Headlines Archive, 2009

NPS Water Quality Database Helps Pakistan

A water quality database management system developed by the Water Resources Division, NPSTORET, is being used by the country of Pakistan, with the assistance of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. State Department, to help foster standardized water resources data management.  NPSTORET enables users to enter information about their water quality monitoring projects, stations, metadata, and monitoring results in a Microsoft Access database.  Results can be reported, analyzed, graphed, and exported.  Water Quality Exchange (WQX) export files can also be generated for import into the Environmental Protection Agency’s STORET/WQX Data Warehouse (http://www.epa.gov/storet/dw_home.html).

NPSTORET (http://www.nature.nps.gov/water/infoanddata/index.cfm#NPSTORET) was developed to provide parks, Vital Signs Monitoring Networks, and others with a system to manage and analyze their water quality data in a decentralized environment while facilitating the transfer and archiving of these data in a centralized data warehouse. This functionality attracted the attention of the USGS and U.S. State Department which were helping Pakistan ameliorate their fledgling water resources data management infrastructure.  A standards-based, easy to use, inexpensive, and adaptable water quality database management system that could be deployed in a decentralized environment was precisely what was needed for Pakistan.
                    
Working with the Pakistanis, the USGS identified additional functionalities that were needed in NPSTORET. With the support of USGS and U.S. State Department, NPSTORET has added these new capabilities including enhanced support for ground water attributes, displaying station locations and analytical results in Google Earth, performing water quality standards analysis, and providing user authentication/security. Integrating these capabilities into NPSTORET has also directly benefitted NPS and other users. For more information on NPSTORET and its use by the USGS to support Pakistan, contact Dean Tucker (Dean_Tucker@NPS.GOV).

Establishment of an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force

On June 12, 2009, President Obama sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and federal agencies establishing an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The Task Force is charged with developing a recommendation for a national policy that ensures protection, maintenance, and restoration of oceans, our coasts and the Great Lakes. It will also recommend a framework for improved stewardship, and effective coastal and marine spatial planning. Officials from the Obama Administration held their first Ocean Policy Task Force public meeting in Anchorage, Alaska on August 21, 2009. An upcoming public listening session on the new Ocean Policy is scheduled for September 24th, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Water Right Quantification Decreed for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - On December 31, 2008, the Colorado Water Court issued a decree quantifying the reserved water right for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  The decree quantifies a water right in the Park for Gunnison River flows ranging from a springtime peak flow, to "shoulder" flows before and/or after the peak flows, to a minimum flow for the remainder of the year.  These flows are critical to the physical and biological processes that maintain the spectacular Gunnison River Gorge through the Park.  The decree also recognizes the importance of other private and public river management issues including existing upstream water users, the potential for downstream flooding at the town of Delta, protection of downstream endangered fish, and operation of Reclamation's Aspinall Unit Reservoirs just upstream.  The decree acknowledges that the Secretary of the Interior will balance these needs with his/her management discretion assigned by federal water-related law.

The quantification of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park reserved water right had been a long-standing and deeply divisive issue among the many interests that have a stake in the management of Gunnison River flows.  The final decree was a product of a year-long formal mediation among all major parties to a lawsuit that invalidated a previous quantification settlement agreement.  Over 30 parties were involved in the final mediation including the United States (National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Western Area Power Administration), the State of Colorado, a coalition of conservation groups, and several water users and interest groups.

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