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Water Data and Science Committee Meeting Summary May 28, 2019 Webinar

  1. Call to Order—Chair Amy Shallcross DRBC—Amy called the meeting to order at 2:03 p.m. Central.
  • Introductions of Participants on the call—Amy Shallcross, Chair, DRBC; Sue Lowry, ICWP Executive Director; Pete Gill, Wyoming Water Development Office; Brian Atkins & Tom Littlepage, Alabama OWR; Randy Hadland, YSI/Xylem; Josh Weiss, Hazen-Sawyer; Ken Brazil, Arkansas NRC; Mike Hill, PA DEP.
  • Webinar presentation on The Internet of Water:
    • Peter Colohan—Duke University (full presentation on ICWP website)

Peter described the genesis of the Internet of Water (IoW) from the Aspen Institute Dialog on Water Data and the report that culminated from the 2 meetings, released in June, 2017. Duke University was a sponsor of the Aspen Institute Dialog and one of the recommendations of the report was the creation of the Internet of Water to aid in the findability, shareability of water data already being collected.

He gave the example of Google Maps needing a public cadastral layer to support their platform. The Internet of Water will Connect, Open, Discover and Empower the data and the users of those data.  The data will remain in their host location, but be reachable by potential users of those data. Data will be found through a federated directory. Now we have mailboxes with no envelopes.  Currently one has to know that data are out there.  The IoW will catalog these sources and made the data “findable”.

First goals of IoW include:

Develop water data hubs and build capacity

Build IoW partners and coalitions

Demonstrate IoW value

Establish IoW technical framework

Communicate across sectors and geographies

June 2019-20121 start up period; partnering with CUAHSI

Common tools: Water data glossary; Water Data Library; Catalog of standards for water data, metadata and advances sensors

Community Resources: Strategies and best practices for cloud services; Tutorials and handbooks for metadata and catalogs; Conceptual approaches to building common data models; Pilot Process—Design Phase (in that phase now), Data Phase, Demonstration Phase.  Looking at California and New Mexico—both have passed open water data laws.  Duke working with energy sectors in North Carolina.  Have funding to do a few and want concepts that can be transferable. 

Q & A:  Who will the partners be?  Could be universities, river basin commissions, states or other collectors of water data.  The difficulties could be with the mandate of those public agencies. Is the cost/methods for housing their own data part of the mission of IoW?Using cloud-based services can save tremendously compared to large scale data housing that used to be the norm. How GIS evolved is a good analogy. Pooling the data sources virtually via the Internet and cloud services is goal.  How to get participation when documenting the metadata can take extra time/resources?  Are hopeful that the benefits will be seen by the decision makers (the data geeks already get it).

Peter is interested in discussing with ICWP how to work together on getting word out on the goals of IoW and working with ICWP members to get data connected. 

  • FCC Proposed Rulemaking Related to Radio frequency spectrum used by the GOES satellite system—Comment deadline June 21. Randy Hadland agreed to work up some talking points and send them to Sue.  She will then distribute to the full ICWP membership encouraging comments to be sent to the FCC before the deadline.
  • Announcements/Upcoming Events
    • NIDIS/NDRP 2ndNational Drought Forum—July 30-31 In Washington DC—If anyone did not receive the “Save the Date” mailing from the NIDIS coordinators, please let Sue know and she will forward your name on to the event planners. 
    • Western States Water Council’s Water Information Systems workshop –Set for September 16-19 in Ft. Collins, COContact Sue or Sara Larsen at the WSWC if you want more information or plan to attend. 
  • Other items for the Committee’s consideration (List of previously identified topics on back page)—
    • draft letter to Molly Maupin on WUDR summary—Sue asked for any further comments on this letter to be sent to her by COB May 29.  The letter will be finalized with Amy’s signature and sent to Molly. 
    • Topics or Speaker suggestions for Mobile Annual Meeting—Sue asked for any ideas to be sent to her by mid-June. 
  • Next call or webinar—Suggestion for next webinar on NWIS modernization—Sue will contact Jim Kreft to see his availability for the week of June 24. For the following committee call, ask Chad Wagner to give update on next basins for NGWOS.  A more thorough review of the “other topics” will also be held. 

Topics Identified by the Committee for Future Work:

Discussion on the USGS Next Gen System Goals

  1. “What do we need/plan to measure”
    1. ICWP involvement with determining next basins

Potential Work Plan Items (list provided as a reminder of issues raised by committee members as important to ICWP membership)

  1. Potential ICWP Support of other USGS Efforts
    1. Water-Use Data and Research
    1. Review of NAS Study on USGS Water Discipline
    1. Multi-Signature support letter for Streamgaging Programs
    1. D & S Committee participation with the Streamflow Information Collaborative Workgroup of the Advisory Committee on Water Information
    1. Position Paper or other action to counter the current attacks on science and science’s role in decision making
    1. Other items the Committee could explore:
      1. Flash Droughts/NIDIS
      1. Internet of Water
      1. Data Portals/Data Exchange
    1. National Water Model Priorities
    1. Tracking of Emerging Tools or Trends in Water Data/Science
      1. Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations
      1. Seasonal to Sub-Seasonal Forecasting
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