requirements, (3) prepare a federal plan for efficient utilization of water data activities, and (4) design a national water data network. A concept of three levels of information was developed as the rationale for national network planning. The three levels are level I, a base level of information for national and regional planning and assessment; level II, data needs for subregional planning and assessment; and level III, data for operation and management at the local level. Several elements of level I of the national network have been totally or partially implemented, including (1) the streamflow and stream quality accounting elements, (2) the water use accounting element, (3) the water quality surveillance element, and (4) the flood surveillance element. The National Water Data Network is coordinated through an interagency process involving more than 30 federal agencies and numerous nonfederal organizations interested in water data acquisition. As part of this coordination process the Catalog of Information on Water Data is maintained and is used as the basis for planning and operation of the network. Through the National Water Data Exchange, established as an outgrowth of the coordination activity, the water data information base is being expanded continually.

Correction of stream quality trends for the effects of laboratory measurement bias

“…Stream quality data are from the USGS National Stream Quality and Accounting Network or NASQAN [Langford and Kapinos, 1979]. This national network, consisting of about 400 sites located on major rivers of the United States, provides a large sample for estimating the effects of measurement bias.…”

Design of Precipitation Networks1

“…The Office of Water Data Coordination of the Department of Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (Langford and Kapinos, 1979) has the responsibility to design a national water data network. This agency coordinates with more than 30 federal and numerous nonfederal organizations on installation of various gages to avoid duplication and enhance the overall value of the data.…”

Bridging river basin scales and processes to assess human‐climate impacts and the terrestrial hydrologic system

“…[32] Building on prior hydrologic network research [Langford and Kapinos, 1979;Moss, 1979a, each hydrologic observatory should have a River-basin Adaptive Modeling and Monitoring Plan (RAMP) in place to provide the organizing principles for guiding the coherent selection and assessment of long-term monitoring sites as well as specialized sites targeted for short-term scientific campaigns. Within the RAMP, the value of new information could be evaluated using simulation models formulated for multiples scales and processes in combination with statistical tools that will be capable of conditioning model-based predictions on observations [Evensen, 1994;Christakos, 2000;McLaughlin, 2002;Drecourt, 2003].…”